Kerry Painter (right), Henderson, Nevada is the third amateur in five weeks to win a Generations Bowling Tour event. Wednesday night he defeated Dale Eagle (left) , 247-200, in the championship game of the Boardman Challenge at Camelot Lanes in Boardman, Ohio to earn the $13,500 top prize. Eagle, for the third time in five weeks, took home the $8,800 runner-up check.

For Painter, pressure is just something you handle as it comes. The former air traffic controller handled it well in his first Generations Bowling Tour event against great bowlers like Dale Eagle, David Ozio and Mark Roth.

In the title match, Painter started with a strike, then left the 8-10 split in the second. Eagle doubled to start the game, then left a 4-pin in the third and missed the spare. Eagle opened again in the 7th, and Painter closed the match with a 6-bagger.

"My knees were shaking a little, but I did what I had to do," said Painter. "I'm just ecstatic that I beat three of the legends of our game, Roth, Ozio, and Eagle to win this title. I'm hoping I can be an inspiration for the guys who haven't come out here who may not think they are good enough to bowl against these guys. You just have to get into the lineup to have a shot at winning. Once you get there, if you can get loose, you have the advantage over the guy coming in, and I was fortunate to have that happen tonight," he said.

"I tried two or three different things that didn't work in the first match, so I just went to the high hard one and it worked pretty good until the last game," said Eagle. "I'm a little disappointed in myself for missing those spares in the title game. That's what cost me the match. You just can't do that against these players," he said.

In previous matches, Painter defeated David Ozio in the Senior division title match, 214-179. Prior to that, he beat Dave Patchen, 166-152 and Mark Roth, 222-219.

In the Classic division, Eagle defeated Gary Dickinson, 181-176, Chuck Pierce, 224-195, and Vinnie Atria, 238-180 prior to meeting Painter in the championship game.

Next week, the GBT moves to Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick, New Jersey for the sixth stop of its inaugural eight city fall swing.

Last week's Generations Bowling Tour winner, David Ozio, has been staying close to Mark Roth all week, and he finally caught him in the final position round game Wednesday to lead the GBT Boardman Challenge going into Wednesday night's stepladder finals. Ozio defeated Roth in the 16th match play game 235-195 to earn a 31 pin lead. Both Ozio and Roth won 11 of their 16 matches.

"This was the toughest condition I have ever bowled on and lead," said Ozio. "But I managed to survive and made the right ball changes today. The oil is moving around as freely as can be and they just got dirt tough. Lucky for me, I caught Roth in the last game on a pair he shot 160 on earlier, and I had 220, 230. In one game anything can happen and we'll see what happens tonight," he said.

Joining Ozio and Roth in the Senior division finals are GBT Detroit Open champion Dave Patchen and Kerry Painter, Henderson, Nevada.

In the Classic division, Vinnia Atria is 255 pins ahead of second place going into Wednesday nights stepladder. Atria posted a 10-6 match play record and is averaging 213.1 for the 32 games rolled thus far.

"These past three weeks; golly what a great run," said Atria. "First of all I want to thank Steve Sanders for being so stubborn and hard-headed on trying to make this tour work, and I just hope we can go all the way with it. As for today, I played a little deeper with a more aggressive ball and I bowled a lot better than yesterday. It's been fantastic. I just hope I can do it again tonight," he said.

Others in the top 4 Classic division finals are Chuck Pierce, Dallas, Texas in second, Dale Eagle, and Gary Dickinson.

The top 8 will roll in the stepladder finals at Camelot Lanes Wednesday night at 6 pm. The two division winners will compete for the title and a $13,500 check, with $8,800 going to the runner-up.

Mark Roth (r.) and Vinnie Atria (l.) had a little fun on Halloween in the Generations Bowling Tour Boardman Challenge at Boardman's Camelot Lanes. Both stayed in first place through the first of two eight-game match play rounds.

Roth is averaging 231.2 for the event and posted a 6-2 match play record Tuesday. In games 4-6, he rolled games of 268, 278 and 254 to increase his lead over second. David Ozio is 54 pins behind with 8 games remaining.

