Wednesday, June 8, 2016

TACKETT LEADS XTRA FRAME RACE



EJ TACKETT TAKES LEAD IN XTRA FRAME PBA TOUR POINTS RACE
With his fifth-place finish in the Downums Waste Services PBA Jonesboro Open presented by Xtra Frame, EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., has taken the lead in the Xtra Frame PBA Tour points race, a season-long contest that will reward the winner of the 10-event series with a $10,000 bonus.

Tackett now has 53 points and a nine-point lead over Ryan Ciminelli and Jonesboro Open winner Tommy Jones, who are tied for second with 44 points. Sean Rash is fourth with 31 points followed by Jonesboro Open runner-up Kyle Troup (23). Steven Taylor, Tim Mack and Francois Lavoie are tied for seventh with 18 points. Five players are tied for ninth with 17 points each: Patrick Allen, Shawn Maldonado, Tim Gillick, Anthony Simonsen and Connor Pickford.

The Xtra Frame PBA Tour points race is designed for a close, hotly-contested battle. In each XF Tour event, the winner earns 25 points. Second place earns 19 points, third 18 points, etc., with points awarded on a one-point declining basis through 20 places.

Tackett earned his 53 points by finishing ninth in the bowlingball.com PBA Maine Shootout (12 points), first in the Xtra Frame PBA Storm Open in Carpentersville, Ill. (25 points) and fifth in Jonesboro (16 points). Ciminelli was first in Maine (25), second in Carpentersville (19) and 33rd in Jonesboro, earning no points. Jones was second in Maine (19), first in Jonesboro (25) and didn’t bowl in Carpentersville.

The fourth event in the Xtra Frame PBA Tour series will be the Xtra Frame PBA Lubbock Sports Open from Lubbock, Texas, June 24-26. Completing the series will be the PBA-PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles from Houston, Texas, July 29-31; Gene Carter’s Pro Shop Classic from Middletown, Del., Aug. 20-21; the Parkside Lanes Open from Aurora, Ill., Oct. 1-2; the PBA Reality Check Tamarac Open from Tamarac, Fla., Oct. 8-9; the South Point Las Vegas Open, Oct. 29-30, and the concluding event, the Billy Hardwick Memorial from Memphis, Tenn., Nov. 12-13.

All tournaments in the XF Tour series are covered live, exclusively from start to finish, on PBA’s Xtra Frame online video-streaming channel. To sign up for a subscription, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame link.

ENTRIES OPEN FOR PBA FALL SWING PRE-TOURNAMENT QUALIFIER
Entries are now being accepted for the PBA Fall Swing pre-tournament qualifier which will be held Aug. 27 at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich., the host center for the multi-event Fall Swing. The PTQ – with a $120 entry fee – is open as an option to PBA members who live within a 50-mile radius of Thunderbowl, giving members a chance to win a $750 paid entry at a significant savings – and to non-members.

The six-game PTQ, to be bowled on the Wolf pattern, will award 10 guaranteed entries into the Fall Swing. Non-members must win entries into the Fall Swing through the PTQ, otherwise they will not be eligible to enter.

The PBA Fall Swing, set for Sept. 4-11, will include the Wolf, Bear, Badger and Detroit Opens along with the King of the Swing special event. Direct entries for PBA members only will be accepted beginning June 15. The $750 entry fee covers all five events.

The PBA also has announced entries for the PBA Fall Classic, presented by South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas, will be accepted beginning July 5. The Fall Classic, set for Oct. 28-Nov. 1, includes the Xtra Frame PBA Las Vegas Open ($300 members, $350 non-members) and the five-player PBA Team Challenge ($500 per member, $600 per non-member).

Entries for the PBA World Series of Bowling VIII, set for Nov. 27-Dec. 11, will be accepted beginning July 15. The entry fee is $1,000 for all events. WSOB VIII will be open to PBA members only.

SUNCOAST SENIOR U.S. OPEN WAS ONE FOR THE BOOKS
Pete Weber’s record-setting victory in the Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open included a fourth consecutive PBA50 Tour title, but that was just one in a series of highlights from the PBA50 Tour’s first major championship of the 2016 season:

● In his third Suncoast Senior U.S. Open Tournament appearance, Weber joined Tom Baker (2005-06), Wayne Webb (2008-09) and Amleto Monacelli (2012-13) as the fourth player to win back-to-back titles in the event. Weber also had a runner-up finish in 2014 when he lost to Norm Duke, 214-174, in the title match.

● Weber’s win was his third PBA50 major title (he also won the 2013 USBC Senior Masters).  Tom Baker has won the most PBA50 majors with four, including two Senior U.S. Opens (2005-2006) and two Senior Masters (2006-2007).

