Waliczek takes Thunderbowl purse
July 02, 2009
Lonnie Waliczek is excited.
On June 28, he took the title and the $3,700 purse at the Midwest Regional Thunderbowl Open in Council Bluffs, Iowa when he defeated Tom Hess, of Urbandale, Iowa, 250-193.
“I was excited,” Waliczek said of his win. “I am always excited when I win.”
But, he said, what he is most excited about was what he threw.
“I threw the (Columbia 300) Full Swing all day Sunday,” Waliczek said. “It definitely gave me an advantage that day; I give a lot of credit to that ball.”
The Wichita, Kan., resident said that his 57 pin win was never a given but was always a possibility.
“I had a lot of really tough matches,” he said. “But I was very confident with that ball and with my game. The opportunity was definitely there.”
The Tuesday before Thunderbowl began, Waliczek was in Las Vegas at Bowl Expo, an annual tradeshow for the bowling industry, demoing balls for Columbia 300 and helping others get the right product, he said.
“At Bowl Expo I was able to speak with Chris Barnes about how to drill the ball. He gave me some tips and I used one and threw it Sunday. It was perfect.”
Nominated for ESPN’s annual ESPY “Best Bowler” award, Barnes has netted 37 perfect games in his 11 year PBA career. The Columbia 300 bowler is ranked 14th in all time earnings at $1,417,279.
Waliczek said he is very excited about Columbia 300’s new line.
“This new group of balls is 100 percent the best equipment Columbia has put out in years,” he said. “They’ve always had good equipment, but this is a cut above anything they’ve done or anything any other brand has done in a long time.”
In August, Waliczek, who started bowling more than 30 years ago at the age of five, will begin trying to earn his PBA exemption.
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