Youth not wasted on the 19-year-old Pro Bull Riders leader

It’s not just the bulls who buck forward so rapidly on the Pro Bull Riders circuit that returns to Honda Center this weekend.

The careers of the riders also operate at turbulent warp speed.

A year ago, Ducks defenseman Josh Manson, 25, spent quality time reuniting with Tanner Byrne, Manson’s boyhood friend from Prince Albert, Canada, who proceeded to masterfully conclude festivities by winning that week’s PBR stop in Anaheim.

This time, Byrne, 25, has been sidelined all season by a practice-pen shoulder injury before the season opener in New York and 19-year-old Montanan Jess Lockwood is leading the circuit with two victories and more than $160,000 already banked after winning last week’s Frontier Communications Sacramento Clash.

“Our careers aren’t long, so you have to make the most of the time you have and hope it all works out to be the way you want it,” Lockwood said.

While the Ducks’ Manson is only in his third season while playing alongside Hampus Lindholm — and they faced 36-year-old ex-Duck Francois Beauchemin, now with the Colorado Avalanche, on Tuesday night — reaching age 30 as a PBR rider is quite a feat. Only a handful of active riders older than 30 are on the circuit.

“I’ve been watching the young guys like Jess coming up and they’re very good,” said Manson, who describes himself as a big fan who routinely views PBR action on television.

“But there’s always going to be good competition — the wily vets know how to get the job done — so you can’t count them out.”

Is he calling Byrne a veteran at 25?

Recall that Garth Brooks underlined how remarkably fast time gets away from a rodeo cowboy in his hit song, “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old).”

“I’m not going to call [Byrne] out [as older], I’ll let him deal with that one,” Manson said. “But he’s been doing it for a little bit. He’s calm, focused and passionate, and I have no doubt he’ll look after this injury — injuries are part of bull riding — and he’ll come back stronger from it. He’ll finish the season by picking up right where he left off, for certain.”

The 5-foot-6, 130-pound Lockwood, meanwhile, has risen quickly, saying being surrounded through his development by motivational people and not those who are “whining, making excuses about why they can’t win,” has helped hasten his success.

Riding skill “is just a natural thing. You can work out as much as you want and eat all the right foods, but when it comes down to it, it’s just about your determination — how badly you want to stay on that bull.”

Lockwood, from Volborg, Mont., in the southeastern corner of the state, said his father, Ed, taught him to ride atop calves, sheep, steers and then bulls while reinforcing the creed, “If you’re not going to try your hardest, what’s the point of doing it?”

Lockwood said he maximizes his in-season strength and leanness by lifting weights in the morning and participating in “hot yoga” sessions in the evening.

He’ll turn 20 before the season-ending finals in Las Vegas, seeking to become the youngest PBR season champion yet.

“Everyone wants to be the world champion. The way you do that is stay on every single bull you get on during the year,” he said. “You don’t think ahead. The bull you have that night … you stay focused on doing everything you can to get the most points you can. And if you do that, the rest will take care of itself.”

The Frontier Communications Showdown opens at 6:45 p.m. Friday at Honda Center, while the championship round starts at 7:45 p.m. Saturday.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire