Mauney relishes small events, but takes 2nd

The stars came out in full force for the Mikel J. Moreno Memorial PBR Touring event at the Yuba-Sutter Fair this week.

From the high-flying, spectacular kickoff entry of the giant Stars and Stripes by two-time world champion parachutist Kent Lane, to releasing into the arena the Flying U Rodeo's greatest bucking bull, Reindeer Dippin', now retired, the star power of the show was undeniable.

There was also a trick riding and roping team that dazzled the crowd, and a chuck wagon race that brought its own brand of thrills.

But the biggest star was world class bull rider J.B. Mauney.

"I like it when I go to events like this," said Mauney, answering to why the fifth-ranked PBR competitor entered a lower-level touring event.

"They are so laid back, not so rush-rush. It's much more relaxing," he said.

It's the kind of event that helped Mauney win the 2006 Rookie of the Year title.

Yet his early success, he said, actually created the general criticism that he would not be long for the sport.

"The first year, when I won the rookie, I did really good at events like this one, but didn't do very well (at bigger events)," said Mauney, his accent a clear giveaway to his North Carolina roots. "A lot of people said I wouldn't make it because I didn't do very well at the TV events ... and that kind of got me mad."

The rest is history in the making.

Mauney has won more than $2 million in prize money, won the PBR Finals event in Las Vegas last year, and is currently ranked fifth for the overall world title this year.

Amazingly, in just four-plus years on the tour, he has recorded 32 rides with scores of 90 or better.

Still, it almost didn't happen at all.

Mauney, who grew up rodeoing, said that just before he was going to get his PBR permit, he lacerated his liver. The injury was bad enough to where bull riding started to look like part of his past instead of his future.

He even got himself a regular job at a ballbearing plant.

"My dad asked me one day how the job was working out, and I told him, 'You can believe this, the next time I'm on a bull, I am going to hold on,'" he recalled.

Apparently, making ballbearings isn't as exciting as jumping onto the back of nearly a ton of bucking, tilting, spinning beef and trying to stay on for eight long seconds.

And when he is not riding, Mauney admits, he gets bored.

That is why, in part, a superstar of the PBR was in Yuba City Thursday.

"I've been hurt there for awhile," said Mauney, explaining he was bored and needed to keep his game sharp. "So I called the (PBR) office, and they said they had an event here."

Actually, Mauney was in Livingston, Mont., on Wednesday, flew in for the Mikel J. Moreno Memorial on Thursday, and was flying out that night to compete at an event in Minden, Texas, on Friday.

"I just like to ride bulls," he said.

The Yuba City event did not go as Mauney had hoped, although he will cash a check for taking second in the first go-round and being second at the event.

But Mauney only rode his first bull, scoring a 78 on Highway Patrol. He looked to have his second bull rode, too, but a late lunge by Vortex, pulled the Mooresville, N.C., cowboy down and he hit the bull with his free arm and was disqualified.

"I don't put a whole lot of thought to bull riding," Mauney said before the event. "They run them in (the chutes), I put my rope on it, and I just try to ride them jump for jump."

In fact, Mauney said he would just as soon not know anything about a bull before he rides it because it can make a rider anticipate what the bull does, and that can leave him on the arena floor.

That is where all but three of the 19 bull riders ended up after two days at the fair event.

Cody Ibrahimi of LeGrand took home all the top prize money, winning the first go-round with an 84 on Wednesday. His 60 in the second go-round held up as well, as no other rider scored in that section. His 144 total made him the event winner.

The only other rider to make the whistle was Eric Ferreira of Milsap, Texas, who scored a 75.5 on his first bull Thursday night.

Last year's winner, Jacob Tyner of Sacramento, failed to ride either of his bulls.

Chico's A.J. Hamre was the hard-luck rider of the event. He was bucked off late on both of his rides, each time making great moves just to keep the ride going early.

The competition came to an appropriate end with Little Brother, a bull that was owned by Mikel Moreno, who died of leukemia in May 2006.

Aaron Bassham of San Andreas got the call, but had no chance against the bull, now part of the Flying C Livestock stable owned by Moreno's mother, Cindy Rosser, the daughter of the event's Hall of Fame promoter, Cotton Rosser.

Mauney stayed after the event to sign autographs.