To say the past few weeks have been turbulent for Ryan Ciminelli might be an understatement.

After being suspended by the PBA for two events and ending his relationship with MOTIV, Ciminelli found his way back to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2016 Sunday when he won the 2019 PBA Gene Carter’s Pro Shop Classic.

Ciminelli defeated Tom Daugherty, 217-209, at Mid-County Bowling & Entertainment Center in Middletown, Delaware, to win his eighth career PBA Tour title.

The event was Ciminelli’s return to the PBA Tour after a two-event suspension for comments he made on the Sweep The Rack podcast about the PBA’s lane conditioning operations. He was forced to sit out the PBA Chesapeake Open and PBA Wilmington Open.

“I’m overwhelmed with emotions right now,” Ciminelli said in an exclusive interview with FloBowling after his win. “A lot of things have happened, some people know about, some don’t. This ranks up there for meaning the most; this is near the top. The loyalty, the support, the family type love that I got from friends close to me throughout my struggles and especially recently when it got real bad, I don’t even have words for that.”

In the title match against Daugherty, Ciminelli looked like he might be unbeatable early on as he started with six strikes in the first eight frames to build a 28-pin lead.

He let Daugherty back in the match, however, when he left the Greek Church in the ninth frame. That open frame put the match in Daugherty’s hands, and if he could manage a strike in the ninth and all three in the 10^th, he would shut Ciminelli out by one.

Instead, Daugherty came up light in the ninth frame and left the 4-8, which he converted. He struck out in the final frame to force Ciminelli to fill 20 to win. Ciminelli then tossed two clutch strikes for the victory.

After ending his relationship with MOTIV a few weeks ago, Ciminelli is now a free agent and can throw whatever equipment he chooses. In the stepladder finals, his ball of choice was a Radical Zing, while he wore a Columbia 300 jersey. He thanked both Brunswick and Ebonite International in his post-match interview on FloBowling.

In the semifinal, Ciminelli blew past two-hander Zach Wilkins, who was seeking his first PBA Tour title, with a 266-223 victory.

The hard-throwing lefty opened the match with a spare and then rattled off eight consecutive strikes as he built a huge lead and cruised to the victory.

Ciminelli overcame an early deficit to defeat Tom Smallwood, 224-214, in the opening match of the stepladder finals.

Ciminelli took advantage of a pocket 7-10 split by Smallwood in the seventh frame to pop a couple strikes and take the lead. In the final frame, Ciminelli needed nine, spare, nine to lock up the win and tossed a pair of strikes.

The PBA Tour heads to Coldwater, Ohio, for the 2019 PBA Bowlerstore Classic, which begins live on FloBowling on Thursday.