The annual NDBowling.com Classic was held this past weekend at Sunset Lanes in Moorhead, MN. The tournament was conducted on a 39 foot pattern with a shade under 25 mls and a ratio of 3.53-1.
The qualifying round was split into two shifts due to the ongoing pandemic. Each shift generated 40 entries. Leading the first shift was 2016 Classic Champion, Nick Heilman. Heilman averaged over 222 for the 8 game block to secure his spot in the match play round.
The story of the second shift was Jason Hanson. Hanson started off the block with a 782 set his first 3 games and would add a 287 in game 6 to post a 1914 8 game total which was 120 pins clear of the entire field.
Rounding out the top 20 was 2021 KFYR Champion Jeremiah Smith at 1641. Smith was the number for the second time in the last 3 Majors. Smith would go on to finish 14th on Sunday which was good enough to claim his 2nd NDBowling.com Player of the Year title.
Sunday’s Match Play round was dominated by Rob Warren and Brady Stearns. Both players ran way from the field by going 300 over for the 10 games which included a 300 game from Stearns early in the block. Warren won his last 8 matches to take over the lead from Stearns and earned the #1 seed on the NDBowlTV Show. Top 5 heading into the finals were Rob Warren, Brady Stearns, Nick Heilman, Andy Mills, and Jason VanFerson.
Match Play Scores
NDBowlTV Finals:
Mills def. VanFerson, 233-155
Heilman def. Mills, 204-202
Heilman def. Stearns, 248-224
Heilman def. Warren, 192-191
You can watch the entire show HERE.
The win gives Heilman his 2nd NDBowling.com Classic title and 3rd career NDBowling.com Major Title. Congratulations, Nick!
Shout out to Darin Sundstrom, Lonnie Thielbar, Mike Emerson and the entire staff at Sunset Lanes for hosting the event. The tournament was a little different this season and offered up a new set of challenges that were handled about as well as possible.
Big thank you to everyone who made the trip to Moorhead to compete this past weekend and thank you for supporting Sunset Lanes & NDBowling.com.