Team Hellmann’s took control at Lake Murray last week, finishing ahead of the rest of the sponsor teams competing in the 2003 Wal-Mart FLW Tour.
Despite Team Hellmann’s fine finish at the FLW Tour’s third stop of the season, Team Snickers managed to rack up enough points at Lake Murray to stay on top of the overall standings list. However, Lake Murray marks the first time this season that another sponsor team was able to beat Team Snickers in terms of points earned for a single tournament. Team Snickers out-fished 11 other sponsor teams competing at both of the FLW Tour’s first two tournaments, Florida’s Lake Okeechobee and Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin. Points in the 2003 sponsor-team race will be earned during the FLW Tour’s six qualifying events and monitored throughout the season.
The Snickers crew lost some of the buffer that separated it from second place, however. That 30-point margin has dwindled to less than 24 points, with Team Castrol taking the runner-up slot away from Team Stanley in the overall team standings. Anglers representing sponsor teams will mix it up with the rest of the pro field during the next FLW Tour event, the prestigious Wal-Mart Open, scheduled to take place April 9-12 on Arkansas’ Beaver Lake.
Current overall standings include results from the first three FLW Tour events that have taken place so far this season. Sponsor-team standings are based on the average number of points earned by the anglers fishing for any given team as assigned in the FLW Tour’s Angler-of-the-Year competition:
1. Snickers – 407.5 points
2. Castrol – 384
3. Stanley – 372
4. Fujifilm – 348.83
5. Kellogg’s – 344.4
6. Banana Boat – 314
7. Hellmann’s – 305
8. Lawry’s – 287
9. 7 Up – 286.33
10. Land O’Lakes – 245.67
11. Skippy – 172
12. Lipton Sides – 95
Each of the dozen sponsor teams competed in the most recent FLW Tour tournament, which took place March 12-15 on the Lake Murray, and results from that event have been tallied:
1. Hellmann’s
2. Fujifilm
3. Castrol
4. Banana Boat
5. Kellogg’s
6. 7 Up
7. Lawry’s
8. Snickers
9. Stanley
10. Land O’Lakes
11. Skippy
12. Lipton Sides
Standout performances from the last tournament among anglers on sponsored teams include Team Castrol’s Darrell Robertson of Jay, Okla., who netted a ninth-place finish, and Team Fujifilm’s Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., who earned a 10th-place finish.
Links:
“Snickers on top of FLW Tour sponsor teams”
“FLW Tour Fujifilm pros finish atop 2002 year-end team standings”