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, 235, 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 (left) 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 (right) 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.

Besides Belmonte, another five bowlers from the international field advanced to the best-of-five-game match play elimination round on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

Belmonte’s fellow countryman Sam Cooley (left) was in sixth place with 1,856 followed by Dom Barrett, England (10th, 1,831), Thomas Larsen, Denmark (16th, 1,815), Jesper Svensson (17th, 1,812) and Martin Larsen of Sweden, who was tied with Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas at 1,800 for the last place to advance.

Novak (right), 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.

He leads 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. For more information, click here.

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PBA Scorpion Championship – Final Qualifying Standings

Players with position, hometown and 8-game total; 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. w-denotes woman.

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

Missed Cut:
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 Warming 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 (1) – PJ Haggerty.

PBA World Championship – Qualifying Standings after 24 of 32 games

8 games each in Cheetah, Chameleon and Scorpion Championship rounds; top 42 based on 32-game pinfall totals for the four animal patterns will advance to the PBA World Championship cashers’s round.

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