"I won 6 of 8 and shot 800 for three of the middle games, so I carried well," said Roth. I just had to keep my speed up. The first two games I was a little slow, then I picked up the speed and the carry got better. There's still 8 more, so I'll just try to stay where I'm at. Anything can happen in the stepladder, and I'd rather bowl just one or two games if I can. I picked this Buzzsaw Uraniam the first round and I feel very comfortable with it," he said.

Atria has a 104 pin lead over Gary Dickinson in the Classic division. He went 5-3 in today's match play.

"I was hoping today would be physically better and it was," said Atria. "The adrenaline in the matchplay just kept me going. I never got tired today. It was a faster pace, which was great. I had a couple of low games today, but I'm still in first. I just hope I can stay there one more day," he said.

The final 8-game match play round rolls Wednesday at noon, after which the top four in each division will advance to the stepladder finals beginning at 6 pm.

Mark Roth (right) rolled a big 1907 Monday to take over the lead in the Generations Bowling Tour Boardman Challenge at Camelot Lanes in Boardman, Ohio. A 300 in game four and a 278 in game six gave him a slight edge over first round leader David Ozio, who is in second only 16 pins back. It took a 210.2 average (+164) to make the top 10 cut in the GBT Senior division Monday.

In the Classic division, Vinnie Atria (left) held the top spot he earned on Sunday, but only by 17 pins over Gary Dickinson. Dickinson rolled an 1813 to Atria's 1721 on Monday. The top six cut number was +93, a 205.8 average in the Classic group.

"It was a great day," said Roth. "I started out kind of slow, but once I got lined up after the first couple of games, I had a great shot today. I had a new ball that gave me same look on both lanes. I didn't have to move as much as yesterday. On the 300 I was relaxed. I caught one break in the 8th frame when I sent the messenger into the 10, but you just get a feeling and I had it today with great reaction and great carry," he said.

"I was a little worse today than yesterday to be quite honest," said Atria. "I got a real break that we're only bowling 16 in the match play. My back is acting up a little and I've got a little something in that left hip. I don't like the way it's stacking up for me, but I've got the patch for the back and the 'ol Advil, so I'll try those. I can't believe I'm still ahead, I'll just keep plugging along and see what happens," he said.

Tuesday, the top 16 will roll the first 8 games of round robin match play starting at 12 noon.

Momentum means a lot in bowling. David Ozio and Vinnie Atria have it on their side here at Camelot Lanes in the Generations Bowling Tour Boardman Challenge. Finishing 1-2 last week in Toledo, Ozio and Atria outdistanced the field today in Boardman to lead their divisions - Senior (50-59) and Classic (60+) - again after the first round.

Ozio shot 1897 today to average 237.3 for the first eight games. Atria leads the Classic division with a 1755, a 219.3 average on opening day. Kerry Fulford, Gatesville, Texas is second to Ozio at 1776 and Derek Smith, Hicksville, Ohio is second to Atria at 1702. Mark Roth is third in the Senior division at 1772, and Dewayne Thompson, Fort Smith, Arkansas has the third spot in the Classic division at 1696.

"Everything is still falling into place," said Ozio. "I don't think I bowled as well today as I did last week, but I was matched up real nice to the lanes, and stayed under control, and it was alright. I made the right moves at the right time, switched balls at the right time, and it equaled out to good scores," he said.

"After last week the pressure is off. I can just deliver the best shot I can and if I can loosen my swing a little more than the guys chasing me, then I just have to get lucky and win some matches," he added.

"The momentum is definitely there, but today it was not as easy for me as it has been," said Atria. "It was a real struggle to make myself relax and swing it because I know I'm getting tired, especially mentally. A couple of times I stood in the wrong place to throw a shot and one time I picked up my spare ball to throw a strike," he chuckled.

"As soon as I took my first step, I caught the color of the ball. I said 'what am I doing?' I think my body is telling me I need a break. I know mentally I do too. It didn't come easy today, but I can't argue with the results. I hope I feel fresher tomorrow," Atria added.

Monday, round two of qualifying will be held at 12 noon, after which the field will be cut to the top 16 players for round robin match play beginning at noon on Tuesday.