Stanhope skip Greg Fitzpatrick returned to the winners’ list on Saturday after losing his last three games.
Tongala and Stanhope have put a gap on the field and look like fighting out minor premiership honours in the Campaspe Playing Area’s division one weekend pennant competition.
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Both teams returned from the month-long Christmas break with wins at the weekend, Stanhope with a 44-shot win (87-43, 15-1) against second-last Rochester and the Bulls with a commanding 35-shot win (75-30, 16-0) against third-ranked Moama Steamers.
With three weeks remaining in home and away competition the Bulls sit on top with 122 pennant points, two clear of Stanhope and with Moama a further 14 points back in third.
Three teams are battling it out for the final spot in the finals, with Deniliquin, reigning premier Mathoura and Echuca within one point of each other in fourth to sixth position.
Stanhope’s fairytale story continued at the weekend when it won its seventh game of the season, after finishing bottom with just three wins last season, Tim Hancock leading the way with a 31-8 win against Richard Feuk.
Greg Fitzpatrick, who started the season in such wonderful form, returned to the top five skips in the competition with a 38-17 victory. He had the experienced John Patterson in the lead role, while Peter Myers was his third and Jono Thorne second.
The competition’s second-ranked skip, Ben Fletcher, had to be content with a draw on his rink against Tim Quinlan. He had his father Barry and the Maxwells, Jorge and Austin, as lead bowlers.
In its final three weeks Stanhope faces bottom-ranked Rich River, another team outside the top four Mathoura, and Moama in the final round before the playoffs.
Fresh off a club championship final, Peter Tinning led a Brad Tinning-skipped team to another win on Saturday.
– Tongala will play a major role in deciding the make-up of this year’s Campaspe Playing Area top four, facing the three teams who are embroiled in a battle for fourth spot.
The Bulls, Stanhope and Moama Steamers are locks for the finals, but the fight for fourth between Deniliquin, Mathoura and Echuca will go down to the final rounds.
All three of these teams will face the Bulls, who are fresh off a big win on the back of Stephen Hammond’s commanding return to division one bowls.
Hammond won all but two of the opening 14 ends and led 25-3. Despite losing four of the final seven ends he secured a 29-8 victory.
Glenn Fields skipped a team of Bill Hatzie, Steve and Barry Tinning to a 10-shot win, 24-14, exploding out of the blocks with a 7-nil lead after taking four shots on the opening end.
Another five-shot haul on the 13th end extended his lead to 10 and a four on the 17th end put the result beyond doubt. Fields is the competition’s ninth-ranked skip with a 4-4 record.
Last year’s leading Campaspe Playing Area division one bowler, Brad Tinning, is now fourth on the skip’s list. He won his seventh game of the season, 22-18 with Connor Trewren back in the third slot.
His front-end bowlers, Peter Tinning, and Sally Beach have both recently contested championship singles finals at the club - Beach winning her event.
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