Pope, Webber win Ranger Owners Championship Series event on Kerr Lake

Duo earns automatic berth in $2 million Forrest Wood Cup

HENDERSON, N.C. – Roger Pope of Statesville, N.C., and Nathan Webber of Boone, N.C., teamed up to win the inaugural Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series event on Kerr Lake near Henderson, N.C., Saturday with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 8 ounces. The anglers earned a $10,000 Ranger purchase certificate and a berth into the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 2-5, where the winning professional can walk away with the sport’s largest award – $1 million.

The anglers caught their bass throwing jigs around submerged trees, brush and stumps.

“It’s just now starting to sink in,” said Pope, who has amassed over $20,000 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. “It seems like I have been sitting here for about four or five hours waiting for this to be over with. I was really just hoping for at least a second place finish so I could go to the Championship. This is going to help out tremendously, I have already owned four Ranger boats and I was just getting ready to buy my fifth one and this was good timing.”

“The fishing was great today. We had our limit by 11 a.m. and then we just went looking for bigger fish.”

Dennis Gilbert of Nathalie, Va., and William Roberts of Fairfax, Va., earned second place with five bass weighing 18-5 and received a $7,500 purchase certificate plus a berth into the Forrest Wood Cup.

Rounding out the top five teams were Stephen Griggs of Summerfield, N.C., and Jimmy Wall of Greensboro, N.C. (five bass, 17-6, $7,500); Patrick Tierney of Denver, N.C., and Chuck Douthit of Mooresville, N.C. (five bass, 16-14, $5,000) and Steve Hilderbran of Mount Holly, N.C., and Donnie Cooper of Belmont, N.C. (five bass, 16-10, $4,500).

The team of Benny Hutchens of East Bend, N.C., and Kenneth Hutchens of Hamptonville, N.C., won a fully rigged Ranger Z20 Comanche from a drawing among the Kerr Lake competitors.

The next Ranger Owners Championship Series Tournament event will be held May 12 on Table Rock Lake in Kimberling City, Mo. Anglers who have fished the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Bassmasters Elite Series or Bassmaster Classic as a pro in 2006 or 2007 are not eligible to participate.

The first and second place teams at each Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series event advance to the 2007 Forrest Wood Cup. The team boater will compete in the Pro Division and fish for a top award of $1 million and the boater’s partner will compete in the Co-angler Division for a top award of $50,000. Ranger will also cover travel expenses for both qualifiers and will supply them with apparel.

Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Walmart.com.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.