Reigning PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash (pictured left) of Montgomery, Ill., averaged 254.37 Sunday to take the qualifying round lead in the PBA Viper Championship, the second event of the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling, at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas.

Rash bowled games of 234, 280, 257, 233, 269, 257, 248 and 257 for an eight-game total of 2,035 pins to lead the field of 16 qualifiers who advanced to Sunday night's six-game semifinal round.

After six more games, the top four players will advance to the ESPN stepladder finals on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 4 p.m. in the special arena setting in South Point's Exhibition Hall area. The Viper Championship will air on ESPN on Sunday, Dec. 23.

Rash was a dominant force in WSOB III in 2011 when he qualified a record five consecutive television shows and six out of seven during the World Series. He finished 30th in Saturday's Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Cheetah Championship, but didn't make any major changes for Sunday's Viper event.

"I used the same philosophy today as I did Saturday – get as many pins as possible. This is stage two of four. The World Championship is what matters," Rash said. "If you can make it into one of the animal pattern shows along the way, so much the better."

The eight-game qualifying totals from the Viper Championship will be added to qualifying totals from Saturday's Cheetah, Monday's Chameleon and Tuesday's Scorpion Championships to produce the 32-game totals that will determine the 24 match play finalists for the PBA World Championship. Three eight-game World Championship match play rounds will take place Wednesday and Thursday at South Point.

After 16 of 32 qualifying games, Rash was advanced from 30th place to first in the PBA World Championship race with a 3,949 total, 16 pins ahead of previous leader Chris Loschetter (above) of Avon, Ohio.

"I made an unbelievable ball change in game four, and it definitely helped me," Rash said. "The team behind me helped a lot. You've got to have some help if you're going to succeed here."

Rounding out the top five heading into Sunday night's Viper semifinal round were 30-year-old attorney Scott Norton (left) of Cost Mesa, Calif., in second place with 1,943 pins; Dan MacLelland (right) of Canada in third with a 1,923 total; Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C., fourth with 1,920 and rookie Craig Nidiffer of Trenton, Mich., in fifth place with 1,914.

Norton, the 2010-11 PBA Rookie of the Year, said improved focus was the key to his performance after finishing 105th in Saturday's Cheetah Championship qualifying round.

"Yesterday I had a little trouble on one side of the center, and by the time I figured it out, it was too late," he said. "So I tried to improve my focus level today and it was much higher. It seems like sometimes when scoring conditions are a little tougher on the left side of the lane, I have the magic ball roll that works. That doesn't always happen, but sometimes and today is worked."

Besides MacLelland another three of the 66-player international field made the cut for the Viper semifinals. Mika Koivuniemi a native Finn who lives in Hartland, Mich., was in 10th place with 1,880 followed by his compatriot Osku Palermaa (left) and Mohamed Sultan (right) of Bahrain, who were tied for 11th place with 1,879.

Dominic Barrett of England, who won his first PBA title in last year's PBA Scorpion Open missed the cut by four pins in 17th place with 1,857. Defending champion Stuart Williams of England finished in 42nd place with 1,774.

PBA fans can follow scoring as it happens by clicking on the "live scoring" feature on pba.com, or by watching the action live on Xtra Frame, PBA's online bowling channel.

GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling competition continues Monday with Chameleon Championship qualifying squads bowling at 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., followed by the Chameleon semifinal round at 8 p.m.

 

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PBA Viper Championship - Qualifying Round

Players with position, hometown and 8-game total. The top 16 advance to the semifinal round. Places 17 to 36 show earnings.

1, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 2,035
2, Scott Norton, Costa Mesa, Calif., 1,943
3, Dan MacLelland, Canada, 1,923
4, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,920
5, Craig Nidiffer, Trenton, Mich., 1,914
6, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 1,909
7, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 1,907
8, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,906
9, Mike Fagan, Dallas, 1,905
10, Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, 1,880
11, (tie) Osku Palermaa, Finland, and Mohamed Sultan, Bahrain, 1,879
13, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,866
13, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 1,866
15, (tie) Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, and Jeff Frankos, Daly City, Calif., 1,861

