Here's a look at how the Top 12 at yesterday's Smith Mt. Bassmaster Elite Series moved up in the BASS Angler of the Year (AOY)( race. Note that roughly the Top 37 in the points qualify for the 2008 Bassmaster Classic.
1. Casey Ashley: 22nd to 8th
2. Terry Scroggins: 13th to 7th
3. Takahiro Omori: 49th to 33rd
4. Skeet Reese: Remained in 1st, but extended his lead to 113 points
5. Morizo Shimizu: 53rd to 35th
6. Boyd Duckett: 59th to 44th
7. Dean Rojas: 27th to 12th
8. John Crews: 30th to 13th
9. Mike Wurm: 73rd to 54th
10. Matt Sphar: 68th to 51st
11. John Murray: 31st to 19th
12. Dave Wolak: 57th to 45th
And here's a look at the current Top 10 in AOY race, after Smith Mt. Note that an angler's total is followed by his distance from Reese in red.
1. Skeet Reese: 1573
2. Kevin VanDam: 1460 (-113)
3. Jared Lintner: 1441 (-132)
4. Fred Roumbanis: 1361 (-212)
5. Ish Monroe: 1350 (-223)
6. Jeff Kriet: 1338 (-235)
7. Terry Scroggins: 1327 (-246)
8. Casey Ashley: 1292 (-281)
8. Derek Remitz: 1292 (-281)
10. Steve Kennedy: 1271 (-302)
BASS distributes AOY points using a weighted system that awards a greater ratio of points to higher finishers. An angler receives 300 points for winning an event, and bonus points are awarded to daily leaders.
Reese's lead is substantial, but five events remain in the Elite Series season, so the race is still wide-open. Consider that last year, AOY winner Mike Iaconelli led the race by about 100 points with just three events left, but as the season wound down, his lead shortened to just 45 points and he eventually won by 57 points.
