Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, won his first European Bowling Tour title on July 11, defeating Finland’s two-handed star, Osku Palermaa, 412-358, in the two-game title match of the sixth Storm San Marino Open at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino. Loschetter, a five-year Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour competitor, earned 10,000 Euros (roughly $12,000 in U.S. dollars).
Loschetter, 30, defeated Jimmy Mortensen of Denmark, 432-431; Johan Hellden of Sweden, 440-381, and Gery Verbruggen of Belgium, 454-414, to reach the championship match. Fellow PBA Tour star Mika Koivuniemi of Hartland, Mich., advanced to the semifinal round, where he lost to Palermaa, 437-416. Pete Weber finished 10th and England’s Stuart Williams finished 24th.
Also on July 11, PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss def. Gykis Vytautas of Latvia, 478-370, to win the Czech Open at Bowland in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia. The 51-year-old Voss, a 25-time PBA Tour champion, defeated Juha Maja of Finland, 515-495, in semifinal round. The Czech Open drew a field of 223 men and women who bowled six-game qualifying rounds over a period of six days in the 12-lane host center. Voss qualified 11th to make out into the elimination rounds and won 2,500 Euros (about $US3,200).
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EAST’S CARUSO, MIDWEST’S LONDON ELIGIBLE FOR PBA TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
Two players who won their first time PBA Regional titles on July 11 have joined the ranks of players eligible to participate in the record-setting $1 million 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions.
Bob Caruso of Dayton, N.J., won his first PBA Senior Regional title in the PBA East Region Iroquois Lanes Senior Open at Iroquois Lanes in Canajoharie, N. Y., while Mark London of Palatine, Ill., defeated Jason Wojnar of Chicago, 257-194, to win his first title in the PBA Midwest Region Diamond Jo Casino's Kingpin Shootout Sponsored By Coors Light at Cherry Lanes in Dubuque, Iowa.
Under new Tournament of Champions rules, any PBA member who owns a PBA title – regional, senior, Women’s Series or PBA Tour – and is a PBA member in good standing as of Sept. 1 will be eligible to enter the 2011 Tournament of Champions.
In other regional action on July 11, Mike Edwards of Tulsa, Okla., won his sixth regional title, defeating Jeffrey Roche of Dearborn, Mich., 217-162, in the PBA Central Region Storm Products/Beechmont Toyota Open at Cherry Grove Lanes in Cincinnati, Ohio; David Kneas of Annapolis, Md., threw a perfect game at Mark Glover of Woodbridge, Va., in winning his fifth Senior Regional title in the PBA South Region Franklin, Va. Senior Open at Franklin Bowling Center; and Steven Black of Phoenix won his second consecutive PBA West Region title in the Saddleback Lanes Open in Mission Viejo, Calif., topping Liwei Liu of Pasadena, Calif., 225-213.
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MEMORIAL SERVICES SET FOR DICK EVANS, SUSAN MOSLEY-COUTURE
Memorial services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, July 30, for PBA and USBC Hall of Fame bowling writer Dick Evans who died July 4 in Daytona Beach, Fla., after a brief battle with cancer. Evans was 78. The services for the long-time Miami Herald, Knight-Ridder News Service and Daytona Beach News-Journal writer will be held at Lowman Funeral Chapel, 1423 Bellevue, Daytona Beach. In lieu of flowers, the Evans family has requested donations be sent to the University of Miami, which Evans attended on scholarship while working full time at the Herald, or the Hospice of Volusia/Flagler, 3800 Wood-briar Trail, Port Orange, FL 32129.
A memorial service also is scheduled for Thursday, July 15, from 4-8 p.m. Eastern, at River Lanes in Titusville, Fla., for Susan Mosley-Couture, the wife of five-time PBA Tour and two-time USBC Senior Masters winner Pete Couture, who died Friday, July 9, from complications due to several strokes. She was 52. In lieu of flowers, the Couture family has requested that donations be made to the American Stroke Association at strokeassociation.org.
WALTER RAY MEETS HIS MATCH IN ILLINOIS HORSESHOE COMPETITION
Walter Ray Williams Jr. predicted it would happen, and it did: he finished second in the Danville (Ill.) Open Horseshoe Tournament on July 11 to 15-time World Horseshoe Pitching Champion Alan Francis of Defiance, Ohio. Williams was seeded second in the event and finished his competition with an 8-3 match record. Francis was 11-0, winning his matches by a 41-5 average score.
“He’s way better than anyone else,” Williams, a six-time world horseshoe championship himself, said.