The start of the tournament we have L to R locals Shane Hodge and his granddaughter Annie Teague, their opponent Alan Tighe Junior from Dubbo. The Parkes Bowling and Sports Clubs newest member Mark Fitzalan and the Railways own Pissy Peisley.
What a weekend at the Parkes Railway Bowling Club’s annual Champagne Triples Tournament, with teams from all over the state and $10,000 on offer the bowls were the focus of the weekend.
The winners were the legend Bob Hamilton from Orange City, teamed up with the gun father and son combination from Grenfell Barry and Blake Bradtke. They won all 5 games with a whopping margin of 79 shots.
Runners Up for the weekend were another gun father and son combination, Cooper and Flippy Fliedner from Manildra along with the ever consistent Tony Bennett, also from Manildra. They won all their games with a total margin of 58 shots.
Third place was the powerful Warren Towney’s team from Dubbo, Warren teamed up with Greg McEwen and Alan Tighe Junior. These boys put 5 wins together with a margin of 46 shots.
Fourth place went to another strong Grenfell team in Stevie Galvin, Gavin Johnson and Andrew Armstrong who had 4 wins and a draw with a margin of 42 shots.
Round winners were:
• Round 1 Lurlene Hanna, Jake Hodge and Joey Van Opynen.
• Round 2 Dave Johnson, Juicy Daley and Peter Creith.
• Round 3 Mick Simpson, Nathan Reynolds and Dave Reilly.
• Round 4 Wally Grant, Tony Latter and Greg Howlett.
• Round 5 Paul Lewin, Nathan Collis and Blake Strudwick.
The highest finishing local team went to the Railways own Wally Grant, Tony Latter and Greg Howlett who finished a strong 5th with 4 wins and a narrow loss and a margin of 35 shots.
The Match Committee would really like to thank the Board of Directors for their continued support, we would also like to thank each and every person that took time out of their weekend to lend a hand. It’s amazing and makes us so proud to see so many people helping. We would like to thank the green staff, bar staff and bistro staff for their amazing efforts. Everything went so smoothly. We would also like to thank the Town Club for their help over the weekend, so thank you all.
Club Championships
In the Major Singles Paul Kirwan played Wally Grant. Paul picked up a 2 on the first end, Wally a single on the second end. Paul then put 4 solid ends together and after 6 ends Paul leads 12-1. Wally wasn’t done though and picked up a 2 before dropping a single. Wally then went on to put a couple of ends together with a 3 and a 4, to cut the lead back to 13-10 after 10. Paul got in a single then Wally got 2 singles and a 2 and it was 14 all after 14. Paul put a stop to Wally’s run with a 3, a 4 and a 2 taking it to 23-14. Wally scrambled with a 3 on the next end but Paul closed out the game with a 2 on the next end and it finished 25-17.
Winners L to R Barry Bradtke (Grenfell), Bob Hamilton (Orange) and Blake Bradtke (Grenfell and son of Barry).
Fourth L to R – Stevie Galvin, Andrew Armstrong and Gavin Johnson all from Grenfell.
Runners Up L to R – Tony Bennett, and father and son combo Cooper and Flippy Fliedner (Manildra) however Flippy was a member of the Railway for a lot of years.
Third Place L to R – Warren Towney, Greg McEwen and Alan Tighe Junior all from Dubbo.