Fast Lane
story first published in the Central Western Daily, Saturday 26 December, 1996
The first week of a two part wrap-up of activities during 1996 at the Orange Tenpin Bowl.
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January
Things got rolling at the Bowl with the traditional Christmas/New Year tournament. This year was the ten game Bob Jane T Mart and Harvey Norman sponsored 7 No-Tap tournament.
Debbie Seers drove off with the major prize after a near faultless display, throwing nine perfect no-tap games alongside a 296 in the other. Veteran Jack Rapley and deaf champion David Hayward tied for the runner-up position.
The seven no-tap format awards bowlers a strike for knocking down a minimum of just seven pins and became quite popular during the year. The format awards consistency rather than pure bowling ability and gives lower average bowlers a great opportunity of toppling their higher averaged opponents.
Two of the centre's top juniors in Paul Sharp and Jason Brown were honoured with a sporting medal at the Australia Day Awards ceremony, following their success in the New South Wales Junior Championships.
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February
The Country Championships were held in Newcastle with Mr Average, Gary Johnson capturing the Restricted Masters in impressive fashion.
The Orange Open was the highlight of the month and was won in an anti-climactic stepladder final by Terry Wenban. The win was his fourth Orange Open title in the past five years.
After a brilliant display in the qualifying rounds for a 214 average Wenban toppled Chris Batson for a meagre 150-138 victory.
Earlier in the day Wenban showed his class with games of 258-267-267 for a 782 block then added a 223 for a mammoth 1005 series, not far from Jason Doust's centre record.
Rounding out the top five were Ian Bradford (who finished the year ranked as Australia's number one bowler yet again), Sharon McLeish and Mark Donaldson.
The local response was light with only three participants. Peter Brown finished 23rd ahead of Ken Ashton 30th and Valerie Irwin 57th.
Defending champion Steve Lovell was a major disappointment in 49th spot.
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March
The Orange Junior Masters produced some excellent bowling with Jason Belmonte stamping himself as the centre's best junior, tossing a 180 average to beat Jason Brown.
Karen Brown dominated the Open Girls final, beating Rhearne Trudgett by over 100 pins while Rebecca Belmonte won the Graded event ahead of Belinda Irwin.
Tim Irwin was successful in the Boy's Graded final, edging out Greg Perry in the closest finish of the day. It was Perry's second successive runner-up finish in the Masters.
In the Bowl-Golf day, the best two sport players turned out to be the consistent pairing of Gary Zervos and Rob Jones.
In the tenpin section Wally Price and Aldo Belmonte won the scratch grade while Tim and Tony Irwin won the handicap. The best golfers were Michael and John Marks.
Ken Ashton travelled to Mayfield for the Newcastle Cup and bowled well to cash in 21st place after amassing a 198 average.
Aldo Belmonte, Jack Rapley and Nick Koumandakis won the Scratch Trios in the Sydney City Championships.
The first round of the Central West Tournament Bowlers Association series was won by Neil Gray on his home lanes in Bathurst. In his inaugural CWTBA victory, Gray streeted his rivals to win by 116 pins with a 192 average.
He swamped his rivals with a closing 646 series to finish in front of Patrick Thompson and Peter Brown.
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April
David Hayward stamped himself as Australia's best deaf bowler following a devastating display in the 14th annual National Deaf Championships which were contested at the Village Bowl in Adelaide.
Hayward won the Individual Championship with a 198 average for 15 games then won the Masters event with a 199 average for 16 games. Both those efforts were championships records, earning Hayward over $1,000 in prizemoney.
In the Individual Championship which consisted of qualifying and a stepladder final with handicap, Hayward gave start to the field but still proved too strong. He edged Shawn Gligoritsch in the final 205-200.
The Masters used a double elimination format and Hayward beat Tony Markovitch in the decider 192-256 (448) to 165-165 (330).
The Orange centre final of the South Pacific was held with Dubbo's Steve Rodwell averaging 206 to narrowly beat David Hayward.
Hayward unfortunately missed an easy spare in the tenth frame that would have locked up victory then watched as Rodwell doubled in his tenth frame to snatch the win.
Peter Brown started brilliantly with 871/4 but the faded towards the end of proceedings to wind up in third spot.
The statewide launch of Port-A-Bowl occurred at Kinross-Wolaroi with State Development Officer Michael Keech and Australian Tenpin Bowling Congress Media Director Lynn Clay in attendance alongside Australian rep Andrew Frawley.
Local dignitaries included councilors Trevor Jaegar and Tim Sullivan.
The Bowl-Inn Cafe Anzac Day tournament was won by Lee Goodlock who averaged 238 for the six novelty games ahead of sponsor Phill Blakeley and Rob Jones.
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May
The month started with the Mother's Day seven no-tap tournament which was won by Kerrie and Karen Brown with the latter shooting three perfect games.
Finishing a close second were Christine and Lisa Taylor while Mary Caltabiano and Jason Belmonte filled the minor placing.
Dubbo held their centre final of the South Pacific Classic and local Norm Organ lost in a heart-breaking finish by a single pin.
Sydney's Henry Vandenburg finished too strongly, tossing 433 in his last two games to snatch victory. Both players averaged 202.
Scott Manderson of Dubbo finished third while Orange's Peter Brown was a slightly disappointing fourth.
The Orange City Masters was the highlight of the month with Bonnea Wiseman scoring a spectacular victory after averaging 187. She won the tournament by a record margin of 257 pins, giving no-one else a chance.
Debbie Seers finished second ahead of perennial minor placegetter Karen Sharp who seemingly has a lock on second or third place in the Masters.
Peter Brown captured his seventh Masters title but got a major shock, scraping home by just one pin from big surprise John Cooney.
Cooney looked the likely winner with just two games to go and must have been pleased with his 201-216 finish. However Brown's never-say-die attitude prevailed and his 215-236 close gave him the win. Both players averaged 205. David Hayward placed third.
Ken Wiseman outclassed the filed to win the Graded final, averaging 185 to win easily from Anthony Ruggiero and Gary Johnson.
The women's graded event was taken out by the in-form Lee Goodlock who won by just 18 pins from Marg Hunt and Brigitte Eden.
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June
The New South Wales State Championships were held at Western Lanes, Liverpool during June with Orange bowlers capturing a number of titles.
Peter Brown won the crown jewel of the Championships, the prestigious Open All Events with a tally of 1826, a 202 average for his nine games. He also finished third in the Open Singles.
Ken Wiseman, returning from injury found himself back in B grade and he proved too strong in that class, winning the All Events title with a 177 average after amassing a score of 1595.
Winning the Classic grade teams event was the combination of Karen Sharp, Yoka Smith, Maree Brown and Bonnea Wiseman.
Orange was also represented in the State Graded Masters but bowlers met with no success.
In the women's final Lee Goodlock finished 7th while Brigitte Eden was 9th.
In the men's final Gary Johnson and Ken Wiseman finished back in the pack in 11th and 12th positions respectively.
Ken Ashton was in hot form in the Scratch Singles, bowling a 278 game on his way to a spectacular 1316/6 series.
David Hayward didn't let Ashton bask in glory for too long as the next week he shot a 279 game and a 1321 series.
The second round of the Central West Tournament Bowlers Association series was held in Dubbo with local star Steve Rodwell shooting a 206 average to edge out his coaching pupil Robert Alston who averaged 205.
Getting left in their wake was Peter Brown, finishing a distant third.
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