● Weber is tied with the late Earl Anthony for the most majors won in PBA Tour competition (10), but with his three PBA50 Tour majors, Weber has set himself apart with 13 overall majors. Anthony never won a major title in his limited PBA50 Tour career.

Harry Sullins needs a win in the Suncoast Senior U.S. Open to hit for the cycle. With his second place finish this year he now has a second, a third (2011), a fourth (2009) and a fifth-place finish (2010).

XTRA FRAME CONTINUES PBA50, PWBA COVERAGE FROM CALIFORNIA, MIDWEST
Xtra Frame’s exclusively PBA50 Tour coverage of the PBA50 Fountain Valley Open presented by Track concludes today with the final round of match play at 5:45 p.m. and the stepladder finals at 9:45 p.m. (EDT) before PBA’s senior players head to Brentwood, Calif., for the PBA50 Northern California Classic presented by MOTIV, June 13-15. The PBA50 players’ western swing will conclude with the USBC Senior Masters, June 19-25, which will be covered by BowlTV on bowl.com.

Meanwhile, the PWBA Tour continues competition in the Midwest with the Pepsi Lincoln Open from Lincoln, Neb., June 10-11; the Greater Detroit Open from Canton, Mich., June 17-18 and the Go Bowling PWBA Players Championship from Green Bay, Wis., June 24-25. All preliminary rounds to determine PWBA’s CBS Sports Network stepladder finalists air live on Xtra Frame.

Proprietors Cup V, from Beaver Vu Bowl in Beavercreek, Ohio, also will be video-streamed live on Xtra Frame June 11-12.

Three-day ($3.99), 30-day ($7.99) and full year ($64.99) Xtra Frame subscriptions are available by clicking on the Xtra Frame link on pba.com.

PORTLAND’S BAYSIDE BOWL BREAKS GROUND FOR EXPANSION
Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine, current home to the PBA Maine Experience, including PBA League Elias Cup competition and the Xtra Frame PBA Maine Shootout, has begun its multi-million-dollar expansion project that will add eight lanes to its existing facility along with a rooftop deck, mezzanine level and more.

"We're excited to be here because we think over the next 10 to 15 years, Bayside is going to be a place where there is a lot more housing, a lot more retail, a lot more people living, working and eating," said co-owner and state Senator Justin Alfond. "I think we will be at the center of it."

The expansion project is expected to create 30-40 summer construction jobs and 15-20 new full-time jobs when the project is completed in November.

QUBICA AMF PBA REGIONAL UPDATE: WEEKEND EVENTS SET FOR NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA
The busy summer of QubicaAMF PBA Regional competition continues over the June 10-12 weekend with the Homefield Bowl Eastern Open presented by MOTIV in Yonkers, N.Y., and the PBA50 and PBA Vanessa Brown Homes West Opens, both presented by Hammer, at Yosemite Lanes in Modesto, Calif.

● QubicaAMF PBA Regional events scheduled for the June 17-19 weekend include the Timmy See Memorial South Open at Nassau Bowling Center in Yulee, Fla.; the PWBA, PBA and PBA50 Secoma Lanes West/Northwest Opens presented by Storm in Federal Way, Wash.; the Rackbusters Pro Shop East Challenge at Bowlerama in New Castle, Del., and the Strike n Spare II Adrenaline Midwest Classic in Lockport, Ill. PBA Challenge events are open to players who have not won a PBA title.

● Closing out the June schedule of QubicaAMF PBA Regional events over the June 24-26 weekend will be the Battle at Black Oak Casino West Open at Black Oak Lanes in Tuolumne, Calif.; the Pro Bowl West Center/Midwest Challenge presented by Columbia 300 in Fort Wayne, Ind., and the PBA/PBA50 AMF Fredericksburg Over/Under 50 Doubles presented by Radical in Fredericksburg, Va. The June 24-26 weekend also will include the Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports PBA Open in Lubbock, Texas.

● For complete QubicaAMF PBA Regional schedules, rules and entry information, visit pba.com, open the “schedules” tab and click on QubicaAMF Regional Tours to find the event(s) in your area. For more information about QubicaAMF, visit www.qubicaamf.com or, for social media posts, visit http://bit.ly/QAMFSponsorship1.

QUICK NOTES:
● Last call: applications for the $1,000 2016 PBA Billy Welu Scholarship Award which recognizes exemplary qualities in male or female college students who compete in the sport of bowling are due by the June 15 postmark deadline. The application can be retrieved by downloading two PDF files using this link http://www.pba.com/Corporate/Scholarships. Nominations can be sent to scholarships@pba.com or through the U.S. mail at PBA Billy Welu Scholarship, 55 E. Jackson Blvd., Suite 401, Chicago, IL 60604.

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