In an event unlike anything Brooklyn has ever seen, the New York Mavericks pulled off back-to-back wins during their first professional bull-riding team homestead at Barclays Center over the weekend.
The Mavericks, New York City’s first bull-riding team, put on a high-energy show from start to finish, securing a win on both nights of the inaugural Maverick Days on Aug. 9 and 10. On Friday, the Mavericks left the arena after earning a three-ride score of 260.25 against the scoreless Kansas City Outlaws. They returned Saturday to beat the Florida Freedom, 85.75 to nothing.
In the Professional Bull Riding Team Series, ten riders across two teams compete for the highest score in a four-ride match. Much like individualized bull-riding, the athletes must stay on top the bucking bull for at least eight seconds for the points to rack up. If a cowboy falls off before the clock hits eight, it’s considered a no-score ride, putting the pressure on their team mates to make up the difference.
In the first round, a Kansas City rider was bucked off at 7.9 seconds. Davi Henrique de Lima, the opener for the Mavericks, was ready to put the team on the board but was unable to get out of the chutes on the bull, Smoke Show. The scoreboard went unchanged through the second ride, but the game’s pace ratcheted up in the third.
Another stumble from Kansas left the gate wide open for Hudson Bolton, the 18-year old Maverick from Tennessee, to go the distance and score an 86-point ride. Lima matched Bolton’s skill during his re-ride with another 86 points.
With only two competitors left, Kansas needed both of them to score big to win — but after their rider fell at 5.38 seconds, the Mavericks were declared victorious. They finished the match with another game-best score of 88.25 by Mauricio Moreira.
Barclays Center saw perhaps a record breaking number of cowboys hats and spurs during the two-day showdown. Fans of all ages were spotted in their rodeo best. Some show watchers came as far as Texas, Virginia and Missouri while Brooklynites just hopped on the train to enjoy the event.
The arena, typically a backdrop for concerts and basketball games, was transformed into a rodeo ring for a down-south, country affair. Crews trucked in 750 tons of dirt and set up steel corrals for the bulls, totaling to the length of six football fields.
If the man versus animal matchup wasn’t enough to keep the people engaged, the high-energy rodeo clown and half-time entertainment was there to do the trick.
The Mavericks defended their home turf once again during the competition on Saturday. They recorded a surprising upset against the Florida Freedom, scoring 85.75 points to the Freedom’s zero.
Bolton delivered the game-winning ride in the third, but it all came down 18-year old John Crimber, the Maverick’s closer and 2024 PBR Teams MVP frontrunner to score big. Crimber had an impressive ride the night before but he stumbled on Saturday, bucking off in 5.97 seconds.
After the competition, Mavericks riders said it the energy of the fans that kept them going during their rides.
Bolton told Brooklyn Paper the crowd’s screams drowned out the music and the sound of the buzzer that lets riders know when they’ve reached their eight seconds. But it was the deafening cheers from the fans that kept him steady and let him know he was on his way to victory.
Braidy Randolph, a Mavericks rider who was bucked off in 3.69 seconds on Friday, said in those final moments before the chute opens, it’s up to the players to remember their training and hold steady. Since they never know just how wild their bull will be the have to rely on their muscle memory to become victorious.
Their wins concluded the inaugural PBR Maverick Days at a perfect 2-0 ranking, improving to 4-5 this season. The latest win led New York to rise from No. 9 to No. 8 in the league.
Up next, the Mavericks will head to Nashville for the PBR Camping World Team Series at Bridgestone Arena from Aug. 16 through Aug. 18. where they’ll face the Texas Rattlers on Aug. 17.
