A new contest record
667.5088
highest overall ever cooked here
667.5088 is the highest overall score this contest has ever produced — past the 663.9540 EUREKA SMOKE set in 2015.
- old record 663.9540
- set 2015 by EUREKA SMOKE
Melbourne Barbecue Festival 2018
Feb 3–4, 2018 · Melbourn, Australia · AUSTRALIA · 📍 Flemington Ralecourse
THE SMOKING JOINT won Grand Champion at the Melbourne Barbecue Festival on February 3, 2018 in Melbourn, 8008 at Flemington Ralecourse, scoring 667.5088 in a field of 26 teams. Smokeface Grillahs took Reserve Grand Champion with 662.2172. Category winners: Chicken — Smoking Hot Boxes (172.5600); Pork Ribs — SMOKING JOKERS AUSTRALIA (169.1772); Pork — Firehouse Barbecue (172.5600); Brisket — GRYPHON SMOKEHOUSE (170.9028). This is the 2nd of 2 editions of this contest on record; the 2015 edition was won by EUREKA SMOKE.
The contest at a glance (read off the scored boards)
How the field scored
Overall totals, every team on the board — tall stacks are where the pack sat.
565.02
median 631.76
667.51 🏆
How the meats cooked
Every board on one scale — the bar runs last score to first, the dot is the median.
- Chicken 172.56
- Pork Ribs 169.18
- Pork 172.56
- Brisket 170.90
121.60
172.56
Entries
26
4 judged meats · 2 ancillary
Top score
667.5088
Winning margin
5.2916
GC over RC
Field average
630.72
565.02667.51
median 631.76 · last place to winner
Perfect 180s
0
Tightest race
Pork Ribs
2.8456 pts across the top 5
Top-10 cutoff
643.9540
565.02667.51
10th place overall
Field spread
102.4916
winner to last place
Double threats
5
teams with 2+ top-5 calls
How hot was the win?
Top 97%
beats 3% of 4715 Master Series wins in the data
Came back for more
20%
3 of 15 teams from the previous edition returned
Form held
Weak
ρ = -0.16 between pre-contest rating and finish
Field strength
1,507
avg power rating going in · stronger than 5% of contests
Storylines (6 found in this contest's numbers)
Everything below is read straight out of the results — the number on each card is the one that made it a story.
Won without a category win
4 of 4
meats called to the stage
THE SMOKING JOINT won the Grand Championship without winning a single meat — 4 calls from 4 boards, best of them 2nd. Consistency beat fireworks.
- Chicken 2nd
- Pork Ribs 8th
- Pork 5th
- Brisket 4th
A first Grand Championship
2
tracked contests to get there
This was THE SMOKING JOINT's first Grand Championship in the data — it arrived at their 2nd tracked contest.
Photo finishes
Tie
closest of 10 calls decided inside half a point
Pork places 1–2: Firehouse Barbecue and Smokeface Grillahs tied on 172.5600 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Pork places 9–10: Smoking Hot Boxes and Wattlebank Park Farm tied on 162.2856 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Brisket places 4–5: THE SMOKING JOINT and Wild West BBQ tied on 166.2856 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.
- Pork 1–2 · tie
- Pork 9–10 · tie
- Brisket 4–5 · tie
- Chicken 5–6 · 0.0116
A contest record in chicken
172.5600
best chicken ever cooked here
Smoking Hot Boxes turned in 172.5600 in chicken — past the 169.7028 that had stood across 1 earlier editions.
- old best 169.7028
- across 1 past editions
The contest returns
3 yrs
since the last edition
This contest was away for 3 years — the previous tracked edition ran on 2015-01-31.
- previous edition 2015-01-31
Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)
Category showdown (top / average / median score per meat)
Score distribution
Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)
Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)
This contest over the years full contest page →
| Date | Where | Venue | Teams | High score | Grand Champion | Reserve Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 31, 2015 | Melbourne, Victoria | Melbourne, Victoria, | 15 | 663.9540 | EUREKA SMOKE | BIG BOY BBQ Australia |
| Feb 3, 2018 ← this one | Melbourn | Flemington Ralecourse | 26 | 667.5088 | THE SMOKING JOINT | Smokeface Grillahs |
What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)
| Category | 1st | 5th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 172.5600 | 166.2744 | 163.4172 |
| Pork Ribs | 169.1772 | 166.3316 | 159.4628 |
| Pork | 172.5600 | 168.5716 | 162.2856 |
| Brisket | 170.9028 | 166.2856 | 161.1544 |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Master Series
Overall
26 entries · top 667.5088 · median 631.7600
Chicken
26 entries · top 172.5600 · median 162.0344
Pork Ribs
26 entries · top 169.1772 · median 157.4628
Pork
26 entries · top 172.5600 · median 160.2800
Brisket
26 entries · top 170.9028 · median 158
Ancillary categories
Run by the organizers alongside the sanctioned contest. These are judged on their own terms and do not count toward the overall score, so they're kept out of the meat stats above.
Master Series — Lamb
21 entries · top 173.1200 · median 156
Master Series — Steak
21 entries · top 174.9144 · median 152.0228