The comeback
6.1 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 6.1 years, then back at Silver Lake Sand Dunes Apple & BBQ Festival (2019-09-13).
- last seen 2013-08-23
- back 2019-09-13
Grill Masters
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1498
peak 1498 · rated over 3 contests ⓘ
Contests
4
in the data
First seen
2013-08-23
latest 2022-08-27
Best ToY finish
#1061
Master 2022
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
of 4 contests
Avg finish
top 55%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
75%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Brisket
avg 160.29 · weakest Pork (148.52)
Road miles
880
mi across 4 mapped stops · furthest 857 mi
Schedule strength
26%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1535)
Purse competed for
$16K
listed at 2 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 2 state-championship entries
Master avg
622.78 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
311.41 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 0 GCs
Master and Backyard overall scores sit on different scales (Master is out of 720, Backyard out of 360), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Storylines (1 found in this team's record)
Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
Grill Masters has 3 rated contests — short of the five it takes to earn a power ranking — so this rating has barely moved off the 1500 every team starts on and 121 rated teams sit within a point of it. Read the list as the nearest company at a number nobody here has moved far from, not as a verdict on who this team belongs with.
#3297 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1514
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 4, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3295 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
Level with Grill Masters on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#3261 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1499
No shared contest yet.
Their rating is built on 1 Grand Championship in 6 contests, alongside a 17% overall top-10 rate.
⚔ Head-to-head#3285 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 4 years before Grill Masters's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3288 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1509
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 5 years before Grill Masters's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3296 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1506
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 5 years before Grill Masters's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.7144 | 149.1200 | 159.04 | top 54% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.6916 | 149.6688 | 157.98 | top 55% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 161.0972 | 135.9428 | 148.52 | top 87% |
| Brisket | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 168.0228 | 152.5604 | 160.29 | top 49% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
By state / province
| Where | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| ME | 1 | 0 | top 42% |
| MI | 1 | 0 | top 29% |
| WI | 1 | 0 | top 95% |
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 35% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 95% |
The story so far (18 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
9 yrs
2013-08-23 → 2022-08-27
Busiest season
2022
2 contests
Contests a season
1.3
across 3 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
ME
2 of 4 contests · 3 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
3
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
4 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls
Strongest meat
Brisket
averages 160.29 · weakest Pork (148.52)
Walk rate
75%
a top-10 call in 3 of 4 contests
Overall top-10 rate
25%
1 of 4 contests
Master average
622.78
out of 720 · 2 contests · 0 GCs
Backyard average
311.41
out of 360 · 1 contest · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
124
53–70 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
880
4 mapped stops · furthest 857 mi
Schedule strength
1535
average field rating faced — tougher than 26% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$15,800
listed at 2 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 2 state-championship entries
Longest layoff
6.1 yrs
2013-08-23 → 2019-09-13
Power rating
1498
peak 1498 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2013
- First tracked contest Grill Games
- 2019
- First call Silver Lake Sand Dunes Apple & BBQ Festival
- First overall top-10 Silver Lake Sand Dunes Apple & BBQ Festival
- 2022
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score658.2632 Kora Shriner's BBQ Competition
- Career-best overall score658.2632 Kora Shriner's BBQ Competition
- Career-best single call (Chicken)169.7144 Kora Shriner's BBQ Competition
- Peak power rating (1498) Kora Shriner's BBQ Competition
- Most recent contest Kora Shriner's BBQ Competition
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +6.6 | Silver Lake Sand Dunes Apple & BBQ Festival | 2019-09-13 |
| +6.1 | Kora Shriner's BBQ Competition | 2022-08-27 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -14.4 | Grill Games | 2013-08-23 |
Category scores over time
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 42% | 91.4% | 91.4% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 29% | 86.5% | 86.5% |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 95% | 81.6% | 81.6% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-08-27 | Kora Shriner's BBQ Competition 🏅 Hiram, ME | 13 / 31 (658.2632) | 15 (169.7144) | 22 (159.4288) | 23 (161.0972) | 10 (168.0228) |
| 2022-08-27 | Kora Shriner's BBQ Competition (ONE MEAT RIBS) Hiram, ME | — | — | 9 (169.6916) | — | — |
| 2019-09-13 | Silver Lake Sand Dunes Apple & BBQ Festival 🏅 Mears, MI | 10 / 35 (311.4060) | 9 (158.2860) | 14 (153.1200) | — | — |
| 2013-08-23 | Grill Games Kenosha, WI | 41 / 43 (587.2920) | 38 (149.1200) | 27 (149.6688) | 43 (135.9428) | 28 (152.5604) |
Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)
Team of the Year standings (rank per category by season — year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 ↗ | Master | #1061 (116 pts) | #1170 (106 pts) | #867 (200 pts) | #1329 (66 pts) | #981 (131 pts) |