Mañacop takes first King of the Lanes crown

The long wait is over for Simon Mañacop.

After missing the championship in the first seven years, Mañacop finally secured the Budweiser King of the Lanes crown, following an upset win in the 2011 seson-ending roll-off last Sunday at the Capitol Bowling Center. The Department of Public Safety police officer took the 2011 King of the Lanes title against siblings Ruselle and Raymond Zapanta, surviving the stepladder finals.

“Finally I got this one. I’ve been winning in the monthly tournaments several times, but not in the annual event for the past seven years,” said Mañacop, who topped the March, July, and October roll-offs last year.

“I got lucky yesterday despite not playing for about a month. I was not able to compete during the holidays and only returned to the bowling alley last Thursday. It feels great that I was able to beat Rusell and Raymond, who were really consistent in the elimination round,” he added.

Mañacop was the last one to make it to the stepladder finals as he finished third in the nine-game qualifying roll-off. He collected 1,776 pinfalls in nine games for an average of 197.33. The police officer knocked down more than 200 pins three times (210, 223, and 224) to add with his 192, 182, 193, 175, 196, and 181.

Ruselle was the first to advance to the stepladder finals, as he came out smoking in the qualifier, posting an average of 209.22 pinfalls after earning 1,883 pinfalls. He was the lone bowler in the 13-man field to average at least 200 pinfalls in the qualifier. Ruselle recorded 200-plus pinfalls in six games (217, 212, 204, 219, 245, and 214) to go with his 193, 181, and 198 and was awarded the automatic ticket to the finals.

Raymond placed second in the nine-game qualifier with his 1,789 total. He finished strong in the last three games (224, 205, and 225) and earlier tallied 176, 219, 146, 179, 226, and 189 in the first six games to move up to the No. 2 spot. The younger Zapanta then dueled Mañacop in the first round of the stepladder finals for the right to face Ruselle.

“Going up against Raymond, I was not that confident, as he is a tough opponent and he has been playing great bowling the past few months. I just went out there and play without expectations or pressure,” Mañacop said in a telephone interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Mañacop went on to pull off an upset over the second-ranked Raymond, 190-187, and faced another daunting task of beating the top-seeded bowler in the field, Ruselle, who needed only one win to avenge his brother’s loss and foil Mañacop’s title bid.

However, Mañacop was not ready to give up, as he took Game 1, 187-170, to force a deciding Game 2.

“Still, I was not that confident, as I won only by 17 pinfalls and the winner will be decided by total pins after two games, so there was no time to relax” Mañacop said.

The newly crowned King of the Lanes was only relieved when he finally win Game 2 by 39 pinfalls, 197-158 to complete the upset, 384-328.

With the win in last weekend’s tournament, Mañacop now joins the elite company of 2004 King of the Lanes Mark Halstead, Richard Leong (2005), Raymond Angeles (2006 and 2008), Jon Hensley (2007), Percy Omechelang (2009), and Robert Talavera (2010).