2nd event of Qubica Summer Series was the Hollywood Shootout played at the Hollywood bowl, Crawley.
I visited this bowl in 2024 to watch my kids in a junior tournament and I was really impressed just at how welcome the bowl made us all feel and especially the head tech Trevor Hammond-Thayre who went above and beyond for the bowlers. It’s always good to see a technician who is also a bowler. So, I reached out to Trevor in the autumn of 2025 and he convinced the bosses to get this event booked in.
Format was nice and simple – just a straight 7 games with whoever scoring most winning !
The Pattern followed on from Dunstable, diving into the Junior Gold pattern library for a 41ft pattern with 29ml of oil and a ratio of 4.8:1
Two squads an AM and PM.
In the AM home hero Steve Flynn finished top on 1608 a 229.7 average – not bad for someone who had no idea what the pattern was and when he was told exclaimed, he had left all the right balls at home. In 2nd was Alan Meades who recovered from a sluggish start to finish on 1509 a 216 average. And in 3rd was tournament executive Richie Beck on 1506.
The handicap leader at this point was Darren Hall who finished strongly to shoot a 1573 with Khashi Ashtari in 2nd place.
Next up was the PM squad. Matt Trotter started off strongly, Steve Thornton started off sluggishly being tapped all over the place. Also bowling well was Westy the Beast from the East who shot a 730 for the first 3. Another starting well was Paul Morris… he was hobbling up there like he just got off a horse, or a horse had just got of him, either way. But he was banging in the strikes shooting a 680 for the first 3.
Going down the home straight the lanes came to Thornton and he banged in a couple of 240’s to drag himself into contention. Paul Morris was maintaining he’s earlier scoring pace and was in real contention for the title. Matt Trotter was boring… boringly good, as usual. Westy’s scoring pace had dipped, but was still right in the mix to challenge the round 1 leaders
So how it all washed out after we inputted the scores in the Lobbers300 computer system
Scratch
1st – Chris West +227
2nd – Steve Flynn +208
3rd – Matter Trotter +194
4th – Steve Thornton +149
Handicap
1st – Paul Morris +264
2nd – Darren Hall +173
3rd – Kashai Astari +128
4th – Pete Sampson +127
Congratulations to our winners Westy and Paul who both win a Qubica AMF Summer series Striking shirt – check out the range – https://strikingshirts.bigcartel.com/
There was also an additional prize for the ladies of £50 for highest placed lady with Handicap – there was a tie between Debbie Payne and Kimberley Oakley who both rolled a 1488 – so it went to Kim, who actually had the tournament high game as her last game a 279 scratch and a 289 handicap.
And let’s not forget the pin the tail on Basher’s ass competition. Everyone who took part guessed at Bashers score after 7 games – there were some very ambitious guesses. Sandra Simmonds greatly over estimated my skill levels and guessed 1540 ! – whereas some people obviously had never heard about my YAC wins back in the 90s and guessed low scores – like Kashai (1242) and Gary Cooper (1257). My bowling has never been under such intense scrutiny. I had people cheering my opens and conversely celebrating my spares and strikes as my scores took them closer to their predictions. In the end I finished with 1402 – and the person who was closest was Alan Meades who predicted I’d score a 1401 !
Alan wins a 3 ball rolling tote bag, supplied by Motiv Uk – check out their range here – https://www.motivbowling.com/ – All motiv products are orderable from your local proshop and will be delivered from the Uk in quick time.
A fantastic tournament, and it was the first time many of us had bowled at Hollywood Crawley and we all agreed it was a great venue and we’d like more tournaments there if the bowl will have us.
Thanks you’s – Richie Beck and Karen Paslow, Lobbers… and Trevor the bowls tech and the manager and staff at the bowl. All the bowlers who make these events so enjoyable for me to run and bowl in.
On to the next event – 9th August its the mixed trios at Dunstable – please get your teams together and fill out the entry form which is here – – – https://form.jotform.com/231242549866362
And over the August bank Holiday it’s the big one – The Qubica Senior London Matchplay, with a £1,000 first prize.
Entry form here https://form.jotform.com/260782904757064
Results