Fast Lane
story first published in the Central Western Daily, Saturday 1 January, 2000.
This week's Fast Lane column is the first of a three-part look back at the year of 1999, a year that saw a number of perfect games bowled and a general increase in the already high-standard of competition at the Orange Tenpin Bowl in both league and tournament action.
January
The Western Warriors roll-off was held at the Dubbo Bowl with Orange's Greg Perry and Melanie Brown topping the averages.
Greg Perry averaged 178 over ten games to finish as the boys' leading qualifier while other Orange bowlers to make the team were Tim Irwin, Jason Belmonte and Joel Wiseman, the youngest bowler to ever make the team.
Melanie Brown led the way in the girls' division with a 172 average while Maree Caltabiano was named captain after qualifying in third spot with a 165 average. Others to make the team from Orange were Belinda Irwin and Rebecca Belmonte.
The Western Warriors is a team comprising bowlers from the central-west centres of Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo that competes in the Challenge Shield which is part of New South Wales Junior State Championships each year.
Leo McKay scored a 70 pin victory in the final of the Bob Jane T Mart and Harvey Norman Orange No-tap tournament winning a set of all rounder tyres valued at $400 for his efforts. Under the seven no-tap format McKay rolled a tally of 2856 for his ten games.
Finishing in the minor placings and winning some electrical gear from Harvey Norman were Trevor Rowney and Rodney Thomas. Rounding out the top ten in a field of 27 were David Rosser, Marie Rosser, John Barrett, Anthony Ruggerio, Jan Peters, Jason Osborne and David Hayward.
Australia Day Sporting Achievement medals were won by Jim Dullaway, Chris Collins and Melanie Brown.
League News:
David Hayward was star of the month with a personal best 753/3 series that included a 269 game. Others to make their presence felt included Henry Phillips 702 personal best, Craig Perry 670 (PB), Chris Collins 695, Wally Price 680, Les Gunner 1288/6 and Greg Perry 858/4.
Jason Belmonte and Mark Lijic engaged in an enthralling battle during the year with their names featured in just about every Fast Lane column. January was no different with Belmonte shooting 684 and 689 blocks plus a 1336/6 effort that included a 277 game. Lijic rolled a 696 series plus 1293/6. Jason Osborne's 279 was high game of the month.
February
The 10th annual New South Wales Country Championships were held in Orange and local bowlers really excelled, winning 27 events against some top-flight competition from around the state.
Orange's two Jasons, Brown and Belmonte dominated the men's events. Brown shot a brilliant 707 series to win the open singles while Belmonte broke the open all events record with a slashing 1966 nine game effort.
Lyn Handel captured the women's open singles with a 607 series while Bonnea Wiseman won the open all events with a 1710 series.
Michael Moorby scored a great win in the B grade all events with his 1704 series almost 200 pins clear of his nearest rival.
12 year old local junior Rebecca Belmonte scored a brilliant win in B grade all events with a record 1548 tally.
Kevin Aurisch won both the singles and all events in C grade, shooting 484 in singles while emulating her husband, Kath Aurisch won the women's C grade singles with a 474 series. Jenny Rout won the D grade singles.
Jason Belmonte added his first major open singles event to his list of honours with an emphatic win in the Country Masters.
Belmonte averaged 215 for ten games to head the 16 man field, finishing in front of Steve Tiene (Port Macquarie), Mark Lijic (Orange), Michael Esler (Sydney) and Willy Hoole (Sydney), then won a tight stepladder match 203-199.
Canberra eighteen-year-old Kelly Dedassel won the women's open Country Masters after topping the averages with a 206 mark and surviving a repercharge playoff with Orange's June Reil, 198-208 and 182-165.
Rounding out the top five were Dianne Gee, Bonnea Wiseman and junior Maree Caltabiano all from Orange.
Rebecca Belmonte, with a 172 average, scored a great win in the Restricted New South Wales Country Masters while Sydney's Ron Langham won the men's division, upsetting top qualifier Gary Johnson from Orange.
Belmonte finished ahead of four other local players in fellow junior Bindy Irwin, Marie Rosser, Brigitte Eden and Jan Peters.
Mark Lijic and Steve Reil were in sensational form in their open doubles attempt firing a championships and Orange centre record of 1396.
Reil was brilliant, shooting a blistering 279-267 in his first two games before a solid 214 final game gave him a great 760 block. Lijic started slowly with a 178 game but came back strongly to post 225-233 for a 636 trio.
Mick Moorby and Bob Waddell were also in a record breaking mood, setting a new mark in the A grade doubles with an 1183 series.
