THERE was no shortage of smiles at the Mount Gambier RSL Bowling Club on Saturday night, after both the Division 1 Red and Division 2 Red Open Pennant teams celebrated grand final victories.
The Division 1 side defeated Mount Gambier Red 92 shots to 68, while Division 2 had a 66-57 shot win over Robe.
Division 1
Mount Gambier RSL Red 92 d Mount Gambier Red 68
THE Division 1 Red team has dominated the competition for many years and its enviable record includes eight premierships in the past 10 years.
Ralph Stafford can lay claim to winning a total of 28 pennant badges and current RSL Red bowlers Neil Tobin and Deane Wilkinson are each well over 20.
Wilkinson believes he has always played in grand finals, so has either been a winner or runner-up for his entire bowling career.
So it is no wonder team captain Chris Waugh said in his acceptance speech at Millicent on Saturday that “it was an honour and a privilege” to play in the Mount Gambier RSL Division 1 Red squad.
While the side won comfortably in the end by 24 shots, Mount Gambier Red challenged hard in the first half and had the RSL under significant pressure.
It was not until the 13th end the team hit the front.
Then, with Neil Tobin’s team jumping ahead in multiples, Andy Ashby’s rink fighting back while limiting its opposition to a few singles and Graham Ellis’s team staying within reach, the RSL’s overall score looked increasingly favourable.
The RSL dominated across all rinks heading to the line to ultimately claim victory.
Jason Kuring, Peter Roachock, Rex Heins and skipper Tobin set the benchmark on the day, as they powered on to defeat Gary McIntyre, Gary Hocking, Peter Radley and Tony Bowditch with a staggering 43-15 shot win.
Meanwhile, Ashby’s team of Robert Corner, Deane Wilkinson and Chris Waugh had a narrow 23-22 victory over Rebecca Gruar, Terry Bruhn, Brad Errock and Tony Renzi, while Jamie Lambert, Ralph Stafford, Michael Fox and Graham Ellis went down to John Reppin, Bryan Vorwerk, Peter Reppin and Greg Carpenter 26-31.
Division 2
Mount Gambier RSL Red 66 d Robe 57
MOUNT Gambier RSL’s Division 2 Red defeated Robe in a close grand final match, which saw the eventual victors unable to break free, despite holding a slight lead throughout the day.
With the margin rarely exceeding double digits, the RSL finished the clash with a nine-shot victory.
Paul Griffiths, Graeme Smith, Graham Dent and skipper Ian Moulden defeated David Robinson, Dean Woodward, Ryan Dew and Stephen Kennett with a solid score of 28-15.
A closer match was had by Wayne Legutko’s team of Simon Attiwill, Graham Crowder and Ron Edlington, with a 23-19 shot win over and Ross Denning, Jim Grey, Peter Gregory and Ken Smith.
The final rink of Ian Colbey, David Anderson, Bob Milligan and skipper Noel Miller went down to Dennis Mathew, Jo Sykes, Patrick Lynch and Errol Jennings 15-23, but it was enough to take out the overall honours.
