An old school format of 6 games, cut to the top 24, 2 games, cut to the top 12, 2 more games cut to the top 6, then 2 final games to decide the winner !
This was a battle in every sense of the word… picking our hardest pattern to date the PBA Jr Crawley pattern. 44ft with 28mil and 3.8 : 1 ratio that just falls into the “sport” category rather than the Challenge caregory. I knew it was going to play tough… I didn’t think it would play AS tough as it did.
We were going to originally put this down for the Crawley event, but with Crawley being a new tournament centre for many I didn’t want such a hard pattern for bowlers first visit to that centre… so instead we gave it a spin at the Airport. I also wanted a tough one, as it felt the last event was a bit too friendly.
Lets get into the action…
The early stages of squad 1 showed promise of some good scoring. Neil Highgate opening with a 233 and Steve Flynn going 246, 236. But then the pattern bit… and the 150’s 60’s and 70’s kicked in…
The top two from the AM squad were 2 bowlers who were sneaky late entries – in 2nd was Richie “revs” Lewis on 1224 with hcp and leading the pack was Charlton Tucker on 1236 with hcp. Our highest placed scratch bowlers was Steve Flynn on 1185 leaving him 5th
From the PM squad the scores were even lower. Linda Pray got herself into 3rd on 1218 and Nick Longworh was now in 4th on 1210 with hcp.
The cut to the top 24 came in at Michael Sykes 1138 with hcp. Many of the scratch bowlers dropped out the competition needing therapy and first aid to our ego’s
Only 3 scratch bowlers made the cut, Steve Flynn on 1185, Lobbers on 1152 and Basher on 1143.
Round 2 – and another 2 games…
It seemed every time they dressed the lanes they got harder !
Charlton and Rev’s moved down a position as the Purple Princess Elaine Davey soared up the field to take top spot. The cut came in at Mike Bergquist on 1561 with hcp – that’s a 195 average. There were only 3 200 games rolled out of the total 48 games bowled in Rd 2….
In fact, we wouldn’t see another 200 game in the whole competition.
Round 3… 2 more games.
Elaine Davey held on to top spot, and Charlton was still in 2nd… but making a big charge up the field after a 175 and 160 games ! was Mike Bergquist. Mike moving up from 12th to 3rd.
The cut to the final 6 was Richie Revs on 1980 a 198 average with hcp. It might be a low scoring tough pattern but it was compelling viewing with only 33pins separating 6th from 1st and literally going into the final 2 game anyone could win this… it just needed a BIG game from someone, like a 180 or a 190 !!
Final round
The battle of cuts had been a real battle and there were some tired bodies and minds out there.
But it was so close… bowlers were just trying to hit the head pin and make their spares.
Elaine opened with a 119 game and struggled to recover eventually finishing in 5th. Charlton Tucker finished in 3rd place… Mike Bergquist looked like he had the title, but a flurry of spares and a strike here and there saw Nick Longworth hit a final game of 192 and that saw him win the title by just 1 pin from Mike ! – after 12 games… it came down to 1 pin !!!
Closest ever finish to any tournament…
What a grind that was ! But it gave a chance for the spotlight to shine on bowlers who don’t usually grab the headlines.
Nick takes home £450 in cash, and Qubica Striking Shirt, and any ball from the current Motiv range including the new Forge Fuel – https://www.motivbowling.com/
We paid out to 8th place… Thanks to the great sponsorship from https://uk.qubicaamf.com/ and from RBS Proshop based at the Airport bowl. One of the biggest and best equipped proshops in the country – check out their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/rbsproshops?locale=en_GB
That was a tough event… it was case of back to basics… bowling ugly. Hitting the head pin either side and making sure you were strong on your spares. You couldn’t afford to miss single pins and miss makeables.
So the final event of the 2026 series is Battle of Cuts – DOUBLES !!! – enter here https://form.jotform.com/231242549866362 on September 20th.
This series of events gets backed by Qubica – It be great if you the bowlers showed your appreciation which might help me secure some sponsorship in 2027 just emai Qubica, saying how much you’ve enjoyed the events and how great a job I’ve done – – just click on this link https://uk.qubicaamf.com/contact/general-inquires?country=40164&cat=dsm&people_uid=b76f5a29fa044683a8edff0497ffe108
Thank you.
Results