Finnish international Pasi Uotila closed out his six-game series in the 1st Maribor Open Strike Tournament with back-to-back 249 games to lead Squad 18 with 1467 pinfall total, a 244.55 average, en route to move into third place in the overall qualifying standings.

Uotila started Squad #18 at Strike Bowling Center in Maribor, Slovenia, with 269 and 247, then rolled his first 249 game for a 765 3-game series. He added his low game of 204 in game #4 before he finished with two more 249 games. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Swedes Martin Larsen (left) and Tony Fransson continued to lead with 1512 (252.00) and 1472 (245.33), respectively.

Austrian Thomas Tybl is sandwiched between England's Stuart Williams (1448) and Paul Moor (1352), in fifth place with 1431. Ronald Dol (right), Netherlands, moved into 7th place with 1342.

Jussi Lindgren, Finland, started his series in Squad 18 with back-to-back 258 games and was aiming at 1400 after having 1158 after five games. He finished with a disappointing 179 game to land in 8th place with 1337 (222.83). This will be enough to make the qualifying cut (top 52) but not enough to secure a spot in the top 14, who will receive two byes fort he finals.

Helmut Peinelt, currently mans the 14th place - due to the higher last game - with 1313 (218.83). Reiner Köpf, both Germany, is 28th with 1215 (202.50). Costa Turner, Slovenia, sits in 52nd position with 1017 (169.50).

Qualifying continues on until Saturday evening and concludes with the one-game Desperado Squad around Midnight. A total of 56 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, Sep. 16: The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings and the top 4 Desperados.

Qualifiers 1-14 will earn two byes, while qualifiers 15-28 will bypass the first round only. The remaining 28 finalists will bowl 3 games starting from scratch The top 14 will qualify for the second round and meet qualifiers 15-28. The top 14 after another 3-game set from scratch meet the top 14 qualifiers in Round #3.

The field will be trimmed to 16, 8 and then 4 in Rounds 3 to 5 (same format as before). The four remaining players will bowl for the title and the 8.000 Euro top prize in a traditional stepladder format based on the standings after Round #5: No. 4 bowls No. 3, the winner meets No. 2 and the winner bowls No. 1 for the title.

Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Maribor all the way through to the finals on Sunday, September 16. The four-player stepladder finals will be broadcasted live on Slovenian television in a two-hour show from Strike Bowling Center.