A new year means a new qualifying race for the 2026 New Zealand Pinball Champs! Let’s see where everyone starts off after January’s champs and a few other tournaments:
| | Points | Comps | NZ Rank | World | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Ashley Burke | 94.84 | 3 | 1 | 342 | |
| 2 | | Mike Burke NZ | 80.09 | 4 | 3 | 596 | |
| 3 | | Simon Haxton | 69.11 | 4 | 9 | 1025 | |
| 4 | | Josh Burke | 52.51 | 4 | 6 | 774 | |
| 5 | | Casey Lochead | 46.90 | 3 | 34 | 3011 | |
| 6 | | Alfie Dennis | 44.88 | 4 | 30 | 2793 | |
| 7 | | Aubrey Walker | 44.39 | 2 | 5 | 713 | |
| 8 | | Patrick Fisher-Evans | 42.45 | 4 | 14 | 1250 | |
| 9 | | Aidan Kersley | 37.01 | 3 | 8 | 877 | |
| 10 | | Mark Higham | 27.20 | 2 | 54 | 5329 | |
| 11 | | Callum Boston | 24.57 | 2 | 24 | 2382 | |
| 12 | | Tyler Dipper | 22.99 | 3 | 2 | 457 | |
| 13 | | Matt Gedye | 21.88 | 4 | 12 | 1162 | |
| 14 | | Esther Ahronheim | 21.46 | 4 | 11 | 1134 | |
| 15 | | Hugo Strang | 19.64 | 4 | 16 | 1709 | |
| 16 | | Marqus Berney | 18.56 | 3 | 51 | 5072 | |
| 17 | | Damon Newland | 18.39 | 3 | 10 | 1034 | |
| 18 | | Matthew Proctor | 16.22 | 3 | 67 | 6698 | |
| 19 | | Kobe Smith | 14.81 | 3 | 31 | 2839 | |
| 20 | | Isaiah Peters | 14.26 | 2 | 61 | 5985 | |
| 21 | | Laurence Smith | 13.13 | 3 | 18 | 1925 | |
| 22 | | Sean Fausett | 11.20 | 3 | 43 | 3813 | |
| 23 | | Markus Dipper | 10.88 | 4 | 33 | 2953 | |
| 24 | | Danielle Peck | 10.70 | 1 | 7 | 835 | |
| 25 | | Josh Dipper | 10.07 | 2 | 25 | 2461 | |
| 26 | | Kevin Hester | 9.80 | 3 | 28 | 2709 | |
| 27 | | Brooke Riddell-Garner | 9.65 | 4 | 21 | 2035 | |
| 28 |  | Stephen Bardell | 7.66 | 2 | – | 2078 | |
| 29 | | Travis Dawson | 7.48 | 2 | 57 | 5629 | |
| 30 | | Dylan Petrie | 7.42 | 2 | 32 | 2950 | |
| 31 | | Rafael Olmedo | 7.03 | 4 | 72 | 7338 | |
| 32 | | Zac Cousins | 6.99 | 3 | 70 | 7130 | |
| 33 | | Ken Thompson | 6.32 | 2 | 50 | 4677 | |
| 34 | | Lachlan Caudle | 6.17 | 4 | 60 | 5880 | |
| 35 | | Tim Chapman | 5.98 | 2 | – | 869 | |
| 36 | | Nikolas Busljeta | 5.56 | 2 | 40 | 3622 | |
| 37 | | Blaise St-Laurent | 5.54 | 3 | 83 | 9166 | |
| 38 | | Cameron Crabb | 5.52 | 3 | 38 | 3512 | |
| 39 | | Drew Bennett | 5.47 | 4 | 41 | 3637 | |
| 40 | | Haylem Rayner | 5.21 | 3 | 17 | 1759 | |
| 41 | | Kelly Mitchell | 4.85 | 4 | 20 | 1980 | |
