PBA Experience Showdown Takes Place This Weekend
The 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour’s regular season is over, but competition continues Sunday on ESPN with the first of two special events from the new International Training and Research Center located on the International Bowling Campus.
Eleven of the sport’s top players and six United States Bowling Congress league bowlers will compete in the PBA Experience Showdown and the PBA Women’s Series Showdown, both presented by BOWL.COM, which will air on ESPN on Sundays April 11 and April 18 at 1 p.m. Eastern, respectively.
The made-for-TV events will begin with the PBA Experience Showdown on Sunday. The PBA Experience Showdown is a unique competition, tying together USBC’s grassroots PBA Experience league program with the five PBA Tour champions who won the five PBA Experience “animal pattern” lane condition championships during the World Series of Bowling in Detroit, kicking off the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season.
The five champions are Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla. (Cheetah), Rhino Page (Viper), Bill O’Neill (Chameleon), Mike DeVaney (Scorpion) and Jack Jurek (Shark).
The PBA stars were joined in Arlington by six USBC PBA Experience league bowlers – one each representing the five “animal patterns” and a sixth representing any other Sport Bowling lane condition. The six USBC Sport Bowling members who earned trips to Arlington through a national online voting process, along with their respective league secretaries and the proprietor/manager of the center that hosted the league, were: Bill Motovina, Clearwater, Fla.; Joe Petrowski, East Syracuse, N.Y.; Kevin Reuer, Hoffman Estates, Ill.; Pattie Riddle, Palatine, Ill.; Brent Watson, Parkersburg, W. Va., and Bobby Wenger, Wooster, Ohio. In a preliminary event, the six players bowled one game on each of six different PBA Experience lane conditions, and Reuer won the qualifier, advancing to the television final where he will bowl with the five PBA stars.
Sunday’s unique Showdown format will involve all six bowlers bowling one frame on each of five lanes, each featuring a different PBA Experience pattern. In order, the frames will be Shark, Chameleon, Viper, Scorpion and Cheetah. After five frames, the group will be re-ordered, from lowest score to highest, and they’ll bowl another five frames. After one full game, the top two players will advance to a five-frame title match following the same order. The fifth frame will act as a 10th frame.
Norm Duke Towel Shot
This is Norm Duke’s famous “towel shot.” Norm demonstrates how he does it and how he holds the towel.
Brunswick Euro Challenge Results
England’s Rob Thurlby is the champion of the Brunswick Euro Challenge 2010. Thurlby went into the stepladder finals in the #2 position, needing to win two matches. The first stepladder match was between Malaysia’s Zulmazran Zulkifli and Venezuela’s Ildemaro Ruiz. Zulkifli won the match 230-202 and went on to face Rob Thurlby. Thurlby won the match 233-194 and earned his spot in the final match against Malaysia’s Adrian Ang. Thurlby won the close match 253-248 to win the tournament.
Several U.S. bowlers had good showings at this event. Mike Fagan finished 5th, while Norm Duke finished 7th. Finnish bowlers Osku Palermaa and Kimmo Lehtonen finished 6th and 8th in the tournament. Congratulations to Rob Thurlby!
Norm Duke Spinning Ball Spare Conversion (Bowling Tricks)
Here Norm Duke converts on a very difficult trick shot. He spins a ball and pushes it down the lane. Meanwhile, he throws his strike shot and leaves a pin. The spinning ball converts the spare. This trick is really unbelievable.
Chris Paul Celebrity Invitational Results
Chris Paul and Jason Belmonte were able to come from behind to win the Chris Paul Celebrity Invitational. The final match had Paul and Belmonte taking on Norm Duke and LaMarr Woodley. Chris Paul and Jason Belmonte ended up winning the match 180-177. The first semifinal match had Pete Weber teamed up with Ludacris taking on Chris Paul and Jason Belmonte. Paul and Belmonte won the match easily, 175-131. The other semifinal match had Norm Duke and LaMarr Woodley taking on Hines Ward and Wes Malott. Duke and Woodley won the match 165-149.
There was a little added pressure coming from Garth Brooks as well. Garth pledged to donate $1000 to the CP3 Foundation for every strike that was thrown by a celebrity.
Congratulations to Chris Paul and Jason Belmonte! Next week is the USBC Masters tournament, taking place in Reno, Navada.
PBA Shark Championship Underway
After the first two 7 game blocks, Norm Duke is leading the men with a score of 3105 (+305, 221.79 Average). Two time Collegiate Bowler of the Year Dan MacLelland is currently in 10th with a score of 2932 (+132, 209.43 Average). The top 28 make the cut with a cut score of 2849 (+49, 203.5 Average).
Over on the women’s side, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard is leading with a score of 3113 (+313, 222.36 Average). The top 8 make the cut with a cut score of 3016 (+216, 215.43 Average).
The top 28 men and top 8 women will begin bowling matchplay on Saturday morning at 10:00 at Thunderbowl Lanes.
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