Jon Rakoski Leads After Qualifying at PBA50 Fort Myers Classic
Fort Myers, Florida – Jon Rakoski is a quiet and humble guy. During the final day of qualifying at the 2025 Fort Myers Classic on Tuesday, he did something he has never done before. In the comfort of his home bowling center at Lightning Strikes Bowl, he was perfect in multiple ways. He posted games of 254, 258, 210, 257, 300, 246 and 259. He never had an open frame on the way to averaging 254.86 on the day. His lowest count over seven games was six.
“Wow, I impressed myself. That is 70 clean frames. That’s a record for me,” he said, smiling. “That’s a lot of strikes. Usually going from pair-to-pair, you don’t know what you are facing and there is a split that pops up every now or then. I had a pretty good look for the whole day.”
He got lined up in practice, only relied on one ball and moved a total of five boards left with his feet throughout the block. Despite never striking on the right lane in Game 3, he stayed clean. He admits knowing the characteristics of this center was an advantage and he capitalized on that. He had a lot of friends and family cheering him on. He stayed focused on what was in front of him and they got to celebrate after.
“I don’t look at the scores, so I had no clue I was taking the lead until going into the 10th frame. Danny Wiseman looked over at me and goes, ‘Good job, you’re the leader,”’ Rakoski said. “I was 15th going into today. It was a good block, and I’ll take it. Now, we have a four-game sprint to be in the top 24. I don’t take anything for granted, so I am going to keep the pedal down and keep going.”
Thirteen pins behind Rakoski is Mark Clark who averaged over 240 on the day. He is followed by Tom Daugherty, Brad Angelo and Michael Haugen Jr. in the top five. The top 60 bowlers will move into Wednesday’s 8 a.m. Eastern time Advancers Round. After four games, all the pins will drop and the top 24 will advance to bracket match play. Qualifiers 9-24 will bowl best-of-3 match play starting at noon.
The format will continue at 2 p.m. with the winners of those matches along with qualifiers 1-8. After another re-oil, the Round of 8 will feature the previous winners at 4 p.m. The final four undefeated players and the highest-seeded eliminated bowler will be in the stepladder finals scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. You can enjoy all of the action only on BowlTV.
Top 10 PBA50 Fort Myers Classic standings:
- Jon Rakoski, 3,390
- Mark Clark, 3,377
- Tom Daugherty, 3,370
- Brad Angelo, 3,328
- Michael Haugen Jr., 3,319
- Danny Wiseman, 3,318
- Amleto Monacelli, 3,266
- Jeff Piroozshad, 3,250
- William Fabian, 3,240
- John Janawicz, 3,233