Duke Wins PBA Cheetah Championship

Norm Duke added another milestone to his Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Hall of
Fame career by capturing the PBA Cheetah Championship at Thunderbowl Lanes for his 33rd
career title.

Duke, who now ranks fifth on the list of PBA all-time title winners behind Walter Ray Williams Jr.
(46), Earl Anthony (43) and Mark Roth and Pete Weber (34 each), ended an incredible run by
challenger Ryan Ciminelli of Buffalo, N.Y., to win their best-of-seven-game championship match,
4-1.

The finals of the PBA World Series of Bowling event, presented in a unique documentary-style
format narrated by ESPN’s Kenny Mayne, gave viewers an inside look at a PBA match play event.
The third event in the PBA World Series of Bowling aired Sunday on ESPN.

The 23-year-old Ciminelli, a non-exempt player who is seeking his first Lumber Liquidators PBA
Tour  title, led the Cheetah Championship Tour Qualifying Round (TQR) to get into the 72
-man tournament field. He then led both rounds of qualifying and won best-of-seven-game matches
against Hall of Famer Brian Voss, four-time Tour champion Ryan Shafer and PBA Tour rookie Derek
Sapp to advance to the title match.

Against the 45-year-old Duke, Ciminelli won the first game, 226-212, but the Clermont, FL, veteran
then took control, winning the next four matches, 236-228, 257-213, 236-193, and 258-205.

“If Ryan would have gotten a 2-0 edge on me, I don’t know if I could have come back,” Duke said.
“The lanes were changing and you really had to keep up with it. Being down by 42 (pins) at one
point in that second game, I didn’t know if I could have turned it around if I had lost.”

After a first-round bye on his side of the single-elimination match play bracket, Duke defeated
Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Chris Barnes to earn his berth in the championship match.

“For me it’s like tennis. You have to attack every opponent differently,” Duke said. “With Ryan being
left-handed I had a fresh condition on the right side of the lane which was an advantage for me.”

Ciminelli, who had little trouble carrying corner pins on pocket hits throughout the tournament,
ran into a pair where he had trouble kicking out the 7 pin.

“I had trouble carrying on this pair of lanes in a side tournament before this tournament started,”
Ciminelli said “but I thought it might have been just a unique situation.

“I was pretty calm going into the championship match and started out making good shots, but
after a while I couldn’t carry,” he added. “I tried everything I could to get rid of the 7 pin, but
nothing worked.”

Duke earned $25,000 for his victory. As the first so-called “animal pattern” winner of the season,
Duke also earned a berth in the end-of-season PBA Experience Showdown presented by
BOWL.COM  which will be held at the new USBC International Training and Research Center in
Arlington, Texas, in April. Ciminelli earned $13,000 and his best Tour finish since finishing seventh in
last season’s CLR  Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship in Vernon Hills, Ill.

The Cheetah Championship was a landmark event for several reasons. It was the first Lumber
Liquidators PBA Tour event ever to incorporate a best-of-seven-game title match; it was the
Tour’s first highlight-style telecast, and it was the first PBA Tour event held in Thunderbowl’s
historic Arena Bay in more than a decade.

LUMBER LIQUIDATORS PBA TOUR CHEETAH CHAMPIONSHIP
Thunderbowl Lanes, Allen Park, MI

Championship (best of seven games)
Norm Duke, Clermont, FL ($25,000) def. Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, NY ($13,000),
212-226, 236-228, 257-213, 236-193, 258-205.

Semifinal Round (best of seven games)
Ciminelli def. Derek Sapp, Keokuk, Iowa  ($7,000),
269-263, 258-238, 213-287, 255-190, 209-206.
Duke def. Stevie Weber, Chalmette, LA ($7,000),
247-234, 269-223, 226-236, 217-204, 237-215.