Frilingos Wins Innisfail Open

[Shadows Fall]

Over the weekend of the 5th, 6th & 7th August, the Barrier Reef Open was held in tropical Innisfail. For those who have never been this far north it is a place that has a very high average rainfall, meaning that it is very green and tropical. The bowl is a 12 lane centre run by husband and wife team EJ and Mandy Starkey. The lanes are Switch synthetics, and are among the nicest I have ever bowled on.

The format for the tournament was 12 games qualifying with the top 18 progressing through to stage 2, where a further 6 games were bowled with pinfall carried over. At the conclusion of this pinfall is dropped and the top 12 progressed to the Matchplay final for 11 games of head to head games with 20 bonus for a win.

Qualifying saw some brilliant bowling by Rob Buckley (244 ave), Rob Kaluci (238 ave) and Angelo Nucifora (237 ave), we also saw 3 x 300 games with Jason Sou, Jordan McCahill and Katie Furze all bowling their first 300 games.

It was also really great to see some very talented youth/junior bowlers taking part (Sean Bowling, Maddie McGee, Katie Furze, Marissa Schulze, Luke Turner & Jarrod Langford) as well as some juniors bowling in their first senior tournaments (Mikayla Lovegrove, Emily Anderson and Chloe Wilson)

At the end of stage 1 qualifying there was literally 1 pin between positions 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 & 20 making for a nail biting finish.

Stage 2 (6 games) saw Angelo Nucifora and Rob Buckley start where they has left off on the Saturday, with Angelo finishing the 18 games on top with a very impressive 244 average. Townsville bowler Steve "Tubby" Hunt decided that he if he was going to be a threat to the front runners he needed to pull something special out, so he decided to use his new "Tropical Heat Hybrid" by Storm which he used to throw games of 278, 257, 236, 235, 224 & 268 to move into 2nd place after Stage 2. The final spot in the top 12 came down to the last frame of the last game, with Tyson Jones leaving a big 4 to miss the cut by 6 pins with Mick "Muncher" Fenech progressing through after a very strong finish.

Matchplay saw Rob Buckley jump to an almost immediate lead with some superb bowling and after 8 games had a 160 pin lead over George Frilingos in 2nd and 207 pin lead over Steve Hunt in 3rd. In the space of 3 games Buckley opened with the front 10 strikes twice, first being thwarted by a 4/9 split for 288, and then an unbelievably unlucky pocket 7 pin for 289. With 3 games to go the tournament looked all but over with Buckley cruising and the rest of the field struggling to stay in touch. Game 9 saw George Frilingos throw a 279 game and the crowd started to wonder could the man in the white pants and gold shoes possibly come from so far back.

Game 10 saw Buckley playing on the houses notorious tough pair of 1 & 2 where he recorded a 208 while at the opposite end of the house Frilingos threw another 279 game to cut Buckley's lead to 27 going into the final game. Game 11 saw Buckley hitting the pocket consistently but the carry gods appeared to have deserted him finishing with a 189, whilst Frilingos started with the front 7 strikes going onto record another 270+ game to win the tournament and successfully defend his title. Frilingos recorded an 816 block for his last 3 games and in doing so reminded us of why left handers not wrist guards should be banned from the game In all seriousness it was an awesome display of bowling from both Frilingos and Buckley with a pretty big gap back to Steve Hunt (3rd) and Angelo Nucifora (4th).

The tournament was a great success and very well run, and I would like to sincerely thank EJ, Mandy, Giovanna and Edmond as well as the support staff who worked extremely hard into the wee hours to make the tournament run smoothly. Even small things like the food in the cafe which was absolutely delicious (those chips and wedges were to die for), and the music playing while we were bowling to give the tournament some atmosphere.

Finally thanks to all the people who came to watch and support the bowlers, it makes things a lot more fun and provides a much better sense of atmosphere.

Looking forward to the 2012 tournament, EJ can you put me down for the Saturday morning squad

Cheers

Steve

 

[Toon]

What a great recap. Great work.! Congratulations to all those who bowled well and most of all to George, once again showing why he is numero uno!

 

[Fitzy]

Superb recap. Wish we could find a sponsor for you to be our roving reporter for all events Steve.

Well done Mr White Pants and Mr Buckley! Sounds like some great bowling by all up there.

 

[GeorgeF]

One of the best events I've ever participated in full stop. Great recap there by Tubby, clearly more talented as a writer than bowler Not sure playing death metal during parts of qualifying count as 'music' however there was certainly some atmosphere and a plenty of people around watching the finals.

Another huge thank you to EJ, his family and staff who made the event memorable once again. Thanks to Storm for putting the Anarchy and Pearl Marvel's in my hands, no suprises the top 5 all threw Storm! I hope all the locals enjoyed the coaching clinic I put on Thursday night and you put those new skills to work in the future.

Look forward to returning next year and going for the elusive 3-peat!

 

[E-J]

Congratulations to George on an astonishing come from behind win. George continually shows us why he is number 1, it was all about timing and we thought that George was a little off his game over the weekend - yeah right. At the right moment he kicked it into overdrive and tore away.

A tournament is nothing without the bowlers, and this event was a success because of the great bunch of tournament bowlers that attended. We are very lucky to have a friendly spirit in North Queensland. I would especially like to thank the bowlers who travelled from Brisbane and South Queensland including George, Graham Allen, Peter and Sean Bowling. Thanks to the guys from Mackay who absolutely compete in everything going around and are not afraid to travel. A little closer to home, Cairns as always the same people keep supporting this tournament including Ruffy and Maddy Hill, thanks a million. And of course a big thanks has to go the the rowdiest and loudest group of all the Townsville and Burdekin crew.

Massive thanks to Robbie Buckley, what an awesome ambassadeur for the sport, he is an asset for our game (he will be pissed I said this) We have been through a heap of crap with Cyclones, Fires etc over the last few months and he has been an incredible support for us.

Before I wrap up, my wife and parents deserve most of the thanks for this tournament. Whilst I was at the face, Mandy was running the backend non stop the entire weekend with VOLUNTEER bowlers Kyle Moss and Simon Smart. In the current state my machines are in at present, it is an incredible acheivement with the minimal knowledge they have of them. Mum and Dad both have full time jobs, and then come home to the bowl, another full time job!!! The countless hours they put in is remarkable for people in their early 50's.

Once again thanks to all that competed, and congratulations to George.

E-J

 

[RobbieB]

Great wrap up from Tubby on yet another fantastic weekend at Innisfail. Congrats to Mandy, EJ, Edmond and Giovanna - you guys put your heart and soul into this event every year, and us bowlers really do appreciate it.

Full scores are avaialble on the Sugarbowl website here: Barrier Reef Motel Open 2011

Just want to also say well done to our 4 Townsville junior girls Emily, Mikayla, Chloe and Niccole, the first three were bowling in their very first open tournament, great effort and attitude from all four. Also Katey Furze making the cut and bowling her first 300 at just 15 years old, and Sean Bowling finishing in the top 6 at 16, what a great future these guys have in front of them.

Roll on 2012 - I'll get you yet, White Baron!