After six weeks of play the Moss Vale Motor Group Challenge reached it’s conclusion on Wednesday 7th August 2019.  All fourteen teams and substitutes seem to have enjoyed the competition and our thanks to the organizers and Brett Wardell of MVMG for making it all happen.  The Final day produced a few changes of positions as the teams fought to climb onto the podium.  Full results are posted in “Draws and Results”.  Chris Forrester (sub for Dan ticehurst) and Josh Woodcock defeated Kel Limbrick and Dave Riddell 26-14.  Kevin Jones and Bob Crowley had a close game with Joe O’Donnell (sub for Brian Elliott) and Barry Werfel, winning by three shots, 20-17.  Kevin and Bob finished eight overall.  John Edmonds and Don Coleman faced off against Don Weller and Keith Edwards.  The latter team were in the hunt for the prize money and won this match 22-14 but this score saw them finish in seventh place.

Leaders of the first two rounds were Ken looke and Brian Payne.  They played Brian Porter and Peter Morales who were currently running sixth.  An excellent score for Brian and Peter of 33-21 saw them rise two places in the standings to finish in fourth place in the competition

Bill Pope and John Cummins were another team close to the top of the table.  They had a tough tussle ahead of them as they played Kevin Stafford and Carl Spilker, the lowest handicap team in the competition.  Kevin and Carl proved too strong and had a comfortable win by 37-24.  This result saw Bill and John finish a very creditable sixth and Kevin and Carl leap forward into third place.  Their 37 shots was enough to see them win the weekly prize of $100 as the team with the top score, 41 shots had already won once.  Key match of the weekend was between the teams in first and third spot.  Namely Graham Hunt and Bob Edwards in first and Richard Denman and Mick Flynn in third.  Bob’s team dominated for the first 13 ends  racing to 27-9 with Mick’s team only scoring 2 shots.  The next five ends were reversed and Mick came back to trail 27-17.   Five shots on the last three ends saw Bob’s team on an excellent 33 shots and Mick’s on 17.  Richard and Mick slipped back to fifth place and Graham and Bob had to wait for the result of the final match.  Second placed Robin Staples and Mike Holmewood against Owen Williams (sub for Gordon Lewis) and Billy Meredith.  After five rounds of the challenge  Mike’s team trailed the Edwards team by 4 shots and would need a massive score of 38 shots to win.  The final score was 41-20 to Mike’s team which allowed them  slide home for a narrow win over Bob’s team.   Final result was first Robin Staples and Mike Holmewood, second Graham Hunt and Bob Edwards, Third Kevin Stafford and Carl Spilker and fourth Brain Porter and Peter Morales.  Well done to those teams and to all teams that took part.

Should handicaps be such that the best teams win but have to work hard or should they enable a team that has never won before to take advantage of their handicap and win?  In this event the two teams with the lowest handicaps were 3rd and 1st,  The 2nd team had the 4th lowest handicap and the 4th team the 6th lowest handicap.  This is a good or bad result depending on your view.  Photos of the winners below and also of the Mens Bowling Club President elect, Bob Crowley

 

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