Missed Cut:
17, Dom Barrett, England, 1,857, $1,100
18, David Haynes, Las Vegas, 1,855, $970
19, David Beres, Waukesha, Wis., 1,851, $940
20, Craig LeMond, Jasper, Ind., 1,844, $920
21 (tie), Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, and Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 1,839, $895
23, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 1,838, $880
24, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 1,831, $870
25, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 1,820, $860
26, Mike DeVaney, Hemet, Calif., 1,815, $850
27, (tie) Matt Meyer, Alexandria, Minn., and Danny Wiseman, Baltimore, 1,808, $835
29, (tie) Dave Wodka, Henderson, Nev., and Peter Hellström, Sweden, 1,803, $815
31, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,800, $800
32, Bryon Smith, Roseburg, Ore., 1,799, $790
33, Yousif Falah, Bahrain, 1,787, $780
34, Johan Hellden, Sweden, 1,786, $770
35 (tie), Jesse Buss, Wichita, Kan., and D.J. Archer, Port Arthur, Texas, 1,782, $755
37, (tie) Joe Ciccone, Buffalo, N.Y., and Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 1,781
39, Paul Koehler, Stuart, Fla., 1,778
40, Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., 1,776
40, Travis Anderson, Washington, Ill., 1,776
42, Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 1,774
42, Stuart Williams, England, 1,774
44, Mik Stampe, Denmark, 1,773
45, Mikael Kanold, Sweden, 1,772
46, Kevin Brophy, Oakhurst, N.J., 1,771
47, (tie) John Szczerbinski, North Tonawanda, N.Y., and Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 1,770
49, (tie) Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., and Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 1,768
51, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 1,766
52, (tie) Shannon Pluhowsky, Dayton, Ohio, and Matt Ramshaw, Longview, Wash., 1,764
54, Steven Arehart, Chesapeake, Va., 1,763
55, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 1,761
56, Michael Machuga, Erie, Pa., 1,759
57, Mike Edwards, Tulsa, Okla., 1,757
58, Scott Halvarson, Lakewood, Wash., 1,755
59, Cha Ji-Hyun, Korea, 1,754
60, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 1,753
61, Dennis Eklund, Sweden, 1,750
62, Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla., 1,748
63, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 1,745
64, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 1,744
65, (tie) Gregory Thompson Jr., Dublin, Calif., and Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 1,740
67, Randy Weiss, Columbia, S.C., 1,739
68, John Furey, East Windsor, N.J., 1,738
69, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,736
70, Brian Himmler, Cincinnati, 1,734
71, Kim Ojala, Sweden, 1,730
72, William Guszczo, Orland Park, Ill., 1,729
73, Hugh Miller, Mercer Island, Wash., 1,726
74, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,721
75, Tom Daugherty, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 1,720
76, Ben Davis, Ashland, Ky., 1,719
77, Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 1,716
78, Andrew Frawley, Australia, 1,713
79, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 1,712
80, (tie) Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., and Magnus Johnson Jr., Sweden, 1,709
82, (tie) Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., and Patrick Bohm, Sweden, 1,708
84, Jeff Evans, Supply, N.C., 1,707
85, Tim Mack, Indianapolis, 1,706
86, (tie) Thomas Larsen, Denmark, and Kevin Morillo, Venezuela, 1,705
88, PJ Haggerty, Roseville, Calif., 1,704
89, Perttu Jussila, Finland, 1,702
90, Jim Pratt, Glendale, Ariz., 1,695
91, Sean Swanson, Springfield, Mo., 1,692
92, (tie) Aaron Lorincz, Belleville, Mich., and Travis Celmer, Wernersville, Pa., 1,690
94, (tie) Jon VanHees, Charlestown, R.I., and Erik Andersin, Sweden, 1,686
96, (tie) Carsten Warming Hansen, Denmark; Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., and Thomas Biniek Jr., Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1,684
99, (tie) Justin Bychkowski, Fairfield, Conn., and Frank Guccione, Castle Rock, Colo., 1,682
101, Hernan Ramirez, Venezuela, 1,681
102, (tie) Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, and Patrick Girard, Canada, 1,676
104, (tie) Kim Hyun-Bum, Korea, and Lonnie Waliczek, Wichita, Kan., 1,674
106, Chad Pojas, Wahiawa, Hawaii, 1,672
107, (tie) Mathias Ã…rup, Sweden, and Kyle Martinez, Broken Arrow, Okla., 1,671
109, (tie) Alejandro Reyna, Costa Rica, and Lennie Boresch Jr., Kenosha, Wis., 1,669
111, John Cicero, Colorado Springs, Colo., 1,666
112, (tie)Mike Bailey, Allen, Texas, and Kasey Normandin, Canada, 1,665
114, (tie) Isaac Amkie, Mexico, and Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, 1,664
116, (tie) Andrew Cain, Phoenix, and Missy Parkin, Lake Forest, Calif., 1,659
118, Brett Cunningham, Clay, N.Y., 1,658
119, (tie) Jason Stadtler, Cherry Hill, N.J., and Kyle Bigelow, Troy, Ohio, 1,656
121, Patrick King, Yankton, S.D., 1,654
122, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 1,652
123, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 1,651
