Kevin VanDam and Edwin Evers have been playing leapfrog at the No. 1 spot for more than a month.
How do you break that trend? You go out and win a Major tournament, ala David Dudley this past weekend.
With his late comeback victory at the FLW Tour event at Beaver Lake, Dudley raised his average to 797.105, supplanting the two Elite Series pros to take over the top spot in the Majors World Ranking — his first stint there since Bass Rankings launched.
However, it will be a short stay. VanDam will lose his other horrible 2010 finish (57th at Lake Pickwick) this week, and when he does, his average is going to skyrocket.
As for the rest of the top 10, every angler is in a different spot when compared to last week, yet the names in the top 10 remain the same. The same goes for the top 20, with the lone exception being Luke Clausen, who breaks into this tier in 18th after his third at Beaver.
In fact, there were really no significant jumps after this weekend, as Scott Canterbury’s move from 44th to 36th was the most noteworthy move in the top 50 … outside of Dudley taking over No. 1, of course.
Stay tuned, though, as the dropping off of the 2010 Pickwick event, combined with the Douglas event this weekend will shake up the rankings.
Minors: Hawk falls
Two weeks ago, Roy Hawk was on top of the world and atop our Minors-Only World Ranking. Now, he’s not even in the top 40. That’s how bad a weekend he had.
By finishing 85th at the FLW Western EverStart at Clear Lake, Hawk’s average tanked more than 12 percentage points to 744.919, dropping him all the way down to 42nd in the ranking.
In fact, the Clear Lake event was a rough one for a number of anglers in the top 20. Michael Tuck and Jeff Michels also slipped a little, allowing Thomas Lavictoire and Bill Chapman to rise into the top 10. Meanwhile, Charley Almassey fell from 13th to 36th.
The lone exception was Greg Gutierrez, who finished ninth and jumped into the top 20 in 18th place.
There was also a BASS Central Open at Table Rock over the weekend. Though, it’s biggest effect on the top 30 was Todd Castledine moving from 29th to 26th.