Ending on a high note

Sawmill’s Jesus banks on faith to win CBR title

WINDOW ROCK

For almost every day of the week, Cody Jesus proves there is no one in the Championship Bull Riding ranks who is more passionate about bull riding than he is.

With well over 20 practice bulls at home, the Sawmill, Arizona, cowboy puts in the work day-in and day-out to better his craft.

On July 24, he fulfilled another dream when he was crowned world champion at the 2018 CBR Road to Cheyenne World Championship. Jesus finished the season standings with 1,811.50 points, which was 442 points better than Kansas bull rider Trey Holston, who ended up as the reserve champion.

For winning the world title, Jesus was awarded a $100,000 check.

“It hasn’t fully sunk in yet,” Jesus said in a telephone interview on Tuesday night. “When I wake up every morning I look at my buckle and it says ‘world champion’ on it but it’s going to take a little longer to sink in. Right now it’s feeling better every day. It’s a feeling that I can’t get used to.”

Going into the CBR finals, Jesus said he wasn’t sure how much he was leading in the world standings but knew that winning the world title was within his reach.

“I knew I was ahead by a couple of bulls but I wasn’t sure by how many,” he said. “I just went out there to have fun and I just let the event take care of itself.”

Jesus said one of the PBR personalities told him the world title was his to be won and there was no one there to catch him.

“I let that hit me for a second and then it was back to bull riding,” he said. “I thought about that for awhile but I knew the world title still had to be settled on the two bulls that I had.”

At the one-day finals, Jesus opened the event by riding Simple Man, a product of the Sellers Bucking Bulls/UTC Ranch. Jesus said he wanted to put an exclamation point on the season but in five seconds he was bucked off.

“I wanted to let everyone know that the season I had was no fluke,” he said. “I wanted to end it with a bang and that bull came into my hand and as I was spurring I lost my rope.”

Despite biting the dust, Jesus was drawn back to the short round based on the amount time he was able to ride his first-round bull. With some of the other riders having more success in the long-go round, Jesus said he got bumped all the way to 11th overall based on his five-second ride.

He was bumped even further and Jesus said he didn’t have a problem with that.

“After I got bucked off I put my full trust in God,” he said.

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