Will FLW Tour rookie Bobby Lane crush his fellow rookies to win the BassFan Rookie of the Year (ROY) Race? Even though Lane has a huge lead in the ROY points, it's still too early to tell. He and other FLW Tour rookies have three events left to fish, but Bassmaster Tour rookies only have one: next week's Table Rock Bassmaster.
Lane was 25 points ahead, but is now 18 points ahead – of Bassmaster Tour rookie Dave Wolak. Wolak finished 12th last week at the Norman Bassmaster and 13th at the previous tournament. One more good finish by Wolak next week, and Lane will have to continue his hot Top 10 pace to earn the ROY title.
Other notable movement:
> Florida Bassmaster rookie Preston Clark moved up two spots with an 8th at Norman last week, and is now 3rd in the race – but is still 13 points behind Wolak.
> Thanks to a 6th at Norman, California Bassmaster rookie Greg Gutierrez is now 7th in the ROY standings, 15 points behind Clark.
(PLEASE NOTE: Richard Bennett of Roseville, Calif. was incorrectly listed as an FLW Tour rookie this year. He is the same person as RJ Bennett, who was a Bassmaster Tour rookie in 2004. He has been removed from the 2005 ROY standings, and the remaining rookies have been re-sorted accordingly. Any discrepancy between the text above and the standings below is due to this re-sorting.)