A very quiet month in September for qualification to the 2026 New Zealand Pinball Champs. However it’s the calm before the storm – with just one month to go to the SHPC, things are going to change soon!
Remember, only your top 12 results from the year are counted.
| | Points | Comps | NZ Rank | World | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Ashley Burke | 251.89 | 18 | 3 | 368 | |
| 2 | | Patrick Fisher-Evans | 194.71 | 26 | 11 | 1057 | |
| 3 | | Simon Haxton | 181.26 | 29 | 12 | 1076 | |
| 4 | | Mike Burke NZ | 161.74 | 27 | 4 | 406 | |
| 5 | | Tyler Dipper | 105.93 | 10 | 2 | 260 | |
| 6 | | Josh Burke | 99.44 | 27 | 1 | 180 | |
| 7 | ▲ 3 | | Damon Newland | 73.76 | 22 | 14 | 1313 |
| 8 | | Aidan Kersley | 72.98 | 11 | 5 | 652 | |
| 9 | | Aubrey Walker | 70.86 | 14 | 6 | 740 | |
| 10 | ▼ 3 | | Esther Ahronheim | 69.09 | 37 | 10 | 1030 |
| 11 | | Casey Lochead | 63.85 | 16 | 30 | 3248 | |
| 12 |  | Mitchell Stewart NZ | 58.49 | 5 | – | – | |
| 13 | | Hugo Strang | 58.03 | 23 | 20 | 2123 | |
| 14 | | Alfie Dennis | 52.07 | 16 | 33 | 3369 | |
| 15 | ▲ 2 | | Will De Vos | 50.86 | 15 | 16 | 1508 |
| 16 | ▼ 1 | | Rafael Olmedo | 47.58 | 34 | 49 | 4995 |
| 17 | ▼ 1 | | Isaiah Peters | 46.54 | 10 | 13 | 1289 |
| 18 | ▲ 1 | | Danielle Peck | 44.28 | 13 | 9 | 1024 |
| 19 | ▼ 1 | | Laurence Smith | 42.51 | 17 | 8 | 959 |
| 20 | | Kevin Hester | 41.17 | 16 | 27 | 2727 | |
| 21 | | Marqus Berney | 36.09 | 17 | 53 | 5170 | |
| 22 | | Matthew Proctor | 35.63 | 16 | 57 | 5999 | |
| 23 | | Drew Bennett | 34.02 | 30 | 40 | 3906 | |
| 24 | | Callum Boston | 33.73 | 8 | 29 | 2944 | |
| 25 | ▲ 1 | | John Scrivener | 32.76 | 28 | 39 | 3817 |
| 26 | ▼ 1 | | Haylem Rayner | 32.44 | 17 | 19 | 1951 |
| 27 | ▲ 13 | | David Peck | 30.82 | 11 | 7 | 917 |
| 28 | ▼ 1 | | Lachlan Caudle | 29.99 | 23 | 55 | 5564 |
| 29 | ▼ 1 | | Marc Sanger | 29.19 | 8 | 22 | 2363 |
| 30 | ▼ 1 | | Josh Dipper | 28.98 | 5 | 23 | 2411 |
| 31 | ▲ 1 | | Brooke Riddell-Garner | 28.52 | 22 | 21 | 2290 |
| 32 | ▼ 2 | | Matt Gedye | 28.48 | 5 | 15 | 1372 |
| 33 | | Richard Willins | 28.04 | 12 | 28 | 2746 | |
| 34 | ▼ 3 | | Mark Higham | 28.00 | 3 | 56 | 5670 |
| 35 | ▼ 1 | | Kelly Mitchell | 25.14 | 16 | 25 | 2568 |
| 37 | ▼ 2 | | Craig Easson | 24.38 | 18 | 51 | 5022 |
| 37 | | Kobe Smith | 24.38 | 12 | 38 | 3562 | |
| 38 | ▼ 2 | | Zac Cousins | 24.07 | 20 | 62 | 6782 |
| 39 | ▼ 1 | | Jeremy Takacs | 23.55 | 8 | 36 | 3499 |
| 40 | ▼ 1 | | Sean Fausett | 23.40 | 20 | 34 | 3450 |
| 41 | | Robert Meuldijk | 22.92 | 16 | 32 | 3338 | |
| 42 | ▲ 4 | | Blaise St-Laurent | 21.84 | 21 | 71 | 7890 |
| 43 | | Cameron Crabb | 21.28 | 18 | 41 | 3935 | |
| 44 | ▼ 2 | | Filip Piri | 21.22 | 18 | 70 | 7857 |
| 45 | ▼ 1 | | Markus Dipper | 18.89 | 7 | 31 | 3282 |
| 46 | ▼ 1 | | Nikolas Busljeta | 18.57 | 13 | 42 | 3994 |
| 47 | ▲ 2 | | Dylan Petrie | 17.55 | 18 | 35 | 3466 |
| 48 | ▼ 1 | | Tom Busljeta | 17.43 | 4 | 52 | 5087 |
| 49 | ▼ 1 | | David Miles | 16.72 | 23 | 61 | 6525 |
| 50 | | Charles Dolbel | 14.84 | 19 | 65 | 7034 | |
| 51 | | Lisa Conroy | 14.04 | 8 | 24 | 2537 | |
| 52 | | Ken Thompson | 13.88 | 18 | 54 | 5446 | |
| 53 | | Jackie Dolbel | 12.75 | 7 | 44 | 4189 | |
| 54 | ▲ 3 | | Daniel Brown | 12.40 | 14 | 80 | 9560 |
