BRC DESERT SKY

champs Mike Ingeman & Daniel Cotten

It's a new summer blockbuster: "Harry Potter and the Disappearing Tenpins", as our resident look-alike finally captured a JBT title, while Daniel Cotten also tasted victory for the first time, in exciting JBT action at BRC Desert Sky.

Zac Sugahara opened his second straight handicap division finals with a 239-193 victory over Josh Shoup.  Cotten then defeated Sugahara 217-203, and followed with a 221-206 over a resurgent Rachelle Davis to advance to the title match.

Top seed Jake Huff arrived late for the tournament but just in time to bowl his first game, then found a look in game two and climbed all the way to the top seed.  However, he struggled on the championship pair, while a determined Cotten, who had lost two prior title matches, made sure it wouldn't be three with a 229-165 win and his first career JBT title.

The scratch division used our popular but frantic nerve-wracker format, where semifinal matches come down to one-shot rolloffs if they are ties after two games.  Top seed Ingeman avoided the jinx by winning his first round match, 10-6 in the Nerve-wracker over Greg Garbera.  #2 Bear Wiltfang, and #4 Nicholas Lee also defended their seeds, but #3 Kevin Saunders was an upset victim, losing game two 227-224 to fall into the Nervewracker, which he lost 10-9 to #14 Chris Varholdt.

In the round of eight, Ingeman took care of #9 Marc Algeri, Wiltfang eliminated #12 Eric Rubin in the Nervewracker, Varholdt swept #7 Marc Burris, and Lee won a Nervewracker over #11 Christian Jensen to set up our final four.

In one semifinal match, Ingeman rolled past Lee in two tough games (223-221 and 217-199), while Varholdt prevented a #1-#2 title match situation by ousting Wiltfang in a Nervewracker, 10-9.

Top seeds have had a surprisingly rough time in all our formats over the years, but Ingeman was determined to not fall victim to that trend, and the Minnesota resident ASU bowler swept Varholdt in the match to capture his first JBT title.  

74 bowlers competed in the event, so we hope everyone who attended had a great time, and will spread the word about the great benefits of bowling JBT.   Everyone who finished in the top 5 qualifies for the 2007 Arizona Invitational Tournament, the regular season's year end event, featuring a guaranteed minimum $1,000 first place scholarship in each division.  Top season-long point scorers also qualify for the 2007 JBT Touring Players' Championship, featuring a guaranteed minimum $2,000 first place scholarship per division! 

Big thanks to everyone at Desert Sky for a terrific job hosting our event for the first time in five years!  Over $2,100 in scholarships were awarded.  Want in on the fun?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!