124, (tie) Aaron Ramsden, Pleasant Valley, Mo., and Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 1,644
126, (tie) Matt Taylor, Knightdale, N.C., and Craig Auerbach, Sunrise, Fla., 1,640
128, (tie) Brad Miller, St. Charles, Mo., and Michael Haugen Jr., Carefree, Ariz., 1,637
130, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, Ill., 1,635
131, Kim Hyun-Suk, Korea, 1,631
132, Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 1,629
133, Brett Spangler, Niles, Ohio, 1,628
134, Thomas Ault Jr., Portland, Ore., 1,627
135, (tie) Kevin Croucher, Grants Pass, Ore., and Wayne Stellick, Aurora, Colo., 1,624
137, Jimmy Mortensen, Denmark, 1,623
138, Mike Armstrong Jr., Battle Ground, Wash., 1,621
139, (tie) Mattias Olsson, Sweden, and Eric Forkel, Henderson, Nev., 1,620
141, (te) Wes Newman, Panama City, Fla., and Kevin Henderson, Albany, Ore, 1,617
143, (tie) Evan Nash, Kennewick, Wash., and Eduardo Yzcaray Jr., Venezuela, 1,614
145, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 1,612
146, (tie) Mahdi Assad, Bahrain, and Justin Stevens, Aiea, Hawaii, 1,610
148, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 1,606
149, Hafthor Hardarson, Iceland, 1,605
150, Roberto Silva, Mexico, 1,604
151, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 1,602
152, (tie) Mike Williams II, Montgomery, Ala.; Robert McBride, Plano, Texas, 1,601, and Kim Meen-Woo, Korea, 1,601
155, Helen Johnsson, Sweden, 1,600
156, Chris Warren, Grants Pass, Ore., 1,599
157, Kelvin Wiggins, Rocky Mt., N.C., 1,594
158, Kim Bolleby, Sweden, 1,593
159, (tie) Kevin Gallagher, Torrance, Calif., and Shawn Lee, Centennial, Colo., 1,590
161, Julio Cesar Blancas, Mexico, 1,589
162, Glenn Morgan, Carson City, Nev., 1,587
163, Jake Peters, Decatur, Ill., 1,584
164, (tie) Robert Piroozshad, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Erik Gulbrandson, Superior, Wis., and Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 1,583
167, (tie) Nathan Urrutia, Banning, Calif., and Brett Cooper, Newburyport, Mass., 1,579
169, Manuel Mrosek, Germany, 1,574
170, Humberto Vazquez, Mexico, 1,573
171, Adam Monks, Conway, S.C., 1,571
172, (tie) Lee Rucker, Fort Myers, Fla., Carlos Cottone, Venezuela, and Chris Hans, Rocky Mount, N.C., 1,570
175, Eddie VanDaniker Jr., Chatsworth, Calif., 1,565
176, Jacob Heger, Houston, 1,563
177, Jo Nam-Yi, Korea, 1,562
178, Rohn Morton, Vancouver, Wash., 1,556
179, Andrew Graff, Las Vegas, 1,549
180, Kris Koeltzow, Wheat Ridge, Colo., 1,546
181, (tie) Frederik Øhrgaard, Denmark, and Chad Vendeville, Arlington, Texas, 1,544
183, Kim Jin-Han, Korea, 1,543
184, (tie) Michael Smith, Centenniel, Colo., and Daniel Falconi, Mexico, 1,541
186, (tie) Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, and James Hobson, Converse, Texas, 1,540
188, Dave Gillson, Phoenix, 1,527
189, Jeff Roche, Dearborn, Mich., 1,520
190, Myles Duty, Modesto, Calif., 1,518
191, Hameed Taqi, Bahrain, 1,517
192, Chris DosSantos, Fairhaven, Mass., 1,515
193, (tie) Darren Andretta, New Hyde Park, N.Y., and Ahmed Saad Al-Hadyan, Saudi Arabia, 1,514
195, Greg Knolton, Bartlett, Tenn., 1,509
196, Mohammed Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia, 1,508
197, Dustin Ochoa, Cibilo, Texas, 1,504
198, Dale Renken, St. Jacob, Ill., 1,503
199, Kirk Sauro, Dearborn Heights, Mich., 1,497
200, John Perry, Nuevo, Calif., 1,495
201, Ted Sidehamer Jr., Newport News, Va., 1,494
202, Ernest Lukacs Jr., Manville, N.J., 1,489
203, Allen Blansette, Napa, Calif., 1,484
204, Chris Cundiff, Lake Station, Ind., 1,480
205, (tie) Rob Gotterbarn Jr., Garden City South, N.Y., and Salinas, Mexico, 1,478
207, Michael Menard, Canada, 1,477
208, Masood Saberi, Bahrain, 1,471
209, (tie) Josh Lewis, Asheville, N.C.; Fawaz Abdulla, Bahrain, and Mohamed Al-Jahrami, Bahrain, 1,463
212, Paolo Joquico, Philippines, 1,461
213, Jason Miller, Portland, Ore., 1,460
214, Doug Scheidig, Royersford, Pa., 1,457
215, Giorgio Clinaz Jr., Venezuela, 1,451
216, Sean Daniels, Aloha, Ore., 1,449
217, J.T. Jackson, Sherman Oaks, Calif., 1,446
218, Jamar Lee, Livermore, Calif., 1,443
219, Yoon Yeo-Jin, Korea, 1,442
220, (tie) Diego Lopez, Colombia, and Kenneth Bland Jr., Germany, 1,439
222, Richard Rezendes, Cumberland, R.I., 1,433
223, (tie) Paul Nilsen Sr., Murrieta, Calif., and Shawn St. Andre, Garden Grove, Calif., 1,430
225, Josh Willis, Orleans, Ind., 1,419
226, Bryan Viator, Friendswood, Texas, 1,417
227, (tie) Glen Nakagawa, Highland Village, Texas, and Steve Ford, Seaside, Ore., 1,397
229, Tim Arnold, Las Vegas, 1,392
230, Tommy Martin, Olive Branch, Miss., 1,383
231, Adam James, Redmond, Wash., 1,380
232, (tie) Chris Groom, Lancaster, Calif.; Troy Behanna, Pasadena, Texas, and Philip Medley, Washington, Mich., 1,372
235, Gradie Merritt-Foster, Park Forest, Ill., 1,368
236, Hakim Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia, 1,363
237, Chris Ashworth, Gallatin, Tenn., 1,336
238, Kyle Leiffer, Weed, Calif., 1,331
239, Branden Lee, Chicago, 1,329
240, Mickey Fry, Akron, Ohio, 713

