The current GBA season came to an end when twenty-nine professional teams traveled to Donalsonville, Georgia on April 6, 2019 for the first ever Firehouse BBQ Festival.  Four teams used the opportunity to make their debut in competitive cooking.  $10,000 in prize money and unique trophies were awarded, in addition to deciding the final Team of the Year standings.

Off the Chain took home $2,000 and a unique fire axe trophy for winning the Grand Championship.  Budmeister BBQ also claimed $2,000 and the Reserve Grand Champion trophy by finishing 11th in loin, and 1^st place in both pork and ribs.

Off the Chain finished first in loin, with Rescue Smokers coming in second.  Hot Ash Q was third after scoring their first 600 in the preliminary round.

Budmeister BBQ won the pulled pork category.  The Pit Crew GA finished second after scoring the only other 600 of the day in preliminaries.  Kelvin’s BBQ claimed third place.

Budmeister BBQ also finished first in the rib category.  Hold Your Horses continued their rib run with second place, and Pirates of Porkscents walked in third place.

Acworth will host an event “In Association With” the GBA on May 11 that is open to any team with at least one current GBA member, but the results will not count towards the Team of the Year standing.  Team and judge registration are both available online at https://www.bbqga.org/waevents/

The full results for each category and reserve scores can be found at the following links:

Loin, Pork, and Rib Results

https://gba.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Contest%20Results/Firehouse%20Category%20Results.pdf

Reserve Scores

https://gba.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Contest%20Results/Firehouse%20Reserve%20Scores.pdf

Forty-one professional BBQ teams, including teams from Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina traveled to Ashburn, Georgia on March 23, 2019 for the 24^th annual Fire Ant Festival.

Not only was $10,000 in prize money and trophies awarded to the winners in three different BBQ categories, but Team of the Year points were also doubled for this event.  The high level of competition was evidenced by five different scores of 600 during the preliminary rounds.  Many teams also participated in the SCA Steak Cook-off held on Friday night.

Hold Your Horses claimed their long sought first Grand Championship and $2,000 after several previous trips to the finals.  The Pitt Crew GA also won $2,000 and Reserve Grand Champion in only their second GBA contest after finishing 4th in loin, 1^st in pork, and 12th in ribs.

Holy Smokes won loin after scoring a 600 in the preliminary round.  Weekend Warriors also scored a 600 in preliminaries and finished second in loin.  Bubba Grills returned after a long absence from GBA with third place in loin.

The top two finishers in the pulled pork category each scored 600s for their preliminary entries.  After finals, The Pit Crew GA came out on top in first place.  Second and third places in pulled pork were a repeat from the last GBA contest with Pot’s BBQ again in second place and Jack Fallin with Captain Jack’s BBQ Crew taking third.

Hold Your Horses won the rib category on the way to their Grand Championship.  Local Ashburn team Real-licious finished in second place after scoring a 600 in the preliminary round.  Shark Bite BBQ came in third in their first GBA finals.

The final TOTY standings will be decided on April 6 in Donalsonville, GA at the last points contest of the GBA season.  Acworth will host an event “In Association With” the GBA on May 11 that is open to any team with at least one current GBA member, but the results will not count towards the Team of the Year standing.

The full results for each category and Pro reserve scores can be found at the following links:

Loin, Pork, and Rib Results

https://gba.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Contest%20Results/Ashburn%202019%20categories.pdf

Reserve Scores

https://gba.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Contest%20Results/Ashburn%202019%20Reserve.pdf

Thirty-three professional cook teams gathered in Tifton, Georgia on March 2, 2019 for the GBA’s 6^th Annual Rhythm and Ribs BBQ Festival.  More than $10,000 in prize money was awarded to the winners, in addition to the now famous “Sqealbert” trophies.

Budmeister BBQ returned to usual form after some time off from the GBA with the Grand Championship for their pork entry.  Rescue Smokers won Reserve Grand Champion for the second week in row after finishing 1st in loin, 7^th in pork, and 1^st place in ribs.   Rescue Smokers also had the only 600s of the day in both the loin and ribs preliminaries.

Rescue Smokers finished first in loin, followed by East Coast BBQ for their first time in finals.  Weekend Warriors rounded out the top three in loin.

In the pulled pork category, Budmeister BBQ came in first place.  Pot’s BBQ finished second, with Ashley Home Store, led by Jack Fallin, taking third place.

Rescue Smokers also took the rib category.  In their first finals, Smoking Outlaws finished second, with Budmeister BBQ coming in third place.

The GBA returns with the last double points event of the year in Ashburn on March 23, and the last sanctioned contest of the season in Donalsonville on April 6.  Acworth hosts an event “In Association With” the GBA on May 11 that is open to any team with at least one current GBA member, but the results will not count towards the Team of the Year standing.

The full results for each category and Pro reserve scores can be found at the following links:

Loin, Pork, and Rib Results

https://gba.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Contest%20Results/Tifton%202019%20scores.pdf

Reserve Scores

https://gba.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Contest%20Results/Tifton%202019%20reserve.pdf