Barnes, Weber and Plastic Equipment Match Up

[onefrombills]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mike Jakubowski | PR/Media Relations

Professional Bowlers Association | 719 Second Avenue, Suite 701 | Seattle, WA 98104

Tel: 800.903.0930 | Fax: 206.332.9722 | mike.jakubowski@pba.com





Barnes, Weber and Plastic Equipment Match Up in

PBA GEICO Plastic Ball Championship

Chris Barnes, Pete Weber, Michael Fagan and Jeff Carter Advance to Sunday’s ESPN Finals



WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (February 20, 2009) – It has been a long time since reigning Professional Bowlers Association Player of the Year Chris Barnes and PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber have used a plastic bowling ball on a regular basis for other than spare shooting. But they got the most out of that technology Friday when both bowlers advanced to Sunday’s finals of the PBA GEICO Plastic Ball Championship at Brunswick Zone Wheat Ridge.



Barnes, who is looking for his first win of the 2008-09 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season, defeated Mike DeVaney of San Diego, 4-1 in the Round of 8 best-of-seven match to advance to the finals. He had games of 279, 279, 279, 230 and 257.



“The last time I used a plastic ball on a regular basis was at the American Bowling Congress Tournament in 1992 and I shot an 800 series with it,” said Barnes, who owns 10 PBA Tour titles. “Under any circumstances my primary adjustment is speed and release which is particularly critical when you are using plastic equipment.”



For today’s match play competition all players continued to use identical plastic bowling balls as will the four finalists for Sunday’s ESPN finals which will get underway at 1 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Mountain). The concept of having all competitors use identical equipment for this event is to level the playing field from an equipment standpoint.



“For the TV finals adjusting your speed will be especially important because there will be more carry down (lane conditioner moving down the lane),” Barnes continued. “But there is one advantage--there won’t be a lot of decisions to make in what equipment to use.”



Weber, who is making his second television appearance of the season having previously made the finals when he finished third in the recent Denny’s Dick Weber Open, defeated Jack Jurek of Lackawana, N.Y., 4-3 to advance to the finals. Weber said it has been at least 20 years since plastic equipment was the mainstay of his arsenal.



“I like the format and would have had a lot of fun even if I didn’t make the finals,” said Weber who is tied for third with Mark Roth in career Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour titles with 34. “Using this equipment really made you focus plus you had to have a lot of breaks. You had to make the right adjustments to keep from hitting the pocket like a 6-pound ball.”



Joining Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, and Weber, St. Ann, Mo., in the finals will be Jeff Carter of Springfield, Ill., who is looking for his first PBA Tour title and Michael Fagan of Patchogue, N.Y., who hopes to win his first individual PBA Tour title. Fagan, who won the PBA Exempt Doubles Classic with Danny Wiseman last season, finished second to Norm Duke in the Denny’s Dick Weber Open.



The GEICO Plastic Ball Championship is part of the PBA’s 50th Anniversary season “Extreme Swing,” which also includes the Ultimate Scoring Championship, Etonic Marathon Open, Don Johnson Buckeye State Eliminator and the GoRVing Match Play Championship.





LUMBER LIQUIDATORS PBA TOUR

GEICO Plastic Ball Championship

Brunswick Zone Wheat Ridge – Wheat Ridge, Colo.

Match Play Standings (Best 4 of 7 Games), Money for Non-Finalists



Round of 8
#8 Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, def. #1 Mike DeVaney $4,100, San Diego, 4-1
#6 Michael Fagan, Patchogue, N.Y., def. #14 Brian Voss $4,100, Kennesaw, Ga., 4-3
#15 Jeff Carter, Springfield, Ill., def. #7 Robert Smith $4,100, Columbus, Ohio, 4-3
#4 Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., def. #28 Jack Jurek $4,100, Lackawanna, N.Y., 4-3



