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Buck Buckhanan and John Kerr go into the final tournament of the 2009 series in the points lead, one tournament away from successfully defending their 2008 title. In fact, John and Buck have been clearly the most dominant team in the series for the last 4 seasons, having won the points title 3 of those years in 2005, 2007, and 2008 (Mike McLernon and Jeff Wilkey tied Rick Wilson and Chuck Miller that year - John and Buck were third).
The points race is slightly deceiving in the ABA Series due to the fact that they drop a team's two worst finishes throughout the year, counting their best 5 finishes toward the end of the year points. As it sits currently, as published by ABA on their website, Kerr and Buckhanan have a 10 point cushion over Chris and Stephen Patek. These points are counting each team's top 5 finishes thus far, so only dropping 1 tournament so far. Calculating the points as they truly sit, dropping their 2 worst finishes tightens things up considerably. Of course you have to assume the top teams will finish strong, and not have to drop their final tournament of the year. But calculating the points with two drops spits out the following top 10. - Buck Buckhanan & John Kerr - 425
- Cameron Smith & Chuck Lavigne - 423
- Chris & Stephen Patek - 420
- Dave Brantley & Jeff Riley - 411
- Emil Orlando Jr & Joe Crawford - 410
- Mike & Kevin Martin - 409
- Larry Snow & Aaron Johnson - 405
- Brian Reeves & Thomas Janenko - 399
- Frank Morrin & Will Rakowitz - 398
- Nick Adkins & Mike McLernon - 392
One thing is for sure, the top teams have already done this math. Kerr and Buckhanan know they have to go for the win Sunday to keep the red-hot team of Cameron Smith and Chuck Lavigne behind them. Cameron and Chuck have had a 1st, 3rd, and 2nd in the last 3 tournaments respectively. Their win came at the last Otay tournament, so they could easily go out and win on Sunday, forcing Kerr and Buckhanan to finish right on their heels in 2nd to take the crown. This article appeared originally on SDFish.com. |
