MEMORIAL continues the power run to the grand final, while almost all other games were close, or very close and all fourth rung sides were eliminated.

In division one, the Memorial v Portland game played at Hamilton saw Memorial win on all rinks.

Clay Holcombe 19 to Peter Cottier 13, and Kel Wiffen defeating Tony Hogan’s 25-14 were the biggest margins.

Graeme Solly and Lindsay Gruar battled all day for the top spot on the score card and the Solly team came away with a one-shot win. 

Obviously, points don’t count, so the result was 62 to 44.

Memorial progresses to the grand final and Portland plays the winner of the next game.

Penshurst finished 37 points ahead of Balmoral on the ladder and started the game as if this was going to make a big difference.

Balmoral had five players unavailable due to prior commitments and as one would expect, the replacements took a while to get going.

At the break the difference was almost insurmountable, but the battlers turned things around and made the game a battle royale.

Ali Rentsch 20 defeated Nev Trotman 18, Phil Allen with 25 to Troy Gore 16, and Mick Ross with 14 made the Penshurst total 59, while Peter Merryfull rolled out 20, so the Balmoral last score for the season was 54.

Division two

THIS was as exciting as above in the top game, as Memorial had finished on top of the ladder six points above Portland.

The result at Grangeburn came down to a four-shot difference.

Memorial first, as Gerry Watt 14 to Alan Warburton 22, and the opposite result was Ted Leahy 23 to Andy Smail 19, but enough to give Portland the week off and Memorial to stay alive and play again next week.

Macarthur had finished above Hamilton Green on the ladder and continued the record with a 14-shot win.

Clifton Tonissen put the brakes on the Geoff Woods team and won, 28-9, while Bill Edge got 19 and Rob Thornton 24, meaning the totals were 47 to 33.

So, Memorial will play Macarthur.

Division three

GAMES were played on Hamilton B green and Memorial, which again finished on top of the ladder, played Portland.

What a game it must have been; the one consolation I guess is that the loser has a second chance.

Which side won you might ask? Peter Fasoli with 19 to Heather Burgess 21, and Kevin Husson 22 to Peter Longstaff 19, helping Memorial get up by one shot.

Dartmoor and Penshurst played another drama-filled game and when the first rinks battle was a draw, the second one is a heart pounder.

The draw was between Redeye Kerr and Chris Laurence at 20-20, while Peter Holmes and Ian McLean at each other’s bowls heads played out a two-shot win to the Dartmoor team, 20 to 18.

Portland will face Dartmoor in the preliminary final.

Division four

THE scores were a bit further apart, and as yours truly had been seconded to Heywood just in case, and therefore saw some pretty interesting events occur in the Memorial Blue and Hamilton Gold game.

It was beaut weather, beaut green and beaut contests.

In this game, Blue flew out of the blocks like the cockatoos that flew overhead.

At end eight, the Jan Hamblin team led the Jim Nichol team, 17-3, and to make matters potentially worse, Rob Hamblin had the Barry Dowling team 22-2.

After the break, the Dowling team scored 15-7, with the final scored favouring Hamblin, 29-17.

After the eighth end as above, the Nichol team won 12 of the remaining 13 ends to win by two shots.

The Jan Hamblin team 18 to Jim Nichol 20 meant Memorial Blue went through to the grand final.

Over the other side of the green, Memorial Red played Coleraine and it turned into a one-rink win to Red.

Rhonda Bramley 15 to a late finishing Roger Woolley 16, and Jude Fasoli and team couldn’t put a foot wrong, defeating Alan Mcintosh, 32-10, leading to a 47-26 overall result.

Preliminary finals

LOOKING at the preliminary finals, in division one, the past two contests between Portland and Penshurst have both gone to the southerners - the one at the clifftop by 19 and at the water garden by 20.

Finals on neutral greens can be quite different, but Penshurst will need to be on song.

Division two and Macarthur playing Memorial has won both rounds by a total of 34 shots.

Division three has chopped and changed with a win to Portland at Dartmoor by 11, and Dartmoor at Portland by four.

Division four and Memorial Red won both previous encounters - the first game away by 10 and one at home by three.

Other news

REGION level Mixed Pairs and Pairs were played at Warrnambool City Memorial on Sunday.

Our representatives performed very well against some tough opposition.

In the Mixed Pairs, Merryfull and Jenni Mutch defeated the Western Playing Area representatives by three shots and now move to the state level.

In the Women’s section pairs, Leah McCabe and Chris Rigby were defeated by the Western Playing Area representatives in the final.

The Men’s section reps for us were Graeme Solly and Kelvin Wiffen and unfortunately, they were defeated in the final by the Corangamite pair.

Congratulations to everyone involved.

The next championships to be played at City Memorial on Sunday, are the champion of club singles championships and the triples.

Our champion of champions representatives are Nettie Tinning and Mick Swan.

The women’s section triples team is Heather Burgess, Heather McIntyre and Dianne Huppatz, while the men’s team is Graeme Solly, Kelvin Wiffen and Chris Fleming.