Fast Lane
story first published in the Central Western Daily, Saturday 16 January, 1997
The first tournament of the year is fast approaching, with the final of the Bob Jane T Mart/Harvey Norman Discounts Seven No Tap set for Australia Day, January 26 at the Orange Tenpin Bowl.
The tournament final will commence at 9:30 am with the twenty finalists competing over ten games using the seven no tap format where they will be awarded a strike for knocking down a minimum of just seven pins.
Naturally the scores in the final will be on the high side although, surprisingly no-one has claimed a perfect 1200 series so far in the four game qualifying round.
Veteran Jack Rapley has done the best so far with a score of 1168 and if he remains on top of the ladder will receive free entry into the final.
Rapley finished equal second behind Debbie Seers in last year's event and will take a power of beating once again in the 1997 final.
Arguably last year's most improved player Mark Lijic is second on the list of qualifiers with a tally of 1164 just ahead of Jason Osborne and Jason Belmonte on 1163.
Rounding out the top ten are Peter Brown 1162, Les Gunner 1147, Carl Bishop 1135, Steve Winkler 1084, Anthony Knudsen 1083 and Marg Hayward 1073 while Marg Birt is in 20th place.
The tournament winner will receive a set of All-Rounder tyres valued at $400 while the minor placegetters will take home electrical goods.
In other upcoming events, the Brunswick Australian Cup is being held this weekend at the state of the art Bowl Australia centre in Top Ryde.
The Country Championships will be held at the Mayfield Bowl in Newcastle from 1-9 February.
If anybody intends to compete in those championships can they please contact Jim Dullaway at the Bowl who is looking for doubles and teams partners.
The Country Championships were inaugurated by the Orange Association back in 1990.
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A number of leagues commenced their 1997 schedules during the week with star bowler honours going to Wally Price with a 629 series in the Autostyle Doubles on Wednesday.
Price rolled a top game of 218 in that series while others to do well in the same league were Ian Hazzard 208-209 for a 616 series and Marilyn Schwenke with a 228.
Schwenke also did well in the Tuesday Ladies Singles the previous night with a 237 game.
In the Monday John Lovick Mixed Singles Phil Blakely rolled a 213 game.
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Bowlers are reminded that 1997 registration fees are now due and should be paid on your first night of league bowling.
At $14 for adults and $9 for pensioners and juniors, tenpin bowling is one of the most economical sports in town.
There's also a reminder that the Bowl became smoke free from 1 January.
The Orange Association is still after players for the 1997 Central West Pennants series against Bathurst and Dubbo.
The response from the ladies and juniors has been good but there is a distinct shortage of players for the men's teams.
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David Hayward maintained his status as Australia's best deaf tenpin bowler with a convincing win in the final of the Australia Deaf Tenpin Bowling Association Masters last week.
The Masters were part of the National Deaf Games held at the Belconnen Bowl in Canberra.
Hayward started slowly in the fifteen game matchplay tournament before cutting loose with a 238 in game eight, followed by a few more average games.
He turned on the power when it counted, running over the top of his rivals in the closing four games, shooting 231-198-200-223.
He won twelve of his fifteen games, averaging 182 in the process. The placegetters were John Girvan and Dennis Hobbs both from Queensland.
Hayward didn't fare quite as well in the sixteen game individual championship, finishing fourth with a 180 average behind Dennis Hobbs, Fred Jordan (Victoria) and Andrew Quick (Victoria).
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If you haven't being doing so already, make sure you tune to Capital Television each Sunday morning for the screening of the Coca Cola Classic, featuring some of the best bowling talent in the nation.