PBA Scorpion Championship

Australia’s Jason Belmonte Paces PBA Scorpion Championship Qualifying

Third strong round keeps Brandon Novak in PBA World Championship qualifying lead

RENO, Nev. (Dec. 1, 2016) – Australia’s two-handed star, Jason Belmonte, caught fire Thursday to lead qualifying in the Professional Bowlers Association Scorpion Championship, presented by Reno Tahoe USA, at the National Bowling Stadium.

The Scorpion Championship is the third of four animal pattern qualifying stages in GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII competition, leading into the PBA World Championship finals that will air live on ESPN on Sunday, Dec. 11, at 1 p.m. ET. After 24 qualifying games, 24-year-old Brandon Novak of Chillicothe, Ohio, a fourth-year PBA member who uses an unconventional sidearm delivery, maintained his PBA World Championship lead with a third straight strong round.

Belmonte, who has qualified for 14 television shows and has won three of his 12 career titles in his previous seven World Series of Bowling events, has yet to win a title in 2016 as he tries to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive PBA Player of the Year award. But things changed Thursday when he had his best WSOB performance in two years.

After he opened his eight-game Scorpion round with a 189 game, he caught fire, rolling games of 269, 236, 214, 247, 35, 289 and 245 for a 1,924 total after finishing 44th in the Cheetah Championship qualifying round Tuesday and 66th in the Chameleon Championship round Wednesday.

“Bowling to me is so much about where and how your ball goes through the pins, and that’s the difference between 300 pins over and 100 pins over (a 200 average),” Belmonte said about finishing plus-324 in the Scorpion round vs. plus-150 in his Cheetah round and plus-114 on the Chameleon lane condition. “I haven’t left the bowling center the previous two days feeling like I bowled poorly; I just couldn’t get my ball through the pins to strike.

“So today I made a few changes and I started striking. When the pins are falling on the PBA Tour, you have to take advantage,” he said. “After the first game, I changed balls, changed where I was playing, changed my speed and it worked. You know when you throw the ball right, it’s going to strike.”

By averaging 240.5 on the 47-foot Scorpion lane condition, Belmonte out-paced Matt O’Grady of Matawan, N.J., by 26 pins. O’Grady, with a 1,898 total for his eight games, was 16 pins ahead of EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind. (1,882), 20 pins ahead of Shawn Maldonado of Houston, Texas (1,878) and 29 pins ahead of fifth-place Kris Prather of Milton, Fla.

Novak, who is trying for his first PBA Tour title, qualified 20th in the Scorpion event Thursday after leading the Cheetah round Tuesday and finishing sixth in Wednesday’s Chameleon round, averaging 224.76 over 24 games to lead BJ Moore III of Greensburg, Pa., by 58 pins in the PBA World Championship race. Tackett is third with 5,558 pins, followed by Mitch Beasley of Clarksville, Tenn., with a 5,483 total and 2013 PBA World Champion Dom Barrett of England in fifth place with 5,464 pins.

WSOB VIII competition continues Friday with qualifying in the PBA Shark Championship, the final PBA World Championship qualifying round. After the Shark stage, the top 42 players based on 32-game pinfall totals for the four animal patterns will advance to the PBA World Championship cashers round on Sunday.

All qualifying and match play elimination rounds in the World Series are being covered live, exclusively by PBA’s online live-streaming service, Xtra Frame. To sign up for an Xtra Frame subscription, visit xtraframe.tv.

PBA SCORPION CHAMPIONSHIP

presented by Reno Tahoe USA

National Bowling Stadium, Reno, Nev., Thursday

Final Standings (after 8 games; top 24 advance to best-of-five-game match play elimination round on Wednesday, Dec. 7; top 8 earn byes for the Round of 24):

1, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 1,924.
2, Matthew O’Grady, South Amboy, N.J., 1,898.
3, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 1,882.
4, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 1,878.
5, Kristopher Prather, Milton, Fla., 1,869.
6, Sam Cooley, Australia, 1,856.
7, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 1,852.
8, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 1,838.
9, Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 1,834.
10, Dom Barrett, England, 1,831.
11 (tie), Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., and A.J. Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 1,827.
13 (tie), Andrew Graff, Las Vegas, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 1,826.
15, B.J. Moore III, Greensburg, Pa., 1,820.
16, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 1,815.
17 (tie), Jesper Svensson, Sweden, and Benjamin Canfield, Tempe, Ariz., 1,812.
19, Lonnie Waliczek, Wichita, Kan., 1,811.
20, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 1,802.
21 (tie), Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., and Nicholas Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., 1,801.
23 (tie), Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, and Martin Larsen, Sweden, 1,800.
Failed to advance:

25, Richie Teece, England, 1,797.
26, w-Summer Jasmin, Beckley, W.Va., 1,795.
27 (tie), Matt McNiel, Minneapolis, and John Furey, Freehold, N.J., 1,789.
29, Carsten Hansen, Denmark, 1,788.
30, Graham Fach, Canada, 1,785.
31, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 1,783.
32, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 1,780.
33 (tie), Francois Lavoie, Canada, and Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 1,779.
35, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 1,776.
36, Lucas Legnani, Argentina, 1,771.
37, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 1,770.
38, Chris Warren, Grants Pass, Ore., 1,764.
39, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,759.
40, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 1,753.
41, Brett Cunningham, Clay, N.Y., 1,751.
42 (tie), Jesse Buss, Belvidere, Ill., and Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 1,744.
44, Patrick Dombrowski, Parma, Ohio, 1,742.
45, Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 1,740.
46, Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, 1,738.
47, Patrick Girard, Canada, 1,734.
48, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,732.
49, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,727.
50, Nathan Bohr, Austin, Texas, 1,726.
51 (tie), Kevin Donovan, Painted Post, N.Y., and Kim Bolleby, Thailand, 1,725.
53, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 1,724.
54, Isaac Russell, Malaysia, 1,723.
55, Tobias Boerding, Germany, 1,722.
56, Mik Stampe, Denmark, 1,718.
57 (tie), Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, and Jon Van Hees, Charlestown, R.I., 1,717.
59, LeVinc Samuels, Bermuda, 1,715.
60, Zhiyong Wang, China, 1,714.
61, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 1,711.
62, Bob Learn Jr., Erie, Pa., 1,710.
63, Chris Bolosan, Newport News, Va., 1,709.
64, Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 1,707.
65, Blake Demore, Springfield, Mo., 1,705.
66, Stuart Williams, England, 1,703.
67, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 1,700.
68, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 1,699.
69 (tie), Russell Lopes, Carmichael, Calif.; David Maycock, Bermuda, and J.R. Raymond, Bay City, Mich., 1,694.
72, Ryan Graywacz, Feeding Hills, Mass., 1,692.
73 (tie), Jonathan Wilbur, North Clarendon, Vt., and Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,691.
75, David Haynes, Las Vegas, 1,690.
75, Clint Land, Houston, 1,690.
77, Liu Shaoyi, China, 1,689.
78 (tie), Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., and Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 1,688.
