Campbell Rides Away with PBR Win

Special to The Messenger

KANSAS CITY – Reigning PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Rookie of the Year Boudreaux Campbell (Lovelady) won the elite PBR Unleash The Beast Caterpillar Classic at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City this afternoon with the bull riding equivalent to a walk-off grand slam.

Teaming for a trip that would yield both the high-marked ride of the season and top bull score to date for the 2021 campaign, Campbell covered 2020 ABBI (American Bucking Bull Inc.) Class Champion Woopaa (Barker Bulls/Hookin’ W Ranch) for a monstrous 95.5 points to clinch the victory at the seventh premier series event of the year.

Going a flawless 3-for-3 at the 18th annual PBR event in Kansas City, the surging Texan earned a critical 143 world points and a check for $27,636.74.

Campbell skyrocketed 39 positions in the world standings, surging from No. 53 to No. 14. He now trails No. 1 Cooper Davis (Jasper, Texas), who finished second in the event, by 304.5 points.

The 22-year-old’s march to his first regular-season Unleash The Beast victory began in Round 1 when he delivered the second-best score, an 88.5-point effort atop Hard Shot (Glover Cattle/D&H Cattle Co.).

As one of the final riders to erupt from the chutes in Round 2, Campbell rose to the top of the event leaderboard when he made the 8 aboard Dr. Campbell (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve) for 86.75 points.

With the first pick in the championship round bull draft, Campbell then selected a bull known to propel riders to victory in momentous fashion – Woopaa.

The striking bovine athlete first made a name for himself at the 2020 PBR World Finals when he was covered by Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil) for a head-turning 95.75 points in Round 3. The score not only clinched the 2020 PBR World Championship for Leme, but also secured the 2020 ABBI Classic Championship for Woopaa.

Most recently, Woopaa and Leme again teamed for an impressive score, this time going the distance for 94.75 points in Fort Worth, Texas, as Leme won the event title.

With the socially-distanced crowd inside T-Mobile Center brought to the edge of their seats in anticipation, the chute gate burst open, and Campbell matched the powerful bull jump-for-jump, producing a 95.5-point score.

While the score was career-defining for Campbell, now the high-marked ride of his career, it was also a crucial out for Woopaa, netting the bull his career-best score.

Earning a season-best 47.25-point bull score and the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event honor, Woopaa rose to the top of the 2021 YETI PBR World Championship Bull race. Now tied with Chiseled (Flinn/D&H Cattle Co.) for the No. 1 rank, Woopaa holds a 46.33-point world average. The duo of bovine athletes leads No. 3 Smooth Operator (Dakota Rodeo/Julie Rosen/Clay Struve/Chad Berger) by 1.08 points.