KUWAIT CITY, Feb 2: With its winning streak still unbroken after its 12th week match, the roaring K2E2 Thunders succeeded in grabbing the pole position of the on-going 2011-2012 PBAK-MoneyGram-SMDC Winter Tenpin Bowling League being held at the Cozmo Bowling Center in Khaifan thus ending the 11-week reign of erstwhile front runner Oscar Strikers. Aside from the change in the league leadership, the team standing was shaken up by the mixed results of the round that saw Western Union regaining third place and Express Rollers together with defending champion Klasmeyts-Al Khadda-Kana Controls making their way back into the Top 8. Completing this week’s magic 8 were the fourth ranked NLB, Cozmo 2 and Whiplash who settled in seventh and eight positions respectively.

What looked like an endless reign by the equally strong Oscar Strikers in the early rounds of the elimination was slowly put to the test when K2E2 started their unbelievable 7-week winning streak that was highlighted by the 3341 team output they posted in the 8th week.
Trailing the leader by just 3 pins prior to their scheduled 12th week outing and coming from an impressive 3110-2826 win over Whiplash the other week, the humongous effort of K2E2 for the past seven weeks finally paid off as they took over the number one post from Oscar Strikers after booking a 2912-2652 over KASCO/Will Do It. Showing no sign of letting up, the K2E2 Thunders started their climb to the top by beating the aviation services magnates in the first two games of the match 963-886 and 951-854.

To complete another impressive winning stint, K2E2 bannered in this match by Danny San Juan, Alex Cervantes, Joan Balla, Neng Cervantes, Butch Alinea, Boy Lorino and JR Sabado snatched a 3-game sweep with a 973-912 victory in game three. Bowling for KASCO/Will Do It who slipped out of the Top 8 after the setback were Norie Sairat, Mandy Manalo, Tariq Sairat, Ricky Palabon, George Bouchebel, Myra Manalo and Rene Marzan.
Through back to back victories the Xpress Rollers made their entry back into the Top 8 greatly boosting their chances of advancing to the championship round with 7 week remaining in the qualifying round. After their 2832-2783 win over Cozmo 1 last week, the Xpress Rollers were able to move to 8th place. Hoping to improve their ranking, Xpress Rollers fielded in Tony ZuletaLiza Catapia, Joe Simmona, Hermi Saliba and Caloy in their opening game against the high flying Asian Air Safari pin busters. The Rollers’ quintet responded nicely with a big 1033-830 rout of their rivals to go up by 203 pin falls. With Sonia Mathews, Edwin de Mesa, Lito Michael, Al Bautista, Rico Baluyot and Toto Abear in the lineup, Asian Air Safari stop the Rollers in game two 994-932 and then went on to grabbed another 954-884 in game three. The Xpress Rollers however managed to go home with the match in their bags courtesy of their big winning margin in game one.

Defending champion Klasmeyts Al Khadda Kana Controls on the other hand who rolled to a 2882-2437 walk in the park win over Nusantara-Falcon Cargo were back in contention after being booted out of the Top 8. With its lineup back in full force, Klasmeyts KK started their mission to get back into the elite 8 with a 981-805 shellacking of Nusantara. Again spearheaded by the tandem of Rudy Zablan and Bong Bermillo, Klasmeyts KK clobbered their opponents in game two 1018-726. A sudden change of form by Klasmeyts in game three, allowed Nusantara led by Nunun Mulyana, Fahmi Husain, Ahmad Gofar, Saleh faraj and Lisa Amenda to eke out a 906-858 victory. Meanwhile, Western Union Money Transfer reaffirmed its return to contention via its 2856 2667 win over the green thumbs of LEAF. Headed by Tito Tamayo, Ed Mendoza, Bobby Ferrera, Chit Mariano, Jane Nance and Al Belarmino, Western Union defeated LEAF in all three games of the match 902-862, 1031-935 and 898-870. Suiting for LEAF in this outing were Joe Presenta, Rey Ualat, Cris Carungay, Rocky Castil, Blanca Mercado and Marjorie Mercado.

In the other matches of the week, NLB edged Cozmo 2 2763-2721, the Swooping Eagles stopped Whiplash 2831-2703, the Honey Bees nipped Cozmo 1 2493-2463, Oscar Strikers stopped World Class 2850-2763, BOSE silenced D’ Islanders 2866-2749 and Siete Pares who bowled all alone submitted a total score of 2949 pin falls. Individual High Game the holders are as follows, Men Class O-Caloy Garay 258, Men Class A-Egay Cabildo 246, Men Class B-Joel Tizon 230, Ladies Class A-Michelle Avila 248 and Ladies Class B-Jessica Balagat-212 while for the High Average Award the current leaders are Men Class O-Yaqoub Al Shatti 200, Men Class A-Edwin Latoja 201, Men Class B-Ricky Palabon 180, Ladies Class A-Hanadi Mezaeil 176 and Ladies Class B-Aris de Guzman 160. In the Team Awards the standing records belong to Trio High Series-Oscar Strikers (Egay Cabildo, Ramon Aguilar, Ritz Vidana) 655, Doubles High Series-K2E2 (Kiko Andaya/Edwin Latoja) 486,Team High Game-K2E2 1017 and Team High Series-K2E2 3091.

The team standings after 12 weeks are as follows (read as rank, team name and average score per game), 1. K2E2-968, 2. Oscar Strikers-966, 3. Western Union -952, 4. NLB-946, 5. Xpress Rollers-946, 6. Klasmeyts KK -945, 7. Cozmo 2-945, 8. Whiplash -943, 9. Siete Pares-941, 10. KASCO/Will Do It-941, 11. D’ Islanders-938, 12. Swooping Eagles-937, 13. Asian Air Safari-935, 14. LEAF-933, 15. World Class-931, 16. BOSE-915, 17. Cozmo 1-884, 18. Nusantara-872, 19. Honey Bees-713.