Round of 16
#8 Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, def. #9 Jason Couch $2,700, Clermont, Fla., 4-2
#15 Jeff Carter, Springfield, Ill., def. #2 Jason Belmonte $2,700, Australia, 4-1
#6 Michael Fagan, Patchogue, N.Y., def. #22 Ryan Shafer $2,700, Horseheads, N.Y., 4-2
#4 Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., def. #20 Brian Kretzer $2,700, Dayton, Ohio, 4-0
#28 Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., def. #21 Ronnie Russell $2,700, Indianapolis, 4-0
#14 Brian Voss, Kennesaw, Ga., def. #3 Edward VanDaniker Jr. $2,700, Essex, Md., 4-0
#7 Robert Smith, Columbus, Ohio, def. #10 Tommy Jones $2,700, Simpsonville, S.C., 4-1
#1 Mike DeVaney, San Diego, def. #16 Nathan Bohr $2,700, Wichita, Kan., 4-2

Round of 32
#1 Mike DeVaney, San Diego, def. #32 Patrick Allen $2,200, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 4-2
#2 Jason Belmonte, Australia, def. #31 Billy Oatman $2,200, Chicago, 4-3
#3 Edward VanDaniker Jr., Essex, Md., def. #30 David Williams Jr. $2,200, Omaha, Neb., 4-2
#4 Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., def. #29 Tom Hess $2,200, Urbandale, Iowa, 4-0
#28 Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., def. #5 Joe Ciccone $2,200, Buffalo, N.Y., 4-1
#6 Michael Fagan, Patchogue, N.Y., def. #27 Michael Machuga $2,200, Erie, Pa., 4-2
#7 Robert Smith, Columbus, Ohio, def. #26 Dave D'Entremont $2,200, Middleburg Heights, Ohio, 4-0
#8 Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, def. #25 Brad Angelo $2,200, Lockport, N.Y., 4-1
#9 Jason Couch, Clermont, Fla., def. #24 Steve Harman $2,200, Indianapolis, 4-1
#10 Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., def. #23 Mike Edwards $2,200, Tulsa, Okla., 4-3
#22 Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., def. #11 Sean Rash $2,200, Wichita, Kan., 4-3
#21 Ronnie Russell, Indianapolis, def. #12 Bill O'Neill $2,200, Southampton, Pa., 4-1
#20 Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, def. #13 Mike Wolfe $2,200, New Albany, Ind., 4-1
#14 Brian Voss, Kennesaw, Ga., def. #19 Mitch Beasley $2,200, Puyallup, Wash., 4-1
#15 Jeff Carter, Springfield, Ill., def. #18 Jason Sterner $2,200, McDonough, Ga., 4-1
#16 Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., def. #17 Walter Ray Williams Jr. $2,200, Ocala, Fla., 4-3


About the PBA

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) features the best bowlers in the world competing in National, Regional and Senior Tour events and will award over $4.3 million in prize money during the 2008-09 Lumber Liquidators PBA National Tour. The organization has more than 4,000 members spanning 13 countries, and nearly one million viewers tune-in to watch the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour every Sunday on ESPN throughout the season. PBA sponsors include Bayer, Brunswick, CLR, Denny's, Etonic, Flomax, GEICO, Go RVing, H&R Block, Lumber Liquidators, Motel 6, Pepsi-Cola and the USBC, among others. For more information on the PBA, log on to www.pba.com. This season marks the 50th Anniversary of the PBA Tour.

[kev3inp]

Gee, Jeff Carter beat the PBA's poster boy in the round of 16. I'm surprised the Aussie got that high, but extremely pleased he lost. Watch, somehow they'll give him byes right through to the show since he can't seem to get there on his own merits. I wonder who he's sleeping with to get such preferential treatment.

[jaws1945]

Judging by the scores I would venture to say there wasn't much oil on the lanes

[kev3inp]

They said it was a modified Cheetah pattern, but the scores were outrageous. I think this is the scoring they were looking for in the Ultimate Scoring Championship and didn't get. I read somewhere they got to "adjust" the surface of the balls, so maybe the balls had more friction than the lane. I wonder if they're going to try to hook the heck out of it, or if, once again, straighter will be greater.

[onefrombills]

Yeah Devaney shot 760 and lost ...the scores are seem higher than when they put the house shot out weeks ago

[jaws1945]

What was the point of this? It seems the scores were even higher with the plastic equipment. This really smells. If it was that easy to score with plastics, who would shell out $250 for a ball?