Ramon De Lima walked into the Simmons Bank Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas this past Friday confidently seeking to redeem what happened after this event last year.

As the world top 35 bull riders were preparing for the Unleash The Beast in Simmons Bank Arena, the 29-year-old Brazilian was poring over bittersweet memories of his March 2019 weekend in Little Rock.

Last year Ramon wound up below the dreaded cut line – riders below the 35 in world standings are not able to compete on Unleash The Beast tour. He would find himself riding on the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour trying to earn world points and regain a top 35 spot.

He was unable to regain a top spot within the top 35 in the world, but what a difference a year can make.

Ramon, a seasoned bull rider who at times wears his emotions on his sleeve, kept his emotions close to his vest this event. He arrived in Little Rock with his mind calm and set on remaining on tour. Consider last year a learning experience.

As round one of the Bad Boy Mowers Mowdown concluded De Lima had scored one of the ten rides for that round. He took that momentum to round two Saturday afternoon, where he would not a second ride for the event, earning the first pick in the Championship Round Draft.

With his confidence boosted from being perfect and having the top pick of the draft, De Lima strode to the top of the Can-Am cage to tell PA announcer Matt West that he wanted to be paired up with Big Black (21-11), setting up an exciting conclusion to the vent for the excited fans inside the Simmons Bank Arena.

The selection of Big Black was not happenstance. De Lima knew the history of the bull, who has a knack for taking riders to the event title. De Lima was boldly stating he was there to win the event.

As Ramon watched on as the other nine riders bucked off their bulls working their way to him and Big Black to close out the event, he did not appear phased by the pressure or the dark cloud of last year’s memory of being cut from the premier series in Little Rock. The quiet and smiley Brazilian cowboy climbed down on Big Black’s back, taking his wrap and nodding for the fate to be opened. Big Black came out of the chute with explosive action Ramon sticking securely in his spot on the bulls back where he would remain as he responded to Big Black’s bucking and danced perfectly as the 8-second whistle blew.

As De Lima took his helmet off and awaited anxiously with the fans for PA announcer Matt West to announce the De Lima would score a 90.50-point ride.

Check out Ramon’s Road to Victory and redemption in Little Rock below:

The three rides highlighted in the video show that Ramon is not only a talented rider. With this victory, he could well be a dark horse rider to watch in the championship round of more 2020 events. These three rides brought De Lima 116 world points and he rocketed up to world No. 8.
Could he climb further in Gwinnett, GA this coming weekend? As the video shows De Lima can notch high-scoring rides when he keeps his focus on each bull one at a time. If he can ride the wave of momentum from Little Rock into Georgia…he could climb even further up the world rankings after the event this weekend.

If fans would like to relive the Bad Boy Mowdown event that is easily done through PBR’s digital network for western sports RidePass in the replay section by accessing RidePass.com or through the RidePass mobile application.

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