WITH the end of the year fast approaching and the grand finals several months away, many of the island’s top bowlers continue to vie for a spot in the 2012 King and Prince of the Lanes finals.

This past weekend, participants hit the Central Lanes Bowling Center in Tamuning in hopes of capturing the monthly crown. At the end of the day, two bowlers stood above all others and did so for the second time this year. After dispensing all challengers, Ray Manibusan and Nick Gutierrez clinched the King and Prince of the Lanes August titles, respectively.

Manibusan strung strikes from the onset to take control of his matches early in the game and never looked back. The 2nd seed established his on-lane mastery of the short oil pattern by scorching the lanes against 9th-seeded Joey Miranda III, 221-181, in the semifinal before dismantling top seed Bruce Calip in the monthly finale, 266-203. Calip made his way to the final round after narrowly getting by Brian Manibusan 217-211.

In the quarterfinals, Manibusan threw 11 strikes as he cruised by 5th-seed John John Ada 279-211 while Miranda outplayed the 8th-seeded JD Castro 226-191.

Calip led the field with a blistering 1361 total, bowling games of 213, 210, 183, 232, 258 and 265 to trump Manibusan’s set of 1350 after throwing the highest game of the tournament and registering a 290 score in the fifth game of the qualifying rounds.

Early leader Josh Madrid dropped to third place with a 1291 total followed by Jonathan Duenas 1277, Ada 1265, Manibusan 1260, Jay Leon Guerrero 1258, Castro 1250, Miranda 1246 and Victor San Nicolas’ 1223.

Action in the Prince of the Lanes was just as exciting throughout the day. However, at the end of the day it was Gutierrez who disposed of Matthew Cruz, establishing his dominance of the younger foe with a 221-149 beating of the top seed in the finals. Cruz, who registered the highest six-game series in the qualifying round, edged the 7th-seeded Von Cabral in 189+18 to 173+26 in the semifinal round while Gutierrez mangled 4th seed Zayne Zamora 204+27 to 133+24.

Cruz earned his top seed status with a 1302 grand total in the qualifying rounds on 108 pins of handicap with Gutierrez 32 pins adrift. Maddison Willis trailed in third with a 1251 total with 162 handicap followed by Zamora 1247 (144), Erwin Aguilar 1232 (144), Kennedy Robinson 1217 (144), Cabral 1215 (156), Edward Sabedra 1203 (186), Steve Esplana 1203 (102) and Shannon Bukikosa’s 1186 (144) sneaking into the top 10 knock off round.

Budweiser King and Prince of the Lanes action continue on Sunday, Sept. 16 at 9:30 a.m.