High-water mark
346.2400
career-best overall
96.2% of a perfect 360
Their best day on record: 346.2400 at Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge — 96.2% of a perfect 360.
- Backyard
- 2026-03-27
Flame Forged BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1530
peak 1530 · rated over 3 contests ⓘ
Best runs
3
straight top-10s
Contests
4
in the data
First seen
2026-03-27
latest 2026-07-10
Best ToY finish
#96
Backyard 2026
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
1
1 podiums
Overall top-10s
3
of 4 contests
Avg finish
top 28%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
343.96
last 3 Backyard vs avg 343.96 (+0.00)
Walk rate
75%
contests with a top-10 call
Top-10 streak
3
and counting
Consistency
±2.13
std dev of Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 173.31 · weakest Pork Ribs (169.84)
Road miles
171
mi across 4 mapped stops · furthest 129 mi
Schedule strength
70%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1588)
Purse competed for
$13K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 2 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
343.96 / 360
3 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here. Still inside their first twelve months: see what a first season usually looks like.
Storylines (3 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.
A tough matchup
3–0
behind in the head-to-head
Poppin Smoke BBQ ahead in 100% of their meetings
Poppin Smoke BBQ has come out ahead in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
A strong matchup
3–0
ahead in the head-to-head
Ahead in 100% of their meetings
They've finished ahead of SadieQ in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
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.
Flame Forged BBQ 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 76 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.
#2212 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 67%
- Peak
- 1540
No shared contest yet.
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 6 contests to 4.
⚔ Head-to-head#2221 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 14%
- Peak
- 1530
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 8 years before Flame Forged BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#2220 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1530
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2013, 13 years before Flame Forged BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#2219 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1536
No shared contest yet.
Level with Flame Forged BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#2207 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1532
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2014, 12 years before Flame Forged BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#2217 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 43%
- Peak
- 1530
No shared contest yet.
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 7 contests to 4.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 176.0000 | 170.8228 | 173.31 | top 28% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 175.4172 | 167.3944 | 169.84 | top 44% |
| Pork | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| Brisket | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
“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 contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 1 | 0 | top 38% |
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 23% |
Contest-by-contest record (recurring contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (BACKYARD 2) | 2 | 4 | 0 | top 24% | 2026-07-10 |
The story so far (16 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
0.3 yrs
2026-03-27 → 2026-07-10
Busiest season
2026
4 contests
Cooks most in
MO
4 of 4 contests
Contests visited
2
1 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
4 entries · 0 wins · 3 calls
Strongest meat
Chicken
averages 173.31 · weakest Pork Ribs (169.84)
Walk rate
75%
a top-10 call in 3 of 4 contests
Overall top-10 rate
75%
3 of 4 contests
Best top-10 run
3
straight contests — and still running
Backyard average
343.96
out of 360 · 3 contests · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
83
79–27 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
171
4 mapped stops · furthest 129 mi
Schedule strength
1588
average field rating faced — tougher than 70% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$12,500
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 2 state-championship entries
Power rating
1530
peak 1530 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2026
- First tracked contest Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge
- First call Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge
- First overall top-10 Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score346.2400 Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge
- Career-best overall score346.2400 Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge
- First category win (Chicken) Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (MASTERS and BACKYARD 1)
- Career-best single call (Chicken)176.0000 Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (MASTERS and BACKYARD 1)
- Peak power rating (1530) Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (BACKYARD 2)
- Most recent contest Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (BACKYARD 2)
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +14.9 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (MASTERS and BACKYARD 1) | 2026-07-10 |
| +7.6 | Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge | 2026-03-27 |
| +7.2 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (BACKYARD 2) | 2026-07-10 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 75% | top 28% | 96.2% | 95.5% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-10 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (BACKYARD 2) Cameron, MO | 6 / 16 (341.1200) | 6 (173.1084) | 8 (168.0116) | — | — |
| 2026-07-10 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (MASTERS and BACKYARD 1) 🏅 Cameron, MO | 4 / 37 (344.5256) | 1 (176.0000) | 7 (168.5256) | — | — |
| 2026-07-10 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (ONE MEAT RIBS) Cameron, MO | — | — | 18 (167.3944) | — | — |
| 2026-03-27 | Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge 🏅 St. Robert, MO | 9 / 26 (346.2400) | 11 (170.8228) | 6 (175.4172) | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Backyard | #96 (473 pts) | #91 (533 pts) | #98 (519 pts) | — | — |
| 2026 ↗ | Master | — | — | #998 (81 pts) | — | — |