"Just one more squad," said PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss (pictured left), who was in 22nd place in the overall qualifying standings of the Brunswick Euro Challenge in France with 1315 six-game total. "I want to make the top 16", who will bypass the first round of the finals on Sunday.

The 23-time PBA champion re-entered Squad 13 Thursday evening at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin near Paris and proved that he is still on top of his game. After a slow start (193), Voss posted 828 for the next three games (275, 267 and 286) and closed out the set with back-to-back 258 to shoot into the lead with 1537 or an average of 256.17.

Photos: Beat Grauwiler.

Voss overtook previous leader and fellow PBAer Mike Fagan (2nd; 1473) by 64 pins. Brad Angelo, who won his first PBA title this season, was a distant second in Squad 13 with 1333, trailing Voss by 204 pins. However, Angelo moved into 20th place in the overall qualifying standings.

4-time PBA champion Sean Rash (pictured right) was third with 1316, good for 24th place. Rikke Holm Rasmussen, Denmark, is currently holds the 52nd and final place to advance with 1244 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

In 2008, the first time that the BEC was staged at Le Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin, Swede Martin Larsen (pictured left) won the qualifying with 1448 (241.33) and the cutoff number for 52nd place was 1263 (210.50). Peter Ljung (pictured right) from Sweden is the defending champion.

Both, Larsen and Ljung, tested the lanes this evening. Ljung checked in with 1281 despite a 168 in game #2 and moved into 34th place. Larsen was seven pins behind to land in 38th place with 1274 due to two sub-par games.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "majors". The total prize fund is 90,000 Euro (currently about US$114,000), and includes special prizes that will be given in categories such as youth encouragement, B Bowlers, and Women. In addition Brunswick offers up to $1,000 bonus for shooting a 300 game with the new Brunswick "Wilde Ride" bowling ball in the 2009 BEC.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge 2009 sponsored by Brunswick Bowling is organized by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling.

Qualifying will run through Saturday, March 14, with the final qualifying squad 23 scheduled for 8pm and ends with the ultimate Desperado Squad at 11pm.

A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 15. The top 16 players will receive one bye and will seeded 1-16 in Round 2.

The following 48 players will qualify for Round 1:

• Players positioned 17th-52nd in qualifying
• the top 6 from a separate standing for the squads conducted March 6-8, who are not among the top 52
• the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

Those 48 will bowl six games starting from scratch to cut to the top 16, who will meet the top 16 qualifiers in the first match play round. Match play is best-of-three games single-elimination. The No. 1 seed will take on No. 32, No. 2 bowls No. 31, etc. The field will be cut to 16, 8 and then four, who will determine the champion in a stepladder final. The winner will receive the 16.000 Euro top prize.


Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin with results and updates after each round commencing March 12 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, March 15.