80 (tie), Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., and Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 1,686.
82 (tie), Jakob Butturff, Chandler, Ariz., and Cameron Weier, Tacoma, Wash., 1,681.
84, Ron Mohr, Las Vegas, 1,680.
85, w-Daria Pajak, Poland, 1,678.
86 (tie), Craig LeMond, Jasper, Ind., and Markus Jansson, Sweden, 1,677.
88 (tie), Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, and Francois Louw, South Africa, 1,675.
90, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,672.
91, Darren Tang, San Francisco, Calif., 1,671.
92, Bryon Smith, Roseburg, Ore., 1,668.
93, Anthony Pepe, Elmhurst, N.Y., 1,667.
94, Jason Sterner, Cocoa, Fla., 1,659.
95 (tie), Osku Palermaa, Finland, and Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,657.
97, Jeff Evans, Supply, N.C., 1,655.
98, Steven Arehart, Chesapeake, Va., 1,651.
99, Chris Arcaro, Wilmington, N.C., 1,650.
100, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 1,646.
101, Zhang Haitao, China, 1,642.
102, Paul Moor, England, 1,637.
103, Mohamed Janahi, Bahrain, 1,636.
104, J.T. Jackson, Sherman Oaks, Calif., 1,634.
105, w-Ingelimar Beasley, Venezuela, 1,633.
106, Mike DeVaney, Winchester, Calif., 1,628.
107 (tie), Zhongli Mi, China; Wang Hongbo, China, and Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 1,627.
110, w-Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,626.
111 (tie), Andres Gomez, Colombia; Anton Ahlgren, Sweden, and Dave Wodka, Beavercreek, Ohio, 1,619.
114, Daniel Fransson, Sweden, 1,618.
115 (tie), Derek Handy, Redmond, Wash., and Kevin Croucher, Grants Pass, Ore., 1,614.
117, D.J. Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 1,613.
118, Hashim Guinomla, Philippines, 1,611.
119 (tie), Michael Wittendorff, Denmark, and Kristian Rogers, Salisbury, N.C., 1,610.
121 (tie), Gary Faulkner Jr., Memphis, Tenn., and Lars Nielsen, Denmark, 1,603.
123, Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 1,601.
124 (tie), PJ Haggerty, Roseville, Calif.; Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan.; Brad Miller, Maryland Heights, Mo., and Qi Wankang, China, 1,593.
128 (tie), Brett Cooper, Denver, and Aaron Lorincz, Belleville, Mich., 1,592.
130, Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 1,590.
131, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 1,580.
132, Wang Dali, China, 1,578.
133, Martin Bedford, Altus, Okla., 1,576.
134, Jeremy Mooney, West Palm Beach, Fla., 1,566.
135, Lou Yi, China, 1,565.
136, Cody McCowin, Daytona Beach, Fla., 1,561.
137, Xu Chen, China, 1,560.
138, Noel Vazquez, Sacramento, Calif., 1,559.
139, w-Ashly Galante, Palm Harbor, Fla., 1,556.
140, Jonathan Hocsman, Argentina, 1,554.
141, Pascal Winternheimer, Germany, 1,553.
142 (tie), Douglas Hankins, Boise, Idaho, and Pontus Andersson, Sweden, 1,550.
144, Adam Wilson, Reno, Nev., 1,541.
145, David Krol, Nixa, Mo., 1,539.
146, Rickai Binns, Bermuda, 1,538.
147, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 1,536.
148, Patrick Allen, South Salem, N.Y., 1,533.
149, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 1,510.
150, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 1,503.
151, Ray Teece, England, 1,502.
152, Stephen Bennett, Hampton, Va., 1,493.
153, w-Anggie Ramirez, Colombia, 1,491.
154, w-Liz Kuhlkin, Rotterdam, N.Y., 1,483.
155, John Szczerbinski, N. Tonawanda, N.Y., 1,469.
156, Will Vidulich, Parsippany, N.J., 1,468.
157, Agustin Aranguren, Argentina, 1,462.
158, Mateo Hernandez, Argentina, 1,454.
159, Casey Knutson, Sparks, Nev., 1,442.
160, Michael Duran, Banning, Calif., 1,431.
161, Tim Frenz, Dickinson, N.D., 1,394.
162, Xiao Lu, China, 1,380.
163, Cody Copeland, Abilene, Texas, 1,366.
164, Matthew Wozney, Clayton, Del., 1,364.
165, Steve Ford, Seaside, Ore., 1,355.
166, w-Jill Creamer, Folsom, Calif., 1,298.
167, Adrian McCoy, British Virgin Islands, 1,269.
168, Yong-Jin Gu, South Korea, withdrew.

