FOREST LANES

champs Brandon McMillen & Eddie Sayles

    Brandon McMillen and Eddie Sayles captured important titles in the So Cal regular season finale, held at Forest Lanes.

    Lana Lycan opened the scratch division stepladder finals with a 186-170 win over Preston Fukumizu, who locked up a top-5 exemption with the performance.  Devin Bidwell then defeated Lycan 226-195, before Matt Jones stopped Bidwell big-time, 258-176, to advance to the title match.

    Top seed McMillen, visiting from the Sacramento area, led most of the day, but a determined Jones was desperate for another win in an increasingly tight Bowler of the Year race.  In the end, though, Jones started to lose the line, and McMillen's tenth frame strike locked up a 219-204 win and his first career JBT title.

    Josh Shoup opened up his first finals in a while with a 220-191 win over first-time finalist Tony Rose 220-191.  Michael Unger then beat Shoup 213-182, and followed with a 208-174 win over Dan Hansen (who, as it turned out, needed the win to gain a top-5 exemption), to reach the title match.

   Top seed Sayles is approaching unprecedented JBT territory, making his sixth title match of the season.  To win today, though, he'd have to get by Unger, who beat him for a title at Morongo.  This time, Sayles was able to get the revenge, beating Unger 244-201 for his fourth title of the season.  Though he doesn't have an enormous points lead even with the wins, his title count gives him a huge Bowler of the Year edge heading into the Invitational.

    70 bowlers shared in over $1,900 in awarded scholarships.  Thanks to everyone at Forest for doing a great job hosting our Tour again this year.  The field is now set for the 2008 So Cal Invitational.  102 bowlers are eligible for the $1,000 first place scholarship prize per division- don't miss it!