The women's doubles saw a win to Gwen Britt and Bonnea Wiseman in open division while sisters Renae and Maree Caltabiano scored a good win in A grade with 1093 while another local junior pairing in Bindy Irwin and Rebecca Belmonte won B grade with a 983 series.
In the Mixed Doubles, Jason Brown teamed with Canberra's Kelly DeDassel to shoot a record 1301 series in the open division.
Winners of the other three grades were all from Orange and included Rebecca and Aldo Belmonte (A grade), Frank McGovern and Brigitte Eden with a record 1058 in B grade and Kathy and Kevin Aurisch in C grade.
Winners in the men's team events were Tony Richards, Mark Lijic, Jason Belmonte and Steve Reil (Orange) with a record 2561 in open and juniors Greg Perry, Jason Belmonte, Tim Irwin and Joel Wiseman with 2235 in A grade.
Marisa Belmonte featured as part of the winning teams in both open and A grade. Her open grade partners were Karen Sharp, Maree Brown and Dianne Gee who shot 1898. They were well and truly out-bowled by the A grade team that included Marg Rapley, Sharon Trudgett and June Reil who fired a record tally of 2126.
Melanie Brown and Kelly DeDassel were part of the winning open and A grade mixed teams. Their open partners were Mark Loader and Willy Hoole while the other A graders were Greg Kelly and Tony Livianiou.
Jason Brown, fresh from his victory in the open singles at the New South Wales Country Championships, added another tournament to his profile when he teamed with Heather Fitzpatrick to win the Valentines Day Scotch Doubles.
In a keenly contested event they finished just 15 pins clear of Elsie and Reuben Osborne while Craig and Lyn Perry were a further 26 pins behind in third position.
A group of Orange bowlers competed with great success in the New Zealand Masters Games for athletes over 35 years of age at Wanganui, winning 24 medals.
Rochelle Doherty and Jackie Graham won two gold medals each while Val Gregory, Greg Carter, June Graham, Colleen Murray and Gail Pringle also won a gold medal.
League News:
Jason Brown continued his good early-year form with a 702/3 series plus 943/4. Steve Reil fired a 266 as part of a 1306/6 set while other notable efforts included Greg Perry 669/3, Renae Caltabiano 247 (96 over average), Mark Lijic 1284 and 1290/6 and Jason Belmonte 1291/6.
March
John Rapley competed in the Nowra City Championships at the Shoalhaven Bowl and returned with victories in five events including the Wal Herne Veteran Masters. Rapley finished with a composite average of 199 over twenty one games.
Entries were down for the Orange City Junior Championships that had been moved back to a March timeslot instead of the usual September date.
Multiple winners in the boys division were Jason Belmonte, Joel Wiseman, Michael Frazi, Nathan Cox, Jeff Hunt, Joshua Hunt and Nathan Hunt while the girls' events saw multiple wins to Melanie Brown, Melissa Johnston, Maree Caltabiano and Ashley O'Neill.
Belmonte shot 621 to re-claim the Open singles crown while Tahnia Seers claimed her most important event to date with an impressive win in Open Singles with a 581 series. Melanie Brown and Maree Caltabiano won the Open Doubles (1041) while Caltabiano won the prestigious Open All Events title.
In the Orange Junior Masters Michael Frazi stopped a Jason Belmonte clean-sweep when he shot a 210 average to win easily by 133 pins.
Melanie Brown averaged 177 to win the Girls' Open Masters, shooting a great 222 in the final game to overhaul leader Toni Brasting from Bathurst.
Joel Wiseman held a big lead going into the final game of the Restricted Masters and held on to win from a fast finishing Jeff Hunt.
In the annual Gutterstopper Championships victory went to Amanda Harvey and Mathew Cox.
League News:
June Reil was in sensational form in March, shooting a female centre record 940/4 series, plus other efforts of 718/3 and 1287/6 and a 268 game.
Junior Michael Dinsmore rolled a 221 game (116 over average) while also doing well were Tony Irwin 267, David Rosser 266, Melanie Brown 659/3 and 257, Rhearne Trudgett 259, Gwen Britt 265, Jason Osborne 268 and 696/3, Michael Moorby 685/3 and Steve Reil 692 and 697/3.
Continuing their duel, Jason Belmonte fired 686 and 731/3 including a 260 game while Mark Lijic shot 707 and 719/3 plus 1277/6 and had games of 267 and 276.
April
In the New South Wales Junior State Championships at the Bankstown