COMEBACK BOWLER TRIUMPHS : INJURED `RIGHTY' ROLLS 800 SERIES AS LEFT-HANDER.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer

Two weeks ago, all the activity except Del Guyer's stopped in the Valencia Lanes bowling center. Everyone in his scratch league focused on him.

Guyer wasn't nervous at suddenly becoming the center of attention. He knew they weren't watching him in his quest to roll a perfect 300 game because he had already rolled a nonstrike.

But Guyer was attempting to roll an 800 series - three games averaging 267. Valencia Lanes manager Sherie Kawaguchi said she equates an 800 series with a hole-in-one in golf - ``Isn't that hard to get?''

Hard but not impossible. Guyer needed a strike in the 10th frame, followed by at least six pins on his first extra ball and then a spare on his last ball.

With the crowd silent and watching, he rolled a strike, eight pins and a spare for an 810 series, the first in his 18 years of bowling.

``It felt great,'' he said of his 31-strike effort. ``I never thought I could do it. It's pretty tough to put up that number of strikes.''

Guyer's feat was duplicated the following week by Scott Ryan, who rolled an 833 series.

But perhaps it is even more amazing that the right-handed Guyer accomplished his feat left-handed.

Five years ago, Guyer carried a 197 bowling average when he twisted a ligament in his right forearm while working out at home. He sat out of bowling for three years.

``I'm an accountant, and I push a pencil,'' he said, ``so whenever I do anything physical, I tend to get hurt.''

His friends kept asking him to return to bowling, so Guyer decided to give it a try - as a lefty.

He took lessons from Rolf Gauger, a former Santa Clarita resident now living in Phoenix. When Guyer began, he had no coordination. The first three times he rolled a ball, he fell down.

``You've got to have patience in this game,'' he said. ``It can get frustrating.''

Timing and concentration, he learned, were the keys to relearning the game.

``Timing is the most difficult for me to maintain,'' he said.

To be successful, a bowler must be able to release the ball at the same time from the same place on every single roll. The ball cannot be too far in front of the bowler. Nor can the bowler be at the lane and not ready to release the ball.

Eventually, he learned and resumed his place in the local leagues, even getting up to a 165 average in his first full year back. Now he averages 196, which is good enough to place him in a scratch league, which includes the top bowlers. In scratch leagues, no one uses a handicap.

Guyer has actually had more success as a left-hander than as a ``righty.'' In addition to his 800 series, he has also rolled two 700 series left-handed. The best he ever did right-handed was a 299 game and a 600 series.

``It's amazing how well he's adapted,'' said Guyer's wife, Joan.

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Photo

Photo: Del Guyer, a right-hander who injured his right arm, bowls - better than ever - with his left hand.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News