Chris Barnes leads after qualifying at PBA50 Spectrum Lanes Open
Wyoming, Michigan – Lots of traffic and built-in friction at the PBA50 Spectrum Lanes Open had Chris Barnes puzzled early but he has figured it out.
The A-squad hit the lanes first on Wednesday and two-time PBA50 champion Chris Barnes rolled 258, 276, 242, 227, 258 and 232 for a 14-game total of 3,203. He holds a two-pin lead over James Campbell.
Barnes felt like the friction on the lanes Tuesday night made the lanes tighter down lane. That created a confusing combination that he did not solve for quite a while.
“They got kind of dry-wet from front-to-back and that made it a little tricky to figure out how to strike on that,” he said.
On the fresh oil pattern Wednesday, Barnes used his Storm Nova with polish on it to get down the lane and have a little bit of energy at the back of the lanes. He admits he was inspired by watching how Campbell attacked the lanes on day one of qualifying.
“He was throwing a slower ball and he has more axis rotation to hook it and still be able to strike,” Barnes said. “I had to really increase my axis rotation to get it through the pins here. We are down the list on the number of tricks we are trying to use to get it to go through them right.”
As Barnes looks ahead to another advancers round and match play, he jokes the key to making it to his sixth stepladder of the season is “evidently, be the second seed. Three times I was the top seed, and I lost the first match.”
“Stop making mistakes and stop giving them opportunities because this year it seems when they have had opportunities they are walking through the door,” he said. “I’ve got to start closing the door or just not creating any opportunity at all.”
Parker Bohn III is the defending champion and he is in seventh place.
The final bowler to make the top-29 was Gary Schluchter at 2,909. They will all roll five games in the advancers round starting at 9 a.m. ET Thursday. The top-24 will move on to match play where all pins are dropped. These are three-game total pinfall matches.
This will continue until the final five players are decided. The stepladders finals will start at 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday. You can enjoy all of the action on BowlTV.com.
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Top 10 PBA50 Spectrum Lanes Open
- Chris Barnes 3,203
- James Campbell 3,201
- Bill Watson 3,161
- Eugene McCune 3,156
- Walter Ray Williams Jr. 3,103
- Lennie Boresch Jr. 3,102
- Parker Bohn III 3,080
- Jason Couch 3,077
- Ryan Shafer 3,056
- Tom Adcock 3,052