300 Games (4): Stuart Williams, Dom Barrett, Jeff Frankos, Matt Meyer

 

PBA World Championship Qualifying - Top 50 after 16/32 games

The top 24 after 32 games will advance to PBA World Championship match play.

1, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 3,949
2, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 3,933
3, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 3,864
4, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 3,855
5, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 3,839
6 (tie), Dan MacLelland, Canada and Craig Nidiffer, Trenton, Mich., 3,824
8, Mike Fagan, Dallas, 3,809
9, Dom Barrett, England, 3,792
10, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 3,777
11, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 3,763
12, David Haynes, Las Vegas, 3,762
13, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 3,754
14, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 3,747
15, Joe Ciccone, Buffalo, N.Y., 3,745
16, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 3,742
17, Jeff Frankos, Daly City, Calif., 3,741
18, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 3,737
19, Michael Machuga, Erie, Pa., 3,730
20, Scott Norton, Costa Mesa, Calif., 3,728
21, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 3,723
22, Johan Hellden, Sweden, 3,721
23, Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 3,707
24, Stuart Williams, England, 3,706
25, Craig LeMond, Jasper, Ind., 3,689
26, Paul Koehler, Stuart, Fla., 3,688
27, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 3,687
28, Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, 3,682
29, Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 3,677
30, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 3,674
31, Hugh Miller, Mercer Island, Wash., 3,672
32, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 3,668
33, PJ Haggerty, Roseville, Calif., 3,665
34, Randy Weiss, Columbia, S.C., 3,660
35 (tie), Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, and Dave Wodka, Henderson, Nev., 3,657
37, Lennie Boresch Jr., Kenosha, Wis., 3,651
38, David Beres, Waukesha, Wis., 3,647
39, Bryon Smith, Roseburg, Ore., 3,641
40, Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., 3,639
41, Dennis Eklund, Sweden, 3,635
42, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 3,633
43, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 3,631
44, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 3,630
45 (tie), Danny Wiseman, Baltimore, and Mike DeVaney, Hemet, Calif., 3,624
47, Gregory Thompson Jr., Dublin, Calif., 3,620
48, Brett Spangler, Niles, Ohio, 3,618
49, Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla., 3,617
50, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 3,607