RIVERSIDE LANES

champs Mark Myers & Kevin Finkler

        Mark Myers joined an elite club, while Kevin Finkler doubled his title total, in exciting JBT Mojave Conference action at Laughlin's Riverside Lanes.

        Bowlers in both divisions were presented with the unique challenge of the 'worst 4' format, where unlike anywhere else we know of, your HIGH score is dropped, putting the focus on 'grinding out' your bad games, and overcoming the mental shift of having your best game tossed out (as far as overall totals)- not an every week format, but a great change of pace deep into the regular season.

        Oscar Chan qualified fourth for the stepladder finals, then began a climb up the ladder with a 207-153 win over Ben Canfield.  Chan then escaped in a nailbiter against Jacob Camacho 196-193.  That set up a semifinal against Jakob Butturff, who has been a roadblock for Oscar ever since the Desert Open title match last season.  Unfortunately for Chan, it was more of the same as Jakob beat him 223-181 to move on to yet another title match.

        Top seed Mark Myers grabbed the lead with a big 289 game eight effort (rightly saving it for the second round!), and seemed to ride that momentum to a confident 222-175 win over Butturff.  With the win, he becomes just the 30th bowler in our history to win 10 or more titles!

        Alexis Atkin rebounded nicely from a recent slump to open the handicap stepladder finals with a 244-226 win over first time finalist Devyn Patalina.  Kristen Lee then won a second-match battle of veteran JBT ladies 224-191 over Atkin.  Lee rolled on in the semifinals, beating Zahn Bouder 209-167 to advance to the title match.

        Top seed Kevin Finkler had to drop a 255 earlier in the 'worst 4' segment, but still qualified third for round two, improving to the lead after eight games.  He remained red-hot in the title match, easily defeating Lee 243-200 for the title, the second of both the season and his JBT career.

        Atkin had more work to do, facing Leah Glazer for the day's JBT Women's Series title.  The match was an exciting one, and finished in a 192, initiating a one-shot rolloff, won by Glazer 10-9 for the title.  One more win and she'll be locked into the Girls TPC this summer.

        Thanks as always to the Riverside job for their professional hosting job.  Over $3,400 was awarded to all averages and ages over the weekend- there's still time to get your piece this season.  Check out our schedule and come on down!