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WILKS WINS LOWE'S W.C.F. OVERALL TITLE AT MOBILE
Reese, Browning Take Top Honors in Boating, Fishing
MOBILE, Ala., Oct., 1 - Team Yamaha's Dustin Wilks of North Carolina
watched both the boating and fishing titles slip away from him Sunday, but
any disappointment disappeared as he took overall honors in the $225,000
Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse World Championship Fishing bass and
boating event.
Wilks, 23, the youngest pro in the select 15-man field, lost the fishing
contest by a mere 4 ounces in the morning and then fell from second to
fourth in the afternoon's timed boat-handling competition held on a course
set up off of the bow of the battleship U.S.S. Alabama moored in Mobile
Bay. But that was enough to give him 66 points, which enabled him to hold
off Arkansas' Stephen Browning (63) and Shaw Grigsby of Florida (59) in the
coveted overall competition.
"This is the biggest check I've ever won, and I'm real excited about
it,"
said Wilks, who took the $50,000 top prize. "This is probably the biggest
week of my life."
Under the Lowe's W.C.F. format, the pros fish for bass in the morning
before taking their stock bass boats for an afternoon spin around a timed
course. Fishing accounts for 60 percent of their overall score, with their
boat-handling skills credited with 40 percent.
Wilks nearly added another $25,000 to his earnings with his charge at the
fishing title. In fact, he might have thrown the winning bass back into the
Mobile Delta. Wilks decided to release his fifth bass because it was
questionable whether or not it measured the necessary 12 inches. "It just
barely measured on my (measuring) board, but I didn't want to take a chance
on it," said Wilks, who would have lost the fish and incurred a 1-pound
penalty if it wasn't of legal length.
Instead, Team Lowrance's Browning won fishing portion with a three-day
total of 19-7. Wilks was second with 19-3, followed by Texan Gary Klein
(15-8) of Team Ford Trucks.
"Alabama has really been good to me," said Browning, whose success
came on
an in-line spinner and War Eagle spinnerbait. "I won my first tournament in
Alabama, and to win against the quality group of fishermen in this event
means a lot to me."
An estimated crowd of 7,000 fishing fans witnessed Browning's heroics and
then watched California's Skeet Reese wrap up the powerboating competition.
As it turned out, Reese didn't need to even get into the cockpit of his
Mercury-powered Team Flowmaster/BC Powders Champion boat. His previous two
daily runs of 49:48 (the fastest lap in Lowe's W.C.F. history) and 50:85
seconds (1:40:33) held up to win the boating title and $25,000. South
Carolina's Davy Hite, running a Evinrude-powered Team Kobalt Triton,
finished second with 1:41.58, followed by Team EAS Nutritional Supplements'
Shaw Grigsby, who drove his Mercury-powered Triton to a combined time of
1:42:33.
It was a satisfying win for Reese, who finished dead last in the boating
division of the inaugural W.C.F. event. "I made some mistakes, and I know I
can run even faster, but I've had a great week," said Reese, who has the
lightest-powered outboard (a 200-hp Mercury EFI) in the field. "I'm happy
to win this thing and get Champion the credit it deserves, along with
Mercury."
Reese was also the recipient of the Kobalt Tools Quick Lap award.
Arkansas's Mark Davis, who finished fourth in the fishing competition, won
the Lowe's Weekend Project Big-Bass Award for his catch of a 3-pound,
11-ounce largemouth.
The BC Powders Fisherman's Headache Award was split between Texan Jay Yelas
and Dean Rojas of Arizona. When Yelas's boat broke down Sunday, Rojas
rescued him and gave him a ride to the weigh-in. The pair split the $1,000
prize.
Lowe's W.C.F. events are sanctioned by the Bass Anglers Sportsman's Society
and the American powerboating Association. B.A.S.S. sanctions the fishing
portion and the APBA oversees the boathandling.
For additional information contact:
Lowe's W.C.F. Communications at (334) 272-9530
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