Xavier Lotthe from France started the 14th qualifying squad in the Norwegian Open, the 17th event on the 2007 European Bowling Tour, with a bang as he fired the sixth 300 game of the tournament and the fifth on Friday at Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo, Norway.

Bowling center proprietors Sverre Lund and Petter Hansen (l-r), the Team Norway anchor man, cannot recall that this has ever happened before in the history of the 30-laner.

Lotthe carried the momentum into the second game where he rolled a 279 game and added 224 for 803 after three games and 235. He rebounded from a sub-par 196 in game #5 with a 253 to finish with 1487 pinfall total and an average of 247.83 just 10 pins short of the lead in second place.

Robert Andersson (right), Sweden, leads the field of 168 players since Squad 12 on Friday morning with 1497 pinfall total and an average of 249.50.

Norway's shooting star Mads Sandbækken (left), who posted the fourth 300 game of the tournament in Squad 13 is 17 pins behind Lotthe in third place with 1470 (245.00.)

2007 European Champions Cup winner Ingunn Øien, Norway, is the top-ranked woman in fourth place with 1466.

The Norwegian Open 2007 is the 17th stop of the 2007 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's Challenger events. The tournament offers total prize money of 351.000 Norwegian Kronor, approximately 65,250 U.S. Dollar or 45.715 Euro. The winner will receive the 60.000 NOK top prize ($11,150/€7.815).

Qualifying concludes on Saturday, October 6 with Squads 15-18 scheduled for 8 a.m., noon, 4.00 and 8 p.m. local time (GMT +1). The ultimate one-game Desperado Squad is scheduled for 11.30 p.m.

The top 40 players from the qualifying (cut is now 1340) will automatically advance to the finals. They will be joined by the top four players from the first weekend (combined standings of squads 1-4) not among the top 40 and the top 4 from the Desperado Squad.

The top 12 earn two byes (cut: 1439), while players ranked 13-24 (cut: 1387) will bypass the first round. The first three rounds of the final consist of four games from scratch with half of the field advancing to the next round.

Once the field is cut to the top 12, players bowl two games from scratch to cut to the top 8, then the top four, who advance to the semi-finals (No. 1 vs. No. 4, No. 2 vs. No. 3). The winners of these one-game matches will bowl for the title and the 60.000 NOK top prize.

Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Oslo commencing Friday, October 5 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, October 7.