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Birmingham,
Ala. – The world’s premiere fishing event will return to “Sportsman’s Paradise” in 2012, BASS announced today. The 42nd Bassmaster Classic will be held Feb. 24-26, 2012, on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La., as the Shreveport Regional Sports Authority welcomes the prestigious event for the second time in four years – the fifth Classic to be held in Louisiana.
The birthplace of careers for legendary musicians including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., Kitty Wells and Slim Whitman, Shreveport-Bossier City added more legend to its lore with its historic first Bassmaster Classic one year ago: The 2009 Classic was the first Classic in which a woman participated. Kim Bain-Moore qualified via her 2008 Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year title. She finished 47th among the 51 competitors in the 2009 Classic.
The Shreveport Regional Sports Authority was host to the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, which broke several attendance records for the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods.
“Shreveport-Bossier City is ecstatic to once again host the fabulous Bassmaster Classic,” said Mary Ann Tice, executive director of the Shreveport Regional Sports Authority. “Our community thoroughly enjoyed and was extremely proud being the host of the 2009 Bassmaster Classic and will once again wrap the arms of our community around the Classic. Our visitors and will again produce a record-breaking Bassmaster Classic!
“The Sports Authority is proud to be a partner with ESPN/BASS and the Classic sponsors, and we obviously love the anglers and welcome them with open arms back to the Mighty Red River and the Crown Jewel of Sportsman’s Paradise, Shreveport-Bossier City.”
Said Tom Ricks, vice president & general manager, BASS: “BASS is excited about returning in 2012 to Louisiana and Shreveport-Bossier City for the Bassmaster Classic, the world’s most prestigious fishing event. We’re pleased to partner again with the Shreveport Regional Sports Authority in bringing fans worldwide another blockbuster Bassmaster Classic.”
As always, ESPN2 will have Classic programming across several multimedia platforms throughout the event, and fans can follow the competition by tuning in, attending the daily launches and weigh-ins or logging on to Bassmaster.com, which will provide extensive hourly coverage.
“What a great opportunity for our state, our Federation Nation organization – and what could be a better compliment for our fisheries?” said Kevin Gaubert, president, Louisiana BASS Federation Nation. “We are pleased to be the host site once again for the world’s greatest fishing event.
“Louisiana has everything to offer to make this a spectacular event. I may be a little bias, but nothing can beat our food, our history, our hospitality and our fishing. I would like to invite everyone to come down, so mark your calendars and plan on attending the most exciting fishing events ever.”
Launches on the Red River through the three days of competition in 2012 will be from Red River South Marina in Bossier City, La. The Shreveport Regional Sports Authority will roll out the red carpet for Classic weigh-ins at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City. The 2012 Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo will be at the Shreveport Convention Center.
BASS TO RETURN TO ALABAMA FOR 2010 BASSMASTER ELITE SERIES POSTSEASON
BASS will return to Alabama, site of the 40th Bassmaster Classic and the state in which BASS was founded more than 40 years ago, for the second Bassmaster Elite Series postseason.
Toyota Trucks Championship Week is set for July 24-31 and will be played out once again on two productive Alabama fisheries. The first leg, the July 24-25 Trophy Chase, returns to Lake Jordan out of Wetumpka. The finale, the Evan Williams Bourbon Trophy Triumph, is slated for July 30-31 on the Alabama River from Montgomery.
With the Bassmaster Classic this week in Birmingham and on Lay Lake, Alabama has hosted 11 Classic events. The 2010 Bassmaster Elite Series season, which starts March 11 with the Duel in the Delta out of Stockton, Calif., will culminate with the two-event postseason in July.
The final day’s weigh-in for Championship Week will be in Montgomery, the city in which BASS was headquartered for more than 35 years. The 2010 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year will be crowned at the season finale and will be awarded the accompanying $200,000 top prize.
“We are proud to bring this event back to Alabama, a state that is so central to BASS’ history,” said Tom Ricks, vice president & general manager, BASS.
The top 12 anglers in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points at the end of the Bassmaster Elite Series regular season will qualify for Toyota Trucks Championship Week. The regular season concludes with the June 17-20 Sooner Run on the Arkansas River out of Muskogee, Okla.
BASS introduced the postseason format in 2009 to increase the focus on one of the most prestigious awards in the sport: the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year. The inaugural postseason delivered on excitement and a down-to-the-wire finish, as Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., then a four-time Angler of the Year, and Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif., the 2007 AOY, competed fiercely for the title.
VanDam broke through in the end, as the two-time Bassmaster Classic winner overtook Reese in the points in the finale. VanDam claimed first place in the Evan Williams Bourbon Trophy Triumph on the Alabama River, earning the points he needed to claim his fifth Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.
BASS will match the prestige of the postseason with an ambitious multimedia schedule. As part of daily, live updates on Bassmaster.com, the popular webcast Hooked Up will host on-the-water coverage from practice and competition days, coupled with live post-competition interviews.
Postseason scores are calculated by taking the regular-season AOY points for each qualifying angler, moving the decimal one place to the left, and rounding to the nearest tenth. Additionally, each angler receives two bonus points for each regular-season win. For the two postseason events, anglers will be scored on a 50-point sliding scale. Full details can be found at Bassmaster.com.
Local Sponsors: City of Wetumpka, City of Wetumpka and Riverfront Facilities.
2010 Toyota Trucks Championship Week
Date Event Fishery Site
July 24-25 Trophy Chase Lake Jordan Wetumpka, Ala.
July 30-31 Evan Williams Bourbon Trophy Triumph Alabama River Montgomery, Ala
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