| 42 | | John Scrivener | 4.83 | 4 | 39 | 3550 | |
| 43 | | Robert Meuldijk | 4.46 | 3 | 45 | 3966 | |
| 44 | | Filip Piri | 4.26 | 3 | 84 | 9197 | |
| 45 | | Charles Dolbel | 3.40 | 3 | 69 | 6992 | |
| 46 | | Craig Easson | 3.11 | 1 | 46 | 4068 | |
| 47 | | Paul Kang | 2.97 | 4 | 80 | 8661 | |
| 48 | | Jennifer Bays | 2.83 | 4 | 78 | 8555 | |
| 49 | | Simon Ros | 2.51 | 3 | 86 | 9239 | |
| 50 | | Hamish Guthrey | 2.28 | 1 | 73 | 7666 | |
| 52 | | Matt Kemp | 2.26 | 2 | 27 | 2566 | |
| 52 | | Daniel Brown | 2.26 | 3 | 99 | 10793 | |
| 53 | | Mumtaz Dolbel | 2.25 | 1 | 92 | 10171 | |
| 54 | | Kylie Dipper | 2.23 | 4 | 59 | 5668 | |
| 55 | | Tom Busljeta | 1.75 | 1 | 56 | 5487 | |
| 56 | | Lewis Tennant | 1.67 | 1 | 93 | 10231 | |
| 57 | | Stien Lorent | 1.20 | 1 | 214 | 25659 | |
| 59 | | Richard Willins | 0.81 | 1 | 26 | 2524 | |
| 59 | | Daryl Purdie | 0.81 | 1 | 53 | 5234 | |
| 60 | | Will De Vos | 0.76 | 1 | 13 | 1218 | |
| 63 | | David Gifford-Moore | 0.56 | 1 | 37 | 3438 | |
| 63 |  | Chris Grucza | 0.56 | 1 | – | 10508 | |
| 63 | | George Davidson | 0.56 | 1 | 63 | 6133 | |
| 64 | | David Miles | 0.54 | 1 | 66 | 6599 | |
| 65 | | Jono King | 0.48 | 1 | 85 | 9215 | |
| 66 | | Luca Herman | 0.42 | 1 | 322 | 35556 | |
| 68 | | Jon Rennie | 0.37 | 1 | 123 | 13985 | |
| 68 | | Andrew Way | 0.37 | 1 | 124 | 14067 | |
| 69 | | Jono Ward | 0.33 | 1 | 128 | 14352 | |
| 70 | | Thomas Skurr | 0.29 | 1 | 90 | 9815 | |
| 71 | | Jeni McEwen | 0.27 | 1 | 149 | 18000 | |
| 74 | | David Holender | 0.23 | 1 | 82 | 9079 | |
| 74 | | Willow Garnett | 0.23 | 1 | 182 | 21454 | |
| 74 | | Alana Garnett | 0.23 | 1 | 157 | 18840 | |
| 76 | | Liam Anderson | 0.21 | 1 | 222 | 26697 | |
| 76 | | Carly St-Laurent | 0.21 | 1 | 118 | 13748 | |
| 77 | | Jo Caudle | 0.14 | 1 | 150 | 18238 | |
| 78 | | Sofia Riddell-Garner | 0.10 | 1 | 122 | 13937 | |
| 79 | | Indie Thompson | 0.08 | 1 | 162 | 19592 | |
| 81 | | Maxwell Kersley | 0.05 | 1 | 203 | 23704 | |
| 81 | | Jonathon Garnett | 0.05 | 1 | 125 | 14188 | |
| 82 | | Sarah Andreassend | 0.04 | 1 | 199 | 23476 | |
| 83 | | Charlotte Goodin | 0.02 | 1 | 126 | 14231 |
Our Take
The Burke boys take 3 out of the top 4 positions thanks to a strong showing over champs weekend, and great to see Simon up there too. But it’s early days, still lots of time to make your way into and up the rankings!