A local bucking bull company plans to bring in 45 riders from
Professional Bull Riders, Inc. to perform and compete at the San
Benito County Fair. Billy Aviles of Fault Line Bucking Bulls said
the event will both promote his company and celebrate the memory of
Mike Mason, a professional bull rider who died while bull riding 13
years ago.
Hollister – Get ready to welcome the pros.
A local bucking bull company plans to bring in 45 riders from Professional Bull Riders, Inc. to perform and compete at the San Benito County Fair. Billy Aviles of Fault Line Bucking Bulls said the event will both promote his company and celebrate the memory of Mike Mason, a professional bull rider who died while bull riding 13 years ago.
There will be some big-name riders at the event, including Johnny Chavez, Chad Denton and Mark Lopes, Aviles said. Those names may be unfamiliar to some, but they’ll be instantly recognizable to the sport’s fans.
And those fans are growing in number, he said.
“Next to NASCAR, it’s the fastest-growing sport in America,” Aviles said.
Billy Aviles’ wife, Dana Aviles, added that attendees can get a close-up view of the action because organizers will be taking down the rodeo fence and moving the bulls closer to the stands.
She said she helped organized the county’s last bull-riding event 11 years ago.
“It was successful, but it wasn’t huge,” she said. “But bull riding has grown so much since then.
The Aviles said they’ve heard from plenty of local Professional Bull Riding, Inc. fans who ask, “Is it really PBR?”
It really is, said Billy Aviles. He and his wife are bull-riding fans themselves, and he said that PBR events are “pretty electric.”
The Aviles’ bulls are only a year-and-a-half old, so they won’t in the ring Thursday. But the couple said all the bulls will come from top-notch breeders, including some locals.
Billy Aviles said he and Dana had “always talked” about breeding bulls. After finding other partners, they finally made it happen.
“You breed bulls like you breed dogs,” he said.
When Fault Line’s bulls turn 4, Billy Aviles hopes to take them to perform at different rodeos. They’re bred from world-champion bulls, he said, with names like Cowtown, Oscar’s Velvet, Bodacious, Wolfman and Ugly.
Bulls won’t be the only thing in the ring Thursday night, he added. Rodeo clown Dwayne Hargo and the Metal Mulisha, a motocross stunt group, will also perform.
But at the heart of all this entertainment is a memorial. Aviles said Fault Line co-owner Mike Baumgartner, who used to ride with Mike Mason, suggested holding the event in memory of the local bull rider. Members of Mason’s family will speak about Mason and his death, Aviles said.
And if all goes well, Billy and Dana Aviles will be organizing a similar bull-riding event next year.
“We want to have a good time and put something on without breaking our bank,” Dana Aviles said.