| 55 | ▼ 1 | | Jennifer Bays | 12.09 | 28 | 76 | 9077 |
| 56 | ▼ 1 | | Hamish Guthrey | 10.75 | 8 | 73 | 8365 |
| 57 | ▲ 10 | | Vlatko Materic | 10.12 | 12 | 99 | 12049 |
| 58 | ▼ 2 | | Sarah Andreassend | 9.13 | 5 | 100 | 12308 |
| 59 | ▼ 1 | | Simon Ros | 8.62 | 27 | 83 | 10035 |
| 60 | ▼ 1 | | Sam Stonnell | 8.42 | 5 | 26 | 2657 |
| 61 | ▼ 1 | | Thomas Skurr | 8.14 | 14 | 79 | 9522 |
| 62 | ▼ 1 | | Stephen Bardell | 7.66 | 2 | – | – |
| 63 | ▼ 1 | | Travis Dawson | 7.51 | 4 | 60 | 6250 |
| 64 | ▼ 1 | | John Maughan | 7.46 | 4 | 90 | 11251 |
| 65 | ▼ 1 | | Daryl Purdie | 7.42 | 10 | 64 | 7029 |
| 66 | ▼ 1 | | Paul Kang | 7.36 | 10 | 78 | 9502 |
| 67 | ▲ 2 | | Matt Kemp | 7.25 | 8 | 17 | 1532 |
| 68 | ▲ 5 | | Patrick Radomski | 7.22 | 5 | 103 | 12964 |
| 69 | ▼ 3 | | Ethan Mclean | 6.90 | 14 | 107 | 14050 |
| 70 | ▼ 2 | | Ed Timings | 6.19 | 1 | 43 | 4096 |
| 71 | ▲ 1 | | Patrick Caudle | 6.06 | 12 | 94 | 11911 |
| 73 | ▼ 2 | | Tim Chapman | 5.98 | 2 | – | – |
| 73 | ▼ 2 | | Karri Butler | 5.98 | 1 | 47 | 4574 |
| 74 | | Danny Bultitude | 5.50 | 14 | 127 | 16268 | |
| 75 | | Stephanie Mason NZ | 5.25 | 13 | 128 | 16281 | |
| 76 | | Kylie Dipper | 5.05 | 7 | 59 | 6186 | |
| 77 | ▲ 4 | | David Gifford-Moore | 4.67 | 10 | 37 | 3524 |
| 78 | ▲ 2 |  | Jeremy Morris | 4.64 | 9 | – | – |
| 79 | ▼ 2 | | Sam Wilton | 4.52 | 3 | 126 | 16219 |
| 80 | ▼ 2 | | George Davidson | 4.44 | 4 | 84 | 10190 |
| 81 | ▼ 2 | | Rod Wilton | 4.34 | 3 | 67 | 7432 |
| 82 | | Belf Lim | 3.61 | 8 | 145 | 18714 | |
| 83 | ▲ 7 | | John Devine | 3.49 | 8 | 72 | 8279 |
| 84 | ▲ 9 | | Alexandra Leonhart | 3.19 | 4 | 162 | 21484 |
| 85 | ▼ 2 | | Brett Carter | 3.11 | 6 | 109 | 14489 |
| 86 | ▼ 2 | | Mumtaz Dolbel | 3.02 | 4 | 89 | 11091 |
| 87 | ▼ 2 | | David Campton | 3.00 | 4 | 75 | 8682 |
| 88 | ▲ 4 | | Blair Rhodes | 2.96 | 6 | 153 | 20073 |
| 89 | ▼ 3 | | Fiona Peck | 2.91 | 7 | 63 | 6825 |
| 90 | ▼ 3 | | Martin Halliday | 2.56 | 4 | 86 | 10620 |
| 91 | ▼ 3 | | Andrew Chapman NZ | 2.54 | 3 | 50 | 5011 |
| 92 | ▼ 3 | | Jimmy Saddlier | 2.53 | 1 | 160 | 21163 |
| 93 | ▲ 3 | | Andrew Way | 2.48 | 14 | 113 | 14792 |
| 94 | ▼ 2 | | Troy Halliday | 2.43 | 4 | 77 | 9488 |
| 95 | ▼ 1 | | Barry Wakeling | 2.42 | 10 | 93 | 11341 |
| 96 | ▼ 1 | | Jono Ward | 2.33 | 9 | 120 | 15709 |
| 97 | | Lewis Tennant | 2.02 | 2 | 102 | 12656 | |
| 98 | | Ged Clink | 1.99 | 2 | 141 | 18216 | |
| 99 | | Brooke Humphries | 1.90 | 2 | 106 | 13714 | |
| 100 | ▲ 6 | | Sam Caino | 1.83 | 3 | 173 | 22898 |
Our Take
September was a fairly quiet month at the top of the New Zealand rankings. The top six all held their positions, although Damon (+3) made a move into 7th, swapping places with Esther, who slipped three spots to 10th.
Further down, David Peck (+13) was the standout mover inside the top 30, climbing to 27th. Vlatko (+10) also made a strong jump to 57th, while Alexandra (+9) moved up to 84th. John Devine (+7) and Sam Caino (+6) were among the other players making solid progress.
At the top, Ashley remains the one to catch, with Patrick and Simon still holding down second and third. But with Josh ranked number one nationally and Tyler sitting second in the NZ rankings, there’s plenty of strength behind the overall points leaders too.