David Dudley is officially a runaway train. Don’t hope to catch him. Just get out of his way and watch him go.
In one weekend, he claimed his third FLW Angler of the Year title, won the FLW Tour event at Champlain wire-to-wire and extended his lead in the Majors World Ranking, bumping his two-year average to an obscene 820.983. That is a man on a roll (more on this later this week).
Of course, he wasn’t the only stud from the weekend.
Jonathon VanDam did right by the family name and took how the crown at the Elite Series event at Green Bay, jumping him up 22 spots to 166th. He’s got a ways to catch his uncle, but this weekend was a good start.
As for the rest of the field and the rankings, we definitely had some noteworthy moves.
The top five remain unchanged, but the No. 6 spot starts some serious shuffling. Jay Yelas was there. Now he’s in 12th, while Cody Meyer (formerly ninth) has moved into the sixth spot. Behind Meyer, Todd Auten (10th to eighth), Dave LeFebre (11th to ninth) and Mark Rose (8th to 10th) played a little three-man weave.
However, Jacob Powroznik made the noteworthy move of the week, busting into the top 20 with a leap from 28th to 13th, with Jason Christie following suit (29th to 18th). On the flip side, Stacey King fell from 16th to 27th and Jim Moynagh went from 18th to 31st. It’s like a game of Chutes and Ladders!
Meanwhile, Aaron Martens can’t catch a break. He actually increased his average slightly this weekend, but with people jumping ahead of him, he still remains in 17th place. The numbers don’t lie, but sometimes they just don’t seem fair.
As for the biggest jump in the top 50, that honor goes to Cody Bird, going from 60th to 37th. Bill Lowen (48th to 38th) and Scott Canterbury (49th to 39th) both made notable improvements, while Glenn Browne (64th to 43rd) and Robbie Dodson (57th to 46th) joined the elite top 50 this week.
