The Gippsland Bowls Region’s eastern and northern conference’s weekend pennant competitions played their grand finals in the lower grades last week.
With the conferences decided, the winners will head to Heyfield this Saturday to decide regional glory, the premier lower grade teams sharing top billing with the much-anticipated superleague grand final between defending champion Bairnsdale and an emerging Paynesville, who keep rising to the challenge.
DIVISION TWO
Paynesville showed its qualifying round obliteration of Bairnsdale 2 was no fluke, issuing a similar 77-37 spanking to take out the eastern conference pennant at Bairnsdale.
Ronald Elton, Ken Perkins, Allen Schwennesen and Ivan Thompson were again sublime winning 33-4, well backed up by Roger Fraser, Jenny Easton, Joe Cilauro and Margery Nathan (25-10).
The only rink winners for Bairnsdale 2, who finished the season two games clear on top of the ladder, were Rod Street, John Donaldson, Trevor Selwyn and Barry Lake (23-19).
Maffra were the winners in the northern conference in a match decided on the last end, clinging on to 56-55 win over Sale at the Maffra Bowling Club.
Maffra only won the solitary rink, but the effort of Peter Harris, Alan Felmingham, Brian Wain and Geoff Crawford to win 26-11 was enough to see them over the line.
Frank Stake, Pam Griffiths, Michael Thompson, Ian Bye (22-18) and David Scott, Peter Gavin, Bruce Hughes and Leon Woods (22-12) were winners on the day for Sale but denied ultimate glory.
DIVISION THREE
Bairnsdale 4A defeated Paynesville in a tight eastern conference finale 34-28, which was a similar scoreline to the qualifying final.
Kerry Moulang, Sue Wright, Trevor Caithness and Danny Downie were pivotal winners for Bairnsdale 4A, 19-13.
The other rink between Paynesville’s Wilma Fowden, Sandy Fisher, Andrew McKee and David McGrath and Bairnsdale 4A’s Dianne Williams, Paul Brooks, Colin Creber and James Dunn finished tied at 15-apiece.
In the north, Stratford won the pennant from fourth place on the ladder beating Maffra in the finale 38-36.
Rhonda Hall, Graham Gangell, Damien Albrecht and Denis Downey led the way for Stratford, successful in their rink 21-14, which was enough to hold on, despite the gallant effort of Maffra’s Robert Weatherley, Grant Smith, Kenneth Darcy and Annette Anderson, who took their rink, 20-17.
DIVSION FOUR
Metung reversed its comprehensive defeat by Bairnsdale 5 in the qualifying final, with an emphatic eastern conference victory winning 46-26, justifying its billing all season as the best.
Leah Cameron, Mark Peters, Don Hammond, Gary Cooke (25-14) and Andrea Brown, John Heggie, Clint Overton and Richard Dooley (21-12) are all in top form heading into this week’s region decider.
They will play Maffra, who overcome Stratford 50-29 to claim the north title.
Ryan Crawford, Jennifer Harris, Michael Chislett and John Waddell set the victory up with a decisive 30-9 shellacking, while the other rink was tight all day, eventually ending a tie between Maffra’s John Nicholas, Branko Longin, Brian Hiho and Eric Fixter, and their Stratford opponents Sandra Chown, Helen Akers, Tony Malady and Kym Albrecht, 20 each.
All rounds will lead to Heyfield for Saturday’s season finales, when we find out which are the Gippsland Bowls Region’s best pennant sides in all four grades.
