The Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Ripple Road (A13) Dagenham, Essex

Results

Sunday 18 Evening - Final Session

Team USA successfully defended the 2001 Megabowl Weber Cup tonight at the Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham.

Coming into the evening session, the USA only needed one point out a possible seven to take the cup back to the States for the second year running, with the Europeans having to win all seven matches.

First up was Tomas Leandersson against Tony 'The Fridge' Manna. Leandersson pulled Europe back to within 5 points with clear win, showing cool under great pressure from the American. However Mike Mullin from New York clinched victory with a gutsy performance over Dutchman Nico Thienpondt to give USA their deserved win.

A delighted US Captain Tim Mack commented " I'm delighted for all of the team. We bowled really solid and kept at them over the three days. The Europeans made a fight of it, especially on day one but we proved too strong over the three days. I'm looking forward to coming back next year to make it 3 in a row!"

Sunday 18 Afternoon - First Session

Play continued here this afternoon on the second day of the 2001 Megabowl Weber Cup, the USA v Europe Tenpin Bowling Challenge. After taking a battering yesterday evening with a 6 - 0 whitewash, things were looking bleak for Tomas Leandersson's European Team.

Matters did not improve as Team USA started this afternoon as they had finished the night before. They gave a near perfect display in the opening Baker Match where only Mike Mullin failed to strike out. The Europeans could not match this performance although they scored an encouraging 248.

Things looked up for Team Europe as Gery Verbruggen scraped past an under-par Bill Hoffman to reduce the overall deficit to 4 points. However the USA pulled ahead again when Dino Castillo defeated Tore Torgersen for the second time in the Competition, and edged to within a point of retaining the Cup when Tim Mack beat Steve Thornton in the final match of the session.

There are 35 matches in total and the first team to reach 18 points will walk off with tenpin bowling's ultimate prize. The entire event will be captured by Matchroom Sport Television and syndicated for broadcast around the world.

Saturday 17 Evening - Second Session

Play resumed this evening here at the Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham on the second day of the 2001 Megabowl Weber Cup, where the USA completely dominated Team Europe with six straight wins.

First up was an emphatic 248 - 227 win in the Baker Match, a format the Americans continue to dominate. This was followed by Bill Hoffman's 232 - 197 win over Tore Torgersen which levelled the match and set up an intriguing evening's play.

USA then took the lead for the first time since yesterday afternoon when gregarious Texan Dino Castillo took the valuable scalp of Team Europe Captain Tomas Leandersson to add to that of Tore Torgersen which he took earlier today. Castillo is becoming one of the stars of the US Team.

Team USA compounded Europe's misery when a pumped-up Captain Tim Mack comprehensively out-played Bournemouth's Steve Thornton when he went over 240 for the first time this Weber Cup. Thornton was never in it as Mack sensed a real chance for the USA to pull ahead by 2 points for the first time. There were further woes for Europe when Tony Manna found the top of his game to demolish Nico Thienpondt 267 - 189 and open up a 3 point gap at 13 - 10.

The final match, the clash of the lefties Mike Mullin and Gery Verbruggen turned out to be a real nailbiter but Mullin pulled through with a gutsy performance to end the evening session with a 6-0 whitewash for the USA.

Saturday 17 Afternoon - First Session

Play continued here this afternoon on the second day of the 2001 Megabowl Weber Cup, the USA v Europe Tenpin Bowling Challenge. After taking a battering yesterday evening to end the day at 4 - 8 down, the US team started convincingly by winning the Baker Format Match with a near flawless performance which the Europeans could not match, and reduced the overall deficit to 8 - 5.

Next up came Gery Verbruggen playing Tony Manna in a repeat of last night's match which the American won easily. Today's match was much more closely fought and the Belgian came back and turned the tables with a convincing victory by 248 - 227. The third match saw the US pairing of Mike Mullin and Bill Hoffman beat Steve Thornton and Nico Thienpondt to take the overall score to 9 - 6. The difference between the two pairings was a mere 2 spares.

In the shock result of the afternoon, Dino 'Tiger Woods' Castillo defeated the favourite Tore Torgersen. The Americans edged closer to Team Europe by just 2 points as Torgersen bowled too many spares to stay in contention, which allowed the Texan to capitalise on the errors, much to his delight.

In the penultimate match Tim Mack left a bad split on the 8th frame as he and his playing partner Dino Castillo lost easily to the Scandinavian pairing. Europe edged ahead again to 10 - 7. The final match was the rematch of last nights clash of the captains. Tim Mack gained revenge as neither player bowled at their best.

There are 35 matches in total and the first team to reach 18 points will walk off with tenpin bowling's ultimate prize. The entire event will be captured by Matchroom Sport Television and syndicated for broadcast around the world.

Friday 16 Evening - Second Session

Play resumed this evening here at the Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham on the first day of the 2001 Megabowl Weber Cup, where Europe have taken a solid lead to put them in good position for Saturday.

The evening started off well for Team Europe when they took the Baker Format Match 246 to 236 and went 5 - 2 up. However Team USA's Mike Mullin pulled back the deficit to 5 - 3 when he defeated Norwegian ace Tore Torgersen, in a close match where Torgersen left the 7 and 10 pins in the 6th frame and the 8 and 10 pins in the 9th frame, which proved costly indeed.

Team USA then edged still closer when Tony Manna from Omaha, Nebraska bowled magnificently to outplay Gery Verbruggen. In the fourth match of the session, Steve Thornton stopped the USA's run when he took the point in his match against Dino Castillo, with a strong showing in the finishing frames to leave the scores at 6 - 4 to Europe.

In the penultimate match of the evening Bill 'The Joker' Hoffman had problems with the 10 pin throughout his game. His opponent Nico Thienpondt, although not at his best either, was able to take advantage of Hoffman's misfortune to extend Europe's lead to 7 - 4.

Finally tonight the clash of the captains was a match the USA badly needed to win to keep the Europeans in sight. However Tomas Leandersson saved his best for last with a near flawless performance to defeat Tim Mack by 214 - 183

Friday 16 Afternoon - First Session

USA 2 - 4 EUROPE

Play began this afternoon here at the Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham on the first day of the 2001 Megabowl Weber Cup, where Europe have taken a solid 4 points to 2 lead over the Americans.

First blood went to the American Team who took the Baker Format match by a solitary pin. Europe quickly levelled with a tremendously closely-fought match which saw Tore Torgersen of Norway bowl a near-perfect game. He bowled a 299, just missing out on the maximum 300 on the last shot of the game when he left a two pin standing.

England's Steve Thornton and Holland's Nico Thienpondt took the third match in a scrappy affair against Bill Hoffman and Tony 'The Fridge' Manna to put Europe ahead for the first time. USA Captain Tim Mack levelled the scores with a solid win over Belgium's Gery Verbruggen.

The European Team, however, took the last two matches of this session. Tore Torgersen and Team Europe's Captain, Tomas Leandersson convincingly beat US team members Dino Castillo and Mike Mullin, and in the final match of the afternoon, Leandersson bowled superbly against Bill Hoffman to put Team Europe into a 4 - 2 lead going into Friday evening's session.