Eastern BBQ Contest 2023 - Day 1
2023-04-07 – 2023-04-08 · MEERBEKE, 9402 · BELGIUM · 📍 GEMEENTEHUISSTRAAT
Reps: MARIANNE VAN GALEN, MAYCO VAN GALEN
Grand Champion: SMOKE ON THE WILD SIDE (683.9656) · 10 teams
Reserve Champion: 🥈 BBQ Team Laurentius
Entries
Top score
Winning margin
Field average
Perfect 180s
Tightest race
Top-10 cutoff
Field spread
Double threats
How hot was the win?
Came back for more
Form held
Field strength
Storylines
👑 A dynasty in the making
Southern Dutch BBQ has won this contest 2 times across its 4 tracked editions.
💪 A statement win
The champion won by 9.1200 points — a wider margin than 87% of championships in the data.
🧹 A double category winner
SMOKE ON THE WILD SIDE won Pork Ribs, Brisket — a double, and took the Grand Championship on top of it.
📸 Photo finishes
Chicken places 2–3: COOKLOUNGE BBQ and BUNCH OF SWINES tied on 171.9656 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Brisket places 6–7: PARKSTAD SMOKERS edged ANTWERPS BBQ-TEAM by 0.0112. Pork Ribs places 6–7: The BBQ Ranch edged BBQ Team Laurentius by 0.0116.
🛡️ Back to defend
Past winners of this contest cooked this edition: BUNCH OF SWINES (won 2019).
🃏 An upset on the books
SMOKE ON THE WILD SIDE came in rated below the field's top team, PARKSTAD SMOKERS, and took the Grand Championship anyway — roughly a 35-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.
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)
Where the field came from (home regions on file)
This contest over the years full contest page →
| Date | Where | Venue | Teams | High score | Grand Champion | Reserve Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-04-19 | Ninove, 9600 | Ninove, 9600 | 25 | 701.1544 | BUNCH OF SWINES | IQ - NETHERLANDS |
| 2021-08-13 | MEERBEKE, 9402 | GEMEENTEHUISSTRAAT | 19 | 677.0520 | Southern Dutch BBQ | IQ - NETHERLANDS |
| 2022-04-15 | MEERBEKE, 9402 | GEMEENTEHUISSTRAAT | 19 | 683.3944 | Southern Dutch BBQ | WHITE SQUIRREL BBQ |
| 2023-04-07 ← this one | MEERBEKE, 9402 | GEMEENTEHUISSTRAAT | 10 | 683.9656 | SMOKE ON THE WILD SIDE | BBQ Team Laurentius |
What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)
| Category | 1st | 5th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 173.7028 | 168.5828 | 158.7884 |
| Pork Ribs | 171.4400 | 166.2400 | 158.8688 |
| Pork | 176.0000 | 167.9656 | 153.1316 |
| Brisket | 176.0116 | 162.8572 | 146.2972 |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Master Series
Overall
10 entries · top 683.9656 · median 665.0226
Chicken
10 entries · top 173.7028 · median 167.4170
Pork Ribs
10 entries · top 171.4400 · median 165.6972
Pork
10 entries · top 176.0000 · median 167.6856
Brisket
10 entries · top 176.0116 · median 162.5600
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.
Ancillary — Cc Veal Sucade
3 entries · top 173.7256 · median 169.1544
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BBQ Team Laurentius | |
| 2 | SMOKE ON THE WILD SIDE | |
| 3 | Barbecoa BBQ Team |