With Al Kabeer Frozen Foods seemingly out of reach at No. 1 Advance Co. Engineers might have to settle for second best when the positioning round takes place today during the 19th week of the Thursday League 12th Conference for Globe Cup at the Bowling City in Sultanah Center here.

Advance Co. geared up for the positioning matches by clinching a Team of the Week and Bowler of the Week double even as the race for the third automatic spot for the stepladder finals suddenly became a three-way battle among Alliance in Motion Global, Al Murjana and D’ Barkads.

Richard Junio’s Engineers team finished the session on 34 points with Al Kabeer three points back on 31.

But the week’s biggest gainer was Murjana which dislodged Habagat in fourth place after compiling 28 points. Habagat could only muster 12 points while third-ranked Alliance in Motion Global tallied 17 right behind D’ Barkads who returned 22 points.

When the dust settled, only 1 point separates AMG and Murjana which in turn leads Habagat by 1.5 setting up an interesting chase for the No. 3 spot, with Nos. 1 and 2 effectively reserved for Al Kabeeer and Advance.

Elsewhere, Lifebuoy collected 16 points, Jeddah 5KKB 11 and Bulacan Knight 9 points.

Shams Mustafa sealed an Advance double by shooting a high series of 700 to win the individual Bowler of the Week award on lines of 235, 278 and 187. The trio of Rey Feliciano, Rene Punzalan and Julmain Juripae supported Mustafa with rounds of 609, 597 and 531.

The other scorers at Advance were Joel Nidoy 248-239 and Pancho Cuevas 244-190.

Team captain Igna Salgado led from the front at Al Kabeer on 655 followed by Daryl Loquias 597 and Mohd. Al Amari 540. Gerry Mandanas added 258-191. Bandar Dosary 232-169 and Jowett Carrion 236-223.

Murjana essayed a six-man rotation with the duo of Jay Bengco and Obie Ycasas at the helm on 640 and 615 respectively. Jojie Manalansan tossed in 191-190, Mhon Laxamana contributed 172-215 and Jayson Castillo had 210-187.

Dan Ednave bowled big for D’ Barkads with 669 to go with the 569 by Bing Amolo, 568 by Romy Bunagan, 543 by James Galvan, 188-209 by Leo Edejer and 193 by Rey Beltran.

Team standings after the 18th week:

1. Al Kabeer Frozen Foods 426.0 points 2. Advance Co. Engineers 408.0 3. Alliance in Motion Global 380.5 4. Al Murjana 375.5 5. Habagat 378.0 6. D’ Barkads 372.5 7. Lifebuoy 339.0 8. Bulacan Knight 282.5 9. Jeddah 5KKB 275.0