Mike Machuga Leads PBA50 David Small’s Championship Lanes Classic
Anderson, Ind. – Mike Machuga’s competitive juices are flowing.
At first, he wasn’t thinking about competing on the PBA50 Tour. Over the last year, that thought changed from just bowling the major tournaments to bowling when he wanted to bowl. Then on April 22, while competing at the 2026 PBA Tournament of Champions on his 50th birthday, his mindset changed again.
“That was my test to see if the competitive juices were still flowing in me. I didn’t practice or prepare for that tournament at all. I just took my exemption and used it to see if the juices were still there,” Machuga said. “While I didn’t play that well, I felt that competitiveness in me and decided I would go bowl the PBA50 World Series. I ended up getting into the Masters late. I think I am going to bowl six of the last seven tournaments.”
“The more I am out here, the more I feel comfortable fitting in with the guys and the families really. The whole RV crew out here is a great group of people and enjoyable to be around,” Machuga added. “I feel like I belong. Once a week the whole RV crew likes to do a big cookout. I brought about a 15-pound bag of Walleye I caught on my boat. I think we will be cooking up some Walleye.”
The 50-year-old from Erie, Pennsylvania had games of 286, 267, 199, 206, 214, 279 and 199 for a total of 1,650, during the first day of qualifying at the 2026 PBA50 David Small’s Championship Lanes Classic on Thursday. After leaving a fast 4-7-9 split in the 10th frame for an open in game five, he decided to move farther left on the next pair and open up the lane. The end pair was one lots of players struggled with while Machuga shot 279.
“That was definitely the right call on that pair because I had plenty of margin for error and good carry,” Machuga said. “Unfortunately, when I flipped ends of the house, that was not the right decision. That is just bowling; live and learn.”
He is scoring with equipment he hasn’t been using at previous tournaments. Looking ahead to Friday, he wants to have a better plan of attack for each lane, especially later in his block. He thinks the two lanes are breaking down differently across the house. That plan will be about controlling trajectory and launch angles.
Machuga holds a 66-pin lead over Canadian Bill Rowe with 1,584. Behind him is A-squad leader Randy Weiss at 1,577. Weiss began his block with 62 clean frames before leaving a pocket 7-10 split. Weiss was on the same pair as Dan Knowlton, who is just three pins behind him in fourth place. Weiss said they worked really well together.
“The ball hooked a lot on the backend. Maybe some other guys don’t like it, but I always like that because I can just chuck mine to the right and it hooks back every time. That is pretty much all we were doing,” Weiss said. “We were both watching each other, and we were communicating well about what we saw. I feel like I have been bowling pretty solid all year. I am trying to stay there and keep getting opportunities.”
Pete Dohan Jr., also on B-squad, rounds out the top five with 1,568. The B-squad will be on the lanes first at 9 a.m. Eastern Friday for the final seven games of qualifying followed by the A-squad at 3:30 p.m. ET.
As soon as that squad is done, the field will be cut to the top 35. Currently, the cut number is Rick Woloszyn with 1,441. Tony Gilbert on B-squad rolled the only 300 in game six. You can watch the final day of qualifying on BowlTV.
Top 10: 2026 PBA50 David Small’s Championship Lanes Classic standings:
- Mike Machuga, 1,650 total pins (+250)
- Bill Rowe, 1,584 (+184)
- Randy Weiss, 1,577 (+177)
- Dan Knowlton, 1,574 (+174)
- Pete Dohan Jr., 1,568 (+168)
- Michael Hartter, 1,559 (+159)
- Brad Angelo, 1,556 (+156)
- Craig Auerbach, 1,549 (+149)
- Jack Jurek, 1,545 (+145)
- Tony Johnson, 1,539 (+139)
Full standings - 2026 David Small's Championship Lanes Classic