It was all set up to be a perfect moment for Hollister and the
Hollister Professional Bull Riders event Saturday at Bolado Park –
but in the end it just wasn’t meant to be.
It was all set up to be a perfect moment for Hollister and the Hollister Professional Bull Riders event Saturday at Bolado Park – but in the end it just wasn’t meant to be.
On a day where the bucking bulls won out most of the time – only 10 out of 40 riders stayed on the bulls for more than 8 seconds – Hollister’s own Brendon Clark rode and qualified twice.
He was the only rider to do that during qualifying.
“It’s always difficult to ride a bull twice on one day – let alone four times,” he said. “It takes it’s toll.”
And for Clark, in the finals it finally did.
As the only rider with two chances to come away with the Hollister PBR title – and it’s $15,000 purse – Clark fell just short, failing to reach the 8-second qualifier in both final round rides.
But it left the door open for PBR youngster Jimmy Twedt to stun the Hollister crowd with his first ever victory in only his third chance.
“Honestly it hasn’t sunk in just yet,” Twedt said after he finished off the riding. “It’s all still fresh and I’m just going over both my rides. I’m guessing on the drive home we’ll be pretty excited.”
Overall, Twedt was one of only three riders to qualify during the finals. He topped the leader board with a strong 175.5 total points. Dom Negler finished in second with a combined score of 168.25. Tony Mendes finished in third with 167.75 points
Going into the final round, Twedt had a competition best score of 89.75, so he knew all he had to do was hold on in the finals and the title was his.
“It feels good to come here and get something done,” Twedt said. “A great pen of bulls of here. I drew two really good bulls into my hand and that’s the way I like them. Today I was the better of the two.”
And he was barely better.
On the final ride, Twedt held onto the bull as he was slipping off. With a hand still on the rope, the horn buzzed and the ride recieved a thumbs up from the judges.
And it was all he needed.
But the biggest celebrities there, were Hollister’s Clark and the wildly popular Rocky McDonald, who failed to show off his talents at the event.
McDonald, who was introduced to the crowd by standing on top of the pen railings with Clark, was only able to hang on for a couple of seconds in qualifying. McDonald entered the final round as well – to fill the 15 spots – but failed to stay on the bull.
But it was Clark’s successful rides that truly stole the Saturday show.
The Hollister-native recieved roaring cheers at every mention of his name, as he gave the home crowd a bull riding show.
Clark eased through his first two rides – moving past the 8-second barrier with seconds to spare. But eventually it did tire him out.
“I felt really good,” he said. “It’s disappointing to get bucked off when you’re so close to winning it in front of you home crowd.”
But it happens, especially when the competition has such high quality bulls.
Overall, only 13 riders were able to surpass the qualifying time of 8 seconds. And that quality of bulls, made the competition fierce amongst the bull riders.
“It’s one of the better bull ridings I’ve ever been to,” Twedt said. “The crowd was wonderful, all the bulls bucked, a lot of great guys riding here and fortunately it turned out better on my half.”
Clark echoed Twedt, by calling the bulls some of the best in the world.
“It’s great to have an event of this quality in Hollister and San Benito County,” Clark said. “A lot of good cowboys have come out of this area.”
The event also recieved high praise from the sold out crowd, organizer Dana Aviles said.
“You can’t please everyone, but 99 percent of people have come up to us and said this was a great event,” she said. “And it was.”
