An Odd Night on the Lanes

Entering the third week of the ELITE Pro Shop Challenge League we figured we had a good handle on the oil pattern and transitions.  After all we have 8 games of competition and a practice night on them.

On my pair, starting out felt like the first week where they hooked more than usual.  Not difficult, just hooked more and we were looking forward to firing at the dry all night.

Next to us Justin Mickelson had something like 5 gutter balls in practice and I thought I saw one more from someone else – maybe that pair was different?

And the last pair seemed normal – somewhere in between what we saw on the previous two pairs.

As the night progressed the left lane began to hook more and more with each passing shot.  While I was once playing the lanes the same, before I knew it I had the lanes 8 with my feet and 4 at the arrows different.

Of course, by the end of the night the right lane caught up to the left lane.

A couple ball changes and a couple release changes were not enough to overcome bad luck on the lanes last night.  When I threw it half as well as I should, I split.  When I threw it good I didn’t strike.

It seemed the only way to strike was to throw it horrible and get a lucky break – which I did a few times.

But other pairs didn’t seem to have the issues we did judging by the scores.

Leading the pace was Aaron Nachtwey at 880 followed by Mike Charaus (862), Leonard Morton (858), David Paasch (843) and Troy Felsinger (827).

Though, only 7 of the 16 people were over average for the night with Leonard Morton at +138 setting the bar.  He was followed by Aaron Nachtwey +132, Todd Marten +52, Mike Charaus +46, and Joe Champeau +30.

With two weeks left to go, there is a tight bunch at the top of the standings with David Paasch leading at 110 points.  He is followed by Troy Felsinger and myself at 101 and Mike Charaus, Jacob Mickelson, Rudy DelValle and Aaron Nachtwey within striking distance.

The full standings can be found here.