300 Games: PJ Haggerty.

PBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Qualifying Standings (after 24 of 32 games; 8 games each in Cheetah, Chameleon and Scorpion Championship rounds):

1, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 5,619.
2, B.J. Moore III, Greensburg, Pa., 5,561.
3, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 5,558.
4, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 5,483.
5, Dom Barrett, England, 5,464.
6, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 5,462.
7, Sam Cooley, Australia, 5,419.
8, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 5,417.
9, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 5,416.
10, Patrick Girard, Canada, 5,402.
11, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 5,395.
12, Matthew O’Grady, South Amboy, N.J., 5,392.
13, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 5,388.
14, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 5,346.
15, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 5,345.
16, Matt McNiel, Minneapolis, 5,342.
17 (tie), Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, and Patrick Dombrowski, Parma, Ohio, 5,331.
19, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 5,322.
20, Kristopher Prather, Milton, Fla., 5,320.
21, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 5,313.
22, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 5,312.
23, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 5,304.
24, Andrew Graff, Las Vegas, 5,296.
25, John Furey, Freehold, N.J., 5,290.
26, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 5,269.
27 (tie), Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, and Francois Louw, South Africa, 5,261.
29, Kevin Donovan, Painted Post, N.Y., 5,260.
30, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 5,255.
31, A.J. Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 5,253.
32, Richie Teece, England, 5,249.
33, Darren Tang, San Francisco, Calif., 5,242.
34, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 5,240.
35, Lonnie Waliczek, Wichita, Kan., 5,238.
36, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 5,237.
37, Liu Shaoyi, China, 5,233.
38, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 5,226.
39, Carsten Hansen, Denmark, 5,224.
40, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 5,222.
41 (tie), Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., and Dave Wodka, Beavercreek, Ohio, 5,220.
43, Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 5,216.
44 (tie), Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, and Jakob Butturff, Chandler, Ariz., 5,205.
46, Benjamin Canfield, Tempe, Ariz., 5,204.
47, Chris Warren, Grants Pass, Ore., 5,203.
48, Mik Stampe, Denmark, 5,201.
49, Bob Learn Jr., Erie, Pa., 5,199.
50, w-Daria Pajak, Poland, 5,198.
51, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 5,196.
52, Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 5,191.
53, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 5,183.
54, Zhiyong Wang, China, 5,176.
55, Lucas Legnani, Argentina, 5,173.
56 (tie), Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind.; Nicholas Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., and Cameron Weier, Tacoma, Wash., 5,169.
59 (tie), Jon Van Hees, Charlestown, R.I., and Daniel Fransson, Sweden, 5,167.
61, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 5,166.
62, Ron Mohr, Las Vegas, 5,164.
63 (tie), Osku Palermaa, Finland, and Chris Arcaro, Wilmington, N.C., 5,161.
65 (tie), Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind.; Nathan Bohr, Austin, Texas, and Mike DeVaney, Winchester, Calif., 5,155.
68, Stuart Williams, England, 5,149.
69, J.R. Raymond, Bay City, Mich., 5,148.
70, Jeff Evans, Supply, N.C., 5,143.
71 (tie), Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, and Bryon Smith, Roseburg, Ore., 5,137.
73, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 5,135.
74, Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, 5,130.
75, Markus Jansson, Sweden, 5,126.
76, David Haynes, Las Vegas, 5,124.
77 (tie), Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., and Jason Sterner, Cocoa, Fla., 5,118.
79, Jesse Buss, Belvidere, Ill., 5,116.
80, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 5,112.
81, Graham Fach, Canada, 5,101.
82 (tie), Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., and Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 5,094.
84, Brad Miller, Maryland Heights, Mo., 5,088.
85, PJ Haggerty, Roseville, Calif., 5,087.
86, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 5,084.
87, w-Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 5,069.
88, Anton Ahlgren, Sweden, 5,064.
89, Pascal Winternheimer, Germany, 5,033.
90, Mohamed Janahi, Bahrain, 5,032.
91, Steven Arehart, Chesapeake, Va., 5,020.
92, Patrick Allen, South Salem, N.Y., 5,019.
93 (tie), Jonathan Wilbur, North Clarendon, Vt., and Craig LeMond, Jasper, Ind., 5,017.
95, Brett Cunningham, Clay, N.Y., 5,010.
96, Blake Demore, Springfield, Mo., 5,009.
97, LeVinc Samuels, Bermuda, 4,996.
98, Anthony Pepe, Elmhurst, N.Y., 4,988.
99, Chris Bolosan, Newport News, Va., 4,981.
100, Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 4,969.
101, Isaac Russell, Malaysia, 4,958.
102, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 4,957.
103, Tobias Boerding, Germany, 4,948.
104, Kim Bolleby, Thailand, 4,947.
105, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 4,944.
106, Wang Hongbo, China, 4,942.
107, w-Summer Jasmin, Beckley, W.Va., 4,925.
108, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 4,924.
109, Kevin Croucher, Grants Pass, Ore., 4,921.
110, Zhongli Mi, China, 4,920.
111, Noel Vazquez, Sacramento, Calif., 4,919.
112, Michael Wittendorff, Denmark, 4,914.
113, Hashim Guinomla, Philippines, 4,909.
114, Kristian Rogers, Salisbury, N.C., 4,899.
115, Ryan Graywacz, Feeding Hills, Mass., 4,898.
116 (tie), Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., and Pontus Andersson, Sweden, 4,895.
118, Lars Nielsen, Denmark, 4,891.
119, Aaron Lorincz, Belleville, Mich., 4,890.
120, D.J. Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 4,884.
121, Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 4,849.
122, Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan., 4,840.
123, Zhang Haitao, China, 4,834.
124, David Krol, Nixa, Mo., 4,832.
125, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 4,828.
126 (tie), Andrew Cain, Phoenix, and Brett Cooper, Denver, 4,825.
128, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 4,819.
129, Xu Chen, China, 4,806.
130, Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 4,803.
131, Gary Faulkner Jr., Memphis, Tenn., 4,800.
132, w-Anggie Ramirez, Colombia, 4,791.
133, Wang Dali, China, 4,789.
134, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 4,788.
135, Cody McCowin, Daytona Beach, Fla., 4,785.
136, Clint Land, Houston, 4,776.
137, David Maycock, Bermuda, 4,768.
138, Paul Moor, England, 4,766.
139, w-Ingelimar Beasley, Venezuela, 4,757.
140, Ray Teece, England, 4,741.
141, Russell Lopes, Carmichael, Calif., 4,736.
142, Lou Yi, China, 4,727.
143, w-Ashly Galante, Palm Harbor, Fla., 4,718.
144, Casey Knutson, Sparks, Nev., 4,680.
145, Matthew Wozney, Clayton, Del., 4,658.
146, Martin Bedford, Altus, Okla., 4,657.
147, w-Liz Kuhlkin, Rotterdam, N.Y., 4,625.
148, Jonathan Hocsman, Argentina, 4,620.
149, Qi Wankang, China, 4,607.
150, John Szczerbinski, N. Tonawanda, N.Y., 4,595.
151, Jeremy Mooney, West Palm Beach, Fla., 4,574.
152, Derek Handy, Redmond, Wash., 4,566.
153, Michael Duran, Banning, Calif., 4,539.
154, Adam Wilson, Reno, Nev., 4,530.
155, Agustin Aranguren, Argentina, 4,471.
156, Douglas Hankins, Boise, Idaho, 4,466.
157, J.T. Jackson, Sherman Oaks, Calif., 4,437.
158, Will Vidulich, Parsippany, N.J., 4,393.
159, ss-Steve Ford, Seaside, Ore., 4,367.
160, Rickai Binns, Bermuda, 4,365.
161, Mateo Hernandez, Argentina, 4,324.
162, Stephen Bennett, Hampton, Va., 4,308.
163, Tim Frenz, Dickinson, N.D., 4,282.
164, w-Jill Creamer, Folsom, Calif., 4,105.
165, Xiao Lu, China, 3,997.
166, Cody Copeland, Abilene, Texas, 3,976.
167, Adrian McCoy, British Virgin Islands, 3,766.
168, Yong-Jin Gu, South Korea, 3,105.
169, w-April Lord Wittig, Steilacoom, Wash., 3,023.

w-denotes woman.

About the PBA

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is an organization of more than 3,200 of the best bowlers from 27 countries who compete in PBA Tour, PBA International Tour, QubicaAMF PBA Regional Tour, PWBA/PBA Women’s Regional and PBA50 Tour events. The PBA is in its 57th consecutive year of nationally-televised competition, reaching bowling fans around the world who follow PBA activities through the PBA Network which includes Xtra Frame, the PBA’s exclusive online bowling channel, ESPN and CBS Sports Network, and the PBA on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. PBA sponsors include Barbasol, Brunswick, Ebonite International, GEICO, Grand Casino Hotel and Resort, HotelPlanner.com, MOTIV, 900 Global, PBA Bowling Challenge Mobile Game, QubicaAMF, Silver Legacy Resort & Casino, South Point Hotel Casino and Spa, Storm Products and the United States Bowling Congress, among others. For more information, log on to www.pba.com.