62ND Annual Times-News Open
2025 Qualifying Champion -
ROBERT LYTLE
Qualifying Champion in his first time qualifying for the finals
The last time that occurred was in 1997 when his dad achieved the same feat
Qualifying Rounds
Round 1 – 5 games Saturday January 11, 2025
Westway Lanes at 9:00am & 1:00pm
The 62nd edition of the Times-News Open headed west to Westway Lanes for the first two rounds of the qualifier with a full field of 168 bowlers.
Dan Francis, a 4th place finisher in the 2024 Times-News Open started 264-277-258 for 799 for his first 3 games on the A squad and then closed with 224 and 257 for a 5-game total of 1,280 and the first round lead. The scoring pace was good so Dan had a lot of company on the leaderboard. Charlie Tuzynski, Jr. actually led Francis by 27 pins with one game to go but finished with just 200 in game 5 but still a total of 1,250, a 250 average for the day. Fueled by 3 260+ games, Adam Gilmore held the third position with 1,244.
The top score on B squad was Robert Lytle with 1,240 closely followed by Nick Kightlinger (5th last year) who closed with 1,236. Two other bowlers were able to crack the 1,200 plateau, Mike Godleski (1,214) and Cody Jacobs (1,204).
The top then was then rounded out by David Warren (1,198), defending champion Killian Kilpatrick (1,195) and the brother of the round 1 leader, Doug Francis (1,194).
There were only two other past champions in the 2025 field, 7-time champion Mike Shady who stands in 25th with 1,116 and 5-time champion Michael Machuga who sits back in 58th with 1,076.
5 more games tomorrow with the A squad moving to the afternoon and the B squad to the morning. After 10 games the field will be cut to the top 32 who will advance to the semi-finals at Rolling Meadows next Sunday.
Round 2 – 5 games Sunday January 12, 2025
Eastway Lanes at 9:00am & 1:00pm
It took Robert Lytle just 2 games to move to the top spot on the leaderboard a lead he held for the remainder of the 8 games bowled on Sunday, 3 by the B squad and 5 for A. Lytle finished his 10 games with 9 of them over 230 which resulted in a 246.4 average. Robert has never made the Times-News Open finals but, with a 164-pin lead on 16th place he hopes to change that, and maybe capture a Qualifying Title along the way.
Nick Kightlinger stayed reasonably close to Lytle but just could not match the torrid pace even though he himself averaged over 240, ending with a total of 2,403, good for second.
The next 4 positions all came off the A squad with Doug Francis holding 3rd with rounds of 1,194 and 1,204 for 2,398, Another 12-pins back is Chris Jannazzo who authored one of the days 4 perfect games, his coming in game 3 along with 2 others. Ryan Devore closed first with a 300 on 5&6 and then put the finishing touch on his perfecto on 11&12. The next bowler to throw on lane 12 was Rich Covatto and he too turned the perfect trick. Several lanes down Michale Machuga was working on his own 300 but a light hit left him a pin short with 299.
Fifth place is occupied by Adam Gilmore, dropping slightly from his start in 3rd. He has a 2,378 total. 5-time champion Michael Machuga who began the day over 200 pins off the lead and down in 58th place. He bookended his 299 game with a 237-246 start and a 259-255 finish for a second round record total of 1,296 vaulting him all the way up to 6th.
The rest in the top dozen rotated between B and A respectively and are quite a bit separated from the leading pack. Mike Sirak is 7th with 2,329, Charlie Tuzynski, Jr. is next with 2,320. Len Kruszewicz is next, just a pin back at 2,319 and then, another pin back is Larry Klick with 2,318.
After 6 more games next Sunday the field with be cut to the top 16. A score of 2,300 is currently that number.
The plan was to have the field cut to the top 32 for the semi-finals but that didn’t happen due to a feverish finish that resulted in a 3-way tie for the final spot. Corey Rapela finished with a score of 2,230 and was sure he had fallen short but when Michael Thompson finished with 2,229, he knew there was still hope. Defending champion Killian Kilpatrick had almost no hope after shooting 528 for his first three games. A 247 in game 4 kept his slim hopes alive. He finished his final game with 7 strikes for 259 and with his 2,229 total being tied with Thompson there seemed to be a chance but there were others still with frames to fill with a chance.
When Dominic Ferretti and Mike Shady both finished with 260+ games to put them well over the cut line chances lessened. With just two pair still to finish there were still 4 bowlers with a chance to make it. Danny Mackowski, Jr. knew it was strike or go home all the way back to the 5th frame, but he struck and struck and struck, all the way to the finish for 269. He was in good position, but not in yet. Bowling on his pair was Jeff Prue who was in good position with 2 frames to go. However, he left a 4-9 in the 9th and, if he failed to convert the split he would be out. He converted and after striking on the first ball in the 10th he needed one more to advance. Instead, he left another split and without another conversion he was out. He converted that split too, joining both Kilpatrick and Thompson at +229. With Mackowski now in the best Prue and the others could hope for was a rolloff for the final spot, but there were still two others to finish and both needed a double to advance and if even one of them did, the 229’s were out.
Matt Hinterberger, a first-time finalist in 2024 was first and he got the first strike but left a pesky 9-pin on a good hit to fall 3 pins short. That left it all up to Nate Ross, the last bowler to finish the weekend. He too was able to strike once, but not twice like he needed so that left the final spot up for grabs between Thompson, Kilpatrick and Prue who will settle that with a one-game rolloff next weekend prior to the start of the Semis.
One other Sunday event well worth noting was at the conclusion of the morning squad. The last bowler to finish was Samuel Stewart. A relatively new bowler and a first time participant in the Times-News Open he found himself with a shot at a 300 game with the entire house watching in silence. He was able to complete the feat, his first 300 game, with a solid strike on his 12th ball.
The semi-finals begin next Sunday at Rolling Meadows at 1:00pm with the rolloff taking place at noon.
Round 3 – 6 games Sunday January 19, 2025
Rolling Meadow Lanes at 1:00pm
The Times-News moved east to Rolling Meadows on Sunday for the final 6 games of qualifying for the 32 semi-finalists.
Robert Lytle carried a 61 pin lead into the round and maintained a lead every game throughout the day, ultimately besting Michael Machuga by 57 pins. Lytle was the only one of the semi-finalists to finish with all 16 games over 200. He added a 6-game round of 1,357 to his 10 game total of 2,464 for a 3,821 total, an average of 238.8. Machuga, who was 58th after the first round had the highest round of the day, 1,392. His first game 259 moved him from 6th to 2nd, the position he would finish.
Nick Kightlinger remained near the top for the entire run of the qualifier. He was 5th after 5 games, 2nd after 10 and again 2nd after 13 games before settling in the 3rd position, 127 pins off the lead. Adam Gilmore also was strong in all rounds, moving from 3rd to 5th and finished 4th, another 15 pins behind Kightlinger with 3,679.
Chris Jannazzo, one of only 2 lefties in the semi-final field will become the only southpaw in the finals. He finished 5th with 3,657. Using 2 of the 3 highest games of the day, 278 in game 3 and 276 in game 5, Kylle Twaroski was one of 8 bowlers to begin the day outside the cut line but finished to make the finals. Twaroski finished atop a tightly packed group from 6th to 11th. Those 6 places were only separated by 16 pins. Next in that grouping was 7-time champion Mike Shady. He started 25th and with the high game of the day, a 289 in game 5 to finish in the 7th spot.
The second highest 6-game set of the day. 1,376 belonged to Danny Mackowski. Like in the finish of last weekends session, he closed with 269 to sneak inside the cut of the 32 semi-finalists. On this day, he found himself again outside the cut line in 17th with one game to go and closed with 268 to vault to 8th. While he qualified for the finals from the 29th starting position, Corey Rapela qualified from his starting slot of 31st. He was just 1 pin higher than the 3 bowlers who rolled off for the 32nd and final spot. Rapela finished 14th.
The rolloff between the defending champion Killian Kilpatrick, Jeff Prue, and Mike Thompson was contested prior to the start of the semis. Thompson struggled the entire game and finished with 175 while Prue started strong and Kilpatrick stormed back late leaving the spot to be decided in the final frame. A solid 10 by Prue in the 9th left things in Kilpatrick’s hands but when he left a 7 pin on the first shot in the 10, Prue had new life. With the possibility of another tie still looming, Prue struck first when a messenger toppled the 10 which he followed with a solid strike to surpass Kilpatrick, finishing with 247 to his 238. Prue never found any magic after that and finished 32nd.
The top 10 was completed by Cody Tomlinson in 9th and Bill Gdaniec in 10th. There were just 12 and 13 pins, respectively out of 6 and Tyler Barnes, who finished 11th, was just 16 pins out of that same position.
Rodrick Baird is heading to his 3rd finals after a solid round left him comfortably in 12th. Randy Prue was next. He rose to 8th after game 4 and then dropped back 13th . Both Baird and Prue started the day outside the top 16 along with the aforementioned Rapela who was 14th.
The final two spots were occupied by the Francis brothers who spent most of the day going in opposite directions. Doug Francis started the day 3rd and could not muster a 200 game until game 5 where his 227 came at just the right time as he was falling out of the finalist group. Going into game 5 10th place was separated from 22nd place by just 32 pins. Dan Francis started 19th and with 6 games between 205 and 221 it was good enough for the final spot. His 221 came in game 4 where he started with the first six and then held. The Francis’ will be the 4th set of brothers to compete in the Times-News Finals in the same year.
Mike Sirak occupies the alternate position once again, a position he held just 2 years ago when he lost in a rolloff for the final spot. This year he was bitten bad by one poor game, a 165 in game 3 plummeted him from 11th to 22nd. He finished strong, including strikes on his final 6 shots, but it turned out to be 2 pins short.
The next to spots were held by bowlers who started inside the cut line but just couldn’t get over the hump. Cody Jacobs opened with
265 which placed him 8th but he managed only one more 200 game dropping from 15th to 18th in the last game. Dave Warren also hovered around the cut line as well, with a high of 13th and a low of 22nd. He had a chance in the last game but things just didn’t go his way. The other leftie, Ryan Park rounded out the top 20. He fell to last after game 1 and clawed his way up, finishing 30 pins short.
The qualifying totals will be dropped as the finals move on the Eastway Lanes next Saturday and finish on Sunday at Greengarden.
STRENGTH OF THIS YEAR’S FINALISTS
TOP FINISHES & QUALIFYING TITLES
FOR CURRENT YEAR FINALISTS
PAST CHAMPIONS
2 with 12 Titles
(Shady 7, Machuga 5)
RUNNERS-UP
2 with 8 Runners Up
(Shady and Machuga 4 each)
QUALIFYING TITLES
3 with 13 Titles
(Shady 7, Machuga 5, Lytle)
TOTAL FINALS APPEARANCES
in TN Opens (3 First-Timers)
(192 TN’s, 85 finals)
QUALIFIER RESULTS PAYOUT
HIGH QUALIFIER
$150
ROBERT LYTLE
2ND HIGH QUALIFIER
$100
MICHAEL MACHUGA
Meet the Finalists
Final Rounds
Finalists at a Glance
Round 1 – 8 games Saturday January 25, 2025
Eastway Lanes at 12:00 pm
Eastway Lanes was the site Saturday for the opening of the Times-News Open finals with 8 head-to-head on tap for the 16 finalists.
It appeared that it was going to be a good day for scoring as the bowlers loosened up and when the field averaged 222 for the first game it seemed that it would be a day of striking. It quickly turned into a day of 9 counts and spare shooting as the averaged dropped to 207 for game 2 and it ended up being a day of varied results.
Like the results, the scoreboard was varied as well with 5 different bowlers holding the lead throughout the day. The ’25 Qualifying Champion, Robert Lytle, was the only one to hold the lead for more than one game. He led first after game two and then again after games five, six and seven. Prior to game 5, Lytle had dropped to 5th but fashioned a 279, the high game of the day, and moved to the top. Robert finished the day in second, 32 pins off the lead with 1,934.
It is Adam Gilmore who finished with the lead and a total of 1.996 when he matched Lytle’s high game with a 279 of his own. Gilmore was 7th after the first game and steadily moved up. He never bowled a game under 200 and led the field with 6 match victories against 2 defeats. Adam now move to Greengarden, where he bowls regularly, to try to continue his great bowling. He averaged 227 for the day to lead the field.
Only 10 pins separates 3rd from 7th with Cody Tomlinson holding the top spot in that group. He moved from his low point, 13th after game 3 up 10 spots to 3rd with 3 match wins and offset a game 7 loss with a game 8 win to return to 3rd. He has 1,912. Just one pin back at 1,911 is Rodrick Baird. Rodrick is one of the five to hold the lead during the round, reaching that position after game 4. His high marks were 255 and 258 in games 4 and 6.
5-time champion Michael Machuga sits 5th with 1,905, A slow start had the past champion down in 15th before finding his groove with a solid finish to move back into the hunt. He has another just one pin behind him, that is Tyler Barnes. Barnes also started slow but used a 278 to climb from 13th to 4th in game three and then closed with 268 to move up two spots to 6th. With 1,902 Nick Kightlinger is just 2 more pins back and only 94 pins off the lead in 7th. While everyone above him was able to finish with a winning match record, Nick was even with 4 wins and 4 losses.
The first big gap in the leaderboard shows the Francis brothers with 1,824 and 1,811, respectively, The brothers faced each other in the opening match of the day which was won by Dan 256-179, Doug bowled consistently from there on out but was never able to catch his brother after any game. Both of them finished with 4-4 records.
Round 2 – 8 games Sunday January 26, 2025
Greengarden Lanes at 12:00 pm
The conclusion of the 2025 Times-News Open was scheduled for
Greengarden Lanes and, with the top 7 being within 100 pins there was some
promise that it was going to be a close one … and then it wasn’t … and,
then it was again.
Adam Gilmore began the day with a 62 pin lead and, since he bowls at Greengarden, he seemed to be a good choice to be at or near the top at day’s end. Even with a game 9 win, 202-164 over Randy Prue, his lead was cut to 37 pins as Robert Lytle also registered a win, 227-214 over Corey Rapela. For Gilmore, however, his path to the title was at a critical point when he faced 5-time champion Michael Machuga in game 10. Even though he led Machuga by 105 pins going into the match, Machuga reset the leaderboard with a 265-180 victory, vaulting him from 5th to 1st. Gilmore was just 10 pins back but his direction had changed. In game 11 Machuga shot 268 against Prue’s 180 while Gilmore fell 232-154 to Dan Francis. That moved Francis into second 119 behind Machuga with Nick Kightlinger, now in 3rd, 183 pins behind.
Those top positions would hold through game 12 and then when Kighlinger downed Rapela 265-216 in game 13 he was able to bypass Francis, who defeated Tyler Barnes 203-187. Danny Mackowski was able to eclipse Machuga who saw his lead trimmed to an even 100 pins. All three of the top 3 registered wins and with Machuga’s 259, he was able to extend his lead to 133 with Francis still close 17 more pins behind.
It appeared that the penultimate game would be the game that would put Machuga in a runaway position for his 6th title. When his opponent, Bill Gdaniec started with two opens while Machuga put together a triple that seemed to be the reality. However, Machuga opened and Gdaniec put a string of strikes together and when Machuga was unable to get the first strike in the 10th the door was open for Gdaniec. He struck on his first 10th frame offering propelling him to a 226-222. This didn’t appear to be too damaging to Machuga until word came down from the high end that Kightlinger had just finished off Lytle, 278-158.
When the scoreboard was reshuffled, the lead going into the position round was just 47 which meant, with 30 bonus pins in play, Kightlinger would only need to defeat Machuga by 18 to claim the title. The two combatants move over to lanes 13 & 14 to roll for the title. 3rd and 4th were occupied by Rodrick Baird, who had just bumped Francis to 4th and now would face him to try to hold onto that spot. Baird was 110 behind and Francis 169 back, likely too far back to make a run.
When both Machuga and Kightlinger strung the first 5 strikes, all other bowlers were eliminated for all intents and purposes except Kightlinger. Machuga then left a solid 9 followed by a light and when Kightlinger ran his string to 7, he was in the lead. When he was unable to strike in the 8th it meant that Machuga was back in control of his destiny. He struck in both the 8th and 9th leaving himself in a position to match whatever Kightlinger might do. With a strike in the 9th and the first one in the 10th he looked to force Machuga to double. With one of his best tosses of the match, the solid pocket hit crushed the 4 pin into the was and it rocketed back across the lane, failing to touch the 7 pin, still standing there defiantly.
That horrible stroke of luck meant that Machuga would only need to strike on his first attempt on lane 14 to claim the title. True to what we have come to expect from Michael, he flushed it and raised his fist in victory, knowing that the title was just a formality. He went on to strike out resulting in a 268-268 tie with Kightlinger, leaving his final margin of victory the same as he started the final game with, 47. Machuga’s 6th title is tied for 3rd all-time with Ron Palombi, Jr. one shy of his brother-in-law, Mike Shady and 2 short of the record holder, Lee Eighmy, Jr.
The battle for 3rd was won by Francis 226-201 over Baird but the war still went to Baird who was able to hang on, 4 pins ahead of Francis. Mike Shady moved into 5th with a 267-248 win over Cody Tomlinson. Shady was in 12th with 3 games to go. He bowled 760 for those last 3, all match wins, two of them over Tomlinson who finish 7th.
Danny Mackowski, Jr., was the biggest over on the day. He began the day in 16th and was still in that position after 3 games. He lost the first two but his 239-233 win over Kylle Twaroski was where he turned the corner. He followed that with games of 289-268-255-246, all wins to jump 10 places to 6th. His eyes were set on 5th as Adam Gilmore was only 3 pins ahead of him. He defeated Gilmore 228-196 but failed to move up when Shady passed him. Gilmore ended 8th.
Just 45 pins separated 9th from 12th which included Chris Jannazzo, Corey Rapela, Bill Gdaniec, and Kylle Twaroski. An even 100 pins separated Tyler Barnes in 13th from Doug Francis in 16th with Randy Prue and Robert Lytle holding the other two spots.
2024 Finalist Group Picture
