RENO, Nev. - After leading his team to the top of the leaderboard at the USBC Open Championships, Kelly Bonta of Wichita, Kan., continued to abuse the pins at the National Bowling Stadium and moved into the Regular All-Events lead Sunday.

The 45-year-old right-hander rolled a 719 series to help Professional Image Center 1 to a 3,249 total Saturday night and added 747 in doubles and 711 in singles Sunday morning for a 2,177 all-events effort. Joel Carlson of Omaha, Neb., previously held the lead with 2,164.

"I came into today knowing where I finished and what ball I finished with last night," said Bonta, whose 2011 all-events total is the highest of his 24-year Open Championships career. "I threw some other balls in practice, but I stayed with the same ball and made small moves as I continued on."

After doubles, Bonta was intent on staying focused throughout his singles event. However, once singles began, he was very much aware that he had a chance at the all-events lead.

"That was on my mind a little bit," said Bonta, who is an estimator for Central Steel. "During the first game, there were five or six frames where I left nine counts so I made a move, and it worked. I shot 253 the next game and stayed with that the last game. I made a hand position change during the last three frames, which allowed me to get the ball through the front part of the lane. I was able to rely on past experiences today as well."

Some of Bonta's career successes include a 300 game at the 2007 Open Championships, also at the Stadium, and a match-play win over Walter Ray Williams Jr. in front of a hometown crowd at the 2004 Professional Bowlers Association Pepsi Open in Wichita. This year's accomplishments rank higher than both.

"To me this is a better feeling than beating Walter Ray Williams Jr.," Bonta said. "But it's an entirely different feeling. It's very cool. This also was more nerve-wracking than when I shot 300 because today I knew I needed to finish strong the last game no matter what. I have to rank this as my highest accomplishment just because of the way I did it."

Bonta always sets goals for himself when he comes to the Open Championships. One of the goals this year was to stay clean.

"Every time you come to the tournament, you try to hit the number that you set for yourself," Bonta said. "All I wanted to do this year was have 90 clean frames. I finished with 88, so I can't complain. It was solid bowling."

Some credit for Bonta's success this weekend also belongs to USBC Silver coach Mike Jasnau at Lane 81, the training lane inside the pro shop area at the Stadium.

"I had a great lesson with Mike before my team event," Bonta said. "My pushaway was too early, so we tried to slow it down to get it in better time. There were a couple shots where I started thinking about something, and I got too fast, but overall, it worked very well."

Bonta's performance also helped Professional Image Center 1 into ninth place in Team All-Events with a 9,488 total. Jerry Lower contributed a 1,870 all-events total and was followed by Jay Bernard (1,866), Darin Galbraith (1,855) and Kris Schumacher (1,720). DAPP Embroidery of Grand Prairie, Texas, leads with 9,911.

Click here to watch video highlights from the 2011 Open Championships.
Presenting sponsors for the 2011 USBC Open Championships are Circus Circus, Eldorado Hotel Casino Reno and Silver Legacy Resort Casino Reno. Other sponsors include Sands Regency Casino Hotel, official brackets sponsor, Kegel, official lane maintenance provider, Humana, official registration sponsor, US Steltronic, official scoring system, and supporting sponsors Storm Bowling Products, UPS, Nationwide Insurance, Atlantis Casino Resort and Spa, Harrah's Reno Casino and Hotel and Peppermill Hotel Casino.