June 19, 2026 Jill Winters

Anderson, Ind. – After a second-place finish last week, Brad Angelo is looking to make back-to-back stepladder finals. During the final day of qualifying at the 2026 PBA50 David Small’s Championship Lanes, Angelo averaged 241 to move from seventh place to first.

The New York native had games of 233, 277, 206, 230, 258, 227 and 256 for 1,687. Adding that to his 1,556 block on Thursday, he has a 33-pin lead over day one leader Mike Machuga. 

“They didn’t develop the way they did yesterday on our squad. People stayed more to the right and they got a little tighter down lane,” Angelo said. “I bowled really well and I bowled really well yesterday. I carried a little bit better today.”

He believes he is visually sharp right now, which he feels is more important than being mentally or physically sharp. 

“Being mentally aware of what you are trying to do strategically is a higher priority than how you are throwing it. If you get visual and your strategy makes sense then you don’t have to throw it perfect every shot,” Angelo added. 

Michael Hartter is in third with 3,159 followed by Tom Hess in fourth at 3,151. Bill Rowe rounds out the top five with 3,137. The highest qualifying score on A-squad is Randy Weiss in sixth place with 3,090. 

The bowler with the biggest block of the tournament so far was Johnnie Payne. He went from 71st place to 13th with a score of 1,717. That was a 376-pin improvement from his first seven games. Plus, Rolando Sebelen rolled a 300 in the final game to get to 12th place. 

At the end of 14-games of qualifying, the field was cut to the top 35. The final player in is John Verbich 2,885. They will move into the Advancers Round with four games starting at 9 a.m. Eastern Saturday. The top 24 will advance to best of three bracket match play, where all pins will drop. 

The Round of 24, featuring qualifiers 9-24, will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET. The winners and the top 8 qualifiers will move into the Round of 16. After the Round of 8, the four undefeated bowlers and the highest seeded eliminated player in the Round of 8 will be in the stepladder finals at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday. Enjoy all of the competition on BowlTV.

Top 10: 2026 PBA50 David Small’s Championship Lanes Classic standings:

  1. Brad Angelo, 3,243 total pins (+443)
  2. Mike Machuga, 3,210 (+410)
  3. Michael Hartter, 3,159 (+359)
  4. Tom Hess, 3,151 (+351)
  5. Bill Rowe, 3,137 (+337)
  6. Randy Weiss, 3,090 (+290)
  7. Dan Knowlton, 3,083 (+283)
  8. Jack Jurek, 3,078 (+278)
  9. Mark Clark, 3,075 (+275)
  10. Darryl Bower, 3,063 (+263)

Full standings - 2026 David Small's Championship Lanes Classic

 

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