Bill Vint
Professional bowlers Association
With his fifth-place finish in the Downums Waste Services PBA Jonesboro Open presented by Xtra Frame, EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., has taken the lead in the Xtra Frame PBA Tour points race, a season-long contest that will reward the winner of the 10-event series with a $10,000 bonus.
Tackett now has 53 points and a nine-point lead over Ryan Ciminelli and Jonesboro Open winner Tommy Jones, who are tied for second with 44 points.Sean Rash is fourth with 31 points followed by Jonesboro Open runner-up Kyle Troup (23). Steven Taylor, Tim Mack and Francois Lavoie are tied for seventh with 18 points. Five players are tied for ninth with 17 points each: Patrick Allen, Shawn Maldonado, Tim Gillick, Anthony Simonsen andConnor Pickford.
The Xtra Frame PBA Tour points race is designed for a close, hotly-contested battle. In each XF Tour event, the winner earns 25 points. Second place earns 19 points, third 18 points, etc., with points awarded on a one-point declining basis through 20 places.
Tackett earned his 53 points by finishing ninth in the bowlingball.com PBA Maine Shootout (12 points), first in the Xtra Frame PBA Storm Open in Carpentersville, Ill. (25 points) and fifth in Jonesboro (16 points). Ciminelli was first in Maine (25), second in Carpentersville (19) and 33rd in Jonesboro, earning no points. Jones was second in Maine (19), first in Jonesboro (25) and didn’t bowl in Carpentersville.
The fourth event in the Xtra Frame PBA Tour series will be the Xtra Frame PBA Lubbock Sports Open from Lubbock, Texas, June 24-26. Completing the series will be the PBA-PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles from Houston, Texas, July 29-31; Gene Carter’s Pro Shop Classic from Middletown, Del., Aug. 20-21; the Parkside Lanes Open from Aurora, Ill., Oct. 1-2; the PBA Reality Check Tamarac Open from Tamarac, Fla., Oct. 8-9; the South Point Las Vegas Open, Oct. 29-30, and the concluding event, the Billy Hardwick Memorial from Memphis, Tenn., Nov. 12-13.
All tournaments in the XF Tour series are covered live, exclusively from start to finish, on PBA’s Xtra Frame online video-streaming channel. To sign up for a subscription, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame link.
