Tom Hess remains unchallenged; wins qualifying in 9th Brunswick Euro Challenge

    03/25/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #4

    Tom Hess remains unchallenged; wins qualifying in 9th Brunswick Euro Challenge USBC Masters champion leads 399-player field from 35 countries with 25.5 average; Christian Racpan, Germany, is the sole player of ultimate Squad 25 to move into the top 52; cut for 52nd place is 1358 (226.33 avg.)

    2012EBT04TomHess3.jpg2012EBT04ChristianRacpan.jpg

    Tom Hess (pictured left), United States, won the qualifying of the 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge to lead total 64 players into Sunday's finals at Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin in suburban Paris, France. The 2011 USBC Masters champion led a field of 399 players, 81 women and 118 men, from 35 countries with 1533 pinfall and an average of 255.50.

    Christian Racpan (right) of Germany was the sole player of the ultimate qualifying squad 25 who moved into the top 52, who survived the first cut. Racpan rolled games of 183, 248, 231, 236, 245 and 256 to leap 60 spots from 83rd to 23rd place with 1399 pinfall total and an average of 233.17 for six games.

    2012EBT04DinoCastillo.jpg2012EBT04MikeFagan.jpgHess' compatriots Dino Castillo (left; 1531), Mike Fagan (right; 1514), and Sean Rash (1488) finished qualifying in second to fourth place. Stuart Williams of England was the top non-U.S. bowler in fifth place with 1475.

    Past PBA World Champion Tom Smallwood was sixth with 1465. Places seven to nine belonged to Finnish national team members. Joonas Jehkinen was seventh with 1464 and was followed by reigning PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi with 1453 and reigning PBA World Champion Osku Palermaa with 1449.

    2012EBT04AndersLousdal.jpg2012EBT04RaymondTeece2.jpgAnders Lousdal, Denmark, was tenth with 1439. Raymond Teece, England, was the sole player who cracked the 12 on Saturday when he rolled a 1428 series in Squad 24 to take over 11th place. Rounding out the top 12, who will bypass the first round of the finals starting at 8 a.m Central European Summer Time on Sunday morning, was Josh Blanchard, United States, with 1428 but the lower last game than Teece, 270 to 278.

    Liz Johnson (below left), United States, was the best of twelve women in the top 52. The Women's U.S. Open and USBC Queens titlist had 1369 scratch in Squad 13, an average of 228.17, and added 48 pins handicap for 1417, good for 17th place.

    2012EBT04LizJohnson.jpg2012EBT04AmandineJacques.jpgAmandine Jacques (right) was the sole French bowler in the top 52 in 30th place with 1338 including handicap.

    Danish international Mik Stampe took the 52nd and last place to advance to the finals with 1358 and an average of 226.33.

    The top eight players from a separate leaderboard of squads 1-8 got a wild card for the finals and were seeded in 53rd through 60th place. Joining those 60 players in the finals were the top four player of the one-game Desperado Squad, Charis Panayiotou, Cyprus, 268; Jake Peters, United States, 246; Sami Heinila, Finland, 239; and Mikael Kanold, Sweden, 237, while it was "cab day" for other 335 players.

    Photo Gallery Part 1 Photos Beat Grauwiler/Bowlingdigital.com.

    2011EBT17ClaraGuerrero2_small.jpg The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth tournament on the 2012 European Bowling Tour schedule and one of only two "Platinum" events, the EBT's highest category. The BEC is also the seventh event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour and the second of three WBT events in Europe this season. Colombia's Clara Juliana Guerrero (left) is the defending champion.

    The tournament will be held from March 16-25 at 28-laner Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin near Paris, France and offers total prize money of 106.000 Euro, approximately US $140,000 with 15.000 Euro going to the winner, 7.500 Euro to the runner-up and 5.000 Euro to the third place finisher.

    ValckeBowling.jpg BowlingdigitalBanner.gif The 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge is organized and conducted by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling. Bowlingdigital.com will cover the event live from Le Plaza Bowling with stories and results after each round including live streaming, high definition videos and high quality photos.

    Live streaming of the 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge stepladder finals starts on Sunday, March 25th at 6.30 p.m. Central European Time (12.30 p.m. EST; 12.30 a.m. on the 26th Hong Kong time). The award ceremonies are scheduled for 7.30 p.m. CET.

    The live stream of the stepladder finals of the World Bowling Tour's WTBA International Open, which was contested Wednesday, March 20th at Plaza St. Maximim, can be found here.

    2012BECLogo_small.jpg BEC qualifying ran through Saturday, March. 24 and concluded with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad. Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire event, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 64 players qualified for the finals on Sunday, March 25, the top 52 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 8 of a separate leaderboard of the squads conducted March 16-19 plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad. The top 12 qualifiers received one bye.

    The remaining 52 finalists will bowl six games scratch to cut to the top 16 who will join the top 12 qualifiers in Round Two. Those 28 will bowl another six games scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 8 players who will carry their pinfall total forward into the match play round.

    After seven games round robin match play (30 for each win; 15 for each tie) the top 3 players will determine the champion in a stepladder final. The No. 3 seed bowls the No. 2 seed and the winner of the semifinal match takes on the No. 1 seed for the title and the 15.00 Euro top prize.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour is made up of 21 events in 16 countries including two Platinum, four Gold, eight Silver and seven Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event earn ranking points based on how they finish in the event. The winner of a Platinum tournament such as the Brunswick Euro Challenge receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

    Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 16 men and top 16 women who will compete in the sixth EBT Masters in Bratislava, Slovakia in Sept. 2013.

    2012 European Bowling Tour Rankings
    EBT Women's Ranking
    EBT Men's Ranking

    WBTLogo_small.jpgThe ninth edition of the Brunswick Euro Challenge is also the seventh event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour organized by the World Tenpin Bowling Association. After the Bahamas Classic has been postponed the 2012 WBT consists of 13 tournaments in America, Asia, Europe and Australia - five in the United States and one each in Australia, Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Korea, Kuwait and Thailand.

    Players earn ranking points based on how they finish in each event. The current points system is based on a continuous two-year cycle, so points earned in 2011 are added to points earned in 2012 to determine the points list.

    The top three men and top three women will be invited to compete in the World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the Professional Bowlers Association at the end of 2012 featuring total prize fund of $70,000.

    World Bowling Tour Rankings
    WBT Women's Ranking
    WBT Men's Ranking

    The World Tenpin Bowling Association, which is made up of 115 bowling federations, governs the sport throughout the world. For more information on WTBA and the World Bowling Tour, visit WorldTenpinBowling.com.

     

     

     

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    Standings after Qualifying and Desperado Squad


    The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 8 of a separate leaderboard of the squads 1-8 (places 53-60) plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad (places 61-64) advance to the finals. The top 12 qualifiers receive one bye.


    300 game (1) - Karl Wahlgren

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