ISBT Tour 2019 Stop 8
La Factory, Moussy Le Neuf, France
14th to 18th August 2019
Champions: Catherine Roux and Hermann Wimmer
The eighth stop on the 2019 ISBT tour was again in France, returning to La Factory in Moussy Le Neuf, near Paris. With 119 men and 30 women competing, this tournament has quickly become one of the most popular events on the tour. The format for the tournament was two blocks of 6 games qualifying, with the lowest block optionally being replaced by a better re-entry score.
For those not able to qualify through the main leaderboard, there were additional opportunities through Turbo games and a Desperado squad. Age bonus started at age 51 (1 pin per game), then increased by a pin for every additional year of age with no limit. As with all ISBT events, there was a separate division for ladies.
There were 14 qualifying squads, spread over four days. The first day was led by Georges Torok from France with 1309 including bonus, just ahead of Daniel Favre-Bulle from Switzerland. French ladies led the ladies’ section on day 1, with Christiane Clerc scoring 1165, ahead of Nadia Goron.
The second day saw Hermann Wimmer from Germany take an easy lead with 1436, ahead of Gery Verbruggen from Belgium with 1323. In the ladies’ section, Martina Beckel from Germany had the two best scores of the day, including a 1309 block, to ensure her place in the finals. Farida Pascoal-Blom from the Netherlands, and Sylvie Robert from France also had good blocks.
The third day went to English bowlers, with Ron Oldfield’s 1404 putting him top, ahead of Steven Jeeves. Angie Brown was highest in the ladies’ section with 1180, just ahead of Brigitte Fevier from France.
There were three blocks on the final qualifying day, with English bowlers leading every squad. Suren Johanssen being top of the first squad with 1302. Frank Stander, took the second squad with 1359, and Ian Buckland rounded out with the best score of the day with 1403. Catherine Roux from France took the first ladies’ squad of the day with 1163, Veronique Perniaux from Belgium took the second, and Kimberley Oakley from England won the last to ensure her finals place.
The top four men from the overall standing would miss the first final round, these were Hermann Wimmer with 2804, Ron Oldfield with 2721, Frank Stander with 2650, and Giorgio Desimio from Belgium with 2626. The men’s cut in 30th place was Zdenek Havlicek from Czechia with 2487. Four Early Bird, Two Turbo and two Scratch qualifiers would join them in the finals, with the remainder having to compete in the Desperado if they wished to continue in the tournament.
Martina Beckel led the ladies’ qualification by over 200 pins from Angie Brown and Farida Pascoal-Blom. The cut for the final rounds in 11th place was Lynne Walker from Wales with 2232. Two Early Bird, One Turbo and one Scratch qualifier would join them in the final, leaving one place to be filled from the Desperado squad.
Twelve men and two women took part in the Desperado. Didier Thomas from France and Doug Sinclair from England were the two male qualifiers, while Anna Yang from the Netherlands was the sole female qualifier.
The first final round for the men took place early on Sunday morning, with 36 men taking part. The top 20 would go forward to the next round after a four game block, starting from zero. Mo Singleton from England was top with 922, just ahead of Bruno Defeutrelle from France. There was a three way tie for 20th place, and Jurgen Laermans from Belgium took the final place in the next round as he had least age bonus.
The next round of four games would see the top 8 go forward to the knockout finals. Ron Oldfield won this round with 1011, some distance ahead of Hermann Wimmer. Last qualifier was Gery Verbruggen with 857. In the ladies’ section, Martina Beckel continued to lead with 822, ahead of Veronique Perniaux. Farida Pascoal-Blom was the last player to make the next round with 719.
The following rounds each saw two bowlers eliminated in each division over a two game block, until only four remained. In the men’s section, Ron Oldfield, Roger Pieters from Belgium, Gery Verbruggen and Hermann Wimmer were the final four players. After one game, Hermann Wimmer had established a lead of 31 pins over the remainder of the pack, thanks to a 270 game. However, in the second game, his scoring pace dropped dramatically, allowing the others to catch up. With one frame to go, Hermann Wimmer just needed a spare to be sure of victory. However, he left a washout, so needed to convert it to get ahead of Gery Verbruggen. He did this perfectly, to take his 9th ISBT title, ahead of Gery Verbruggen and Roger Pieters.
In the ladies’ final, it was very close after one game, with Martina Beckel just ahead of Kimberley Oakley and Farida Pascoal-Blom. However, just as in the men’s final, the leader struggled in the second game, with Martina Beckel dropping to finish in fourth place. Catherine Roux managed to get the strikes going to score a 227 game, and take her first ISBT title, ahead of Farida Pascoal-Blom and Kimberley Oakley.
The next stop is the Stroud Senior Open in Stroud, England. The tournament runs from the 18th to 22nd September 2019. Full details are available at the ISBT web site, http://www.isbtbowlingtour.eu/
Results
http://bowling.lexerbowling.com/factory/isbtmoussy-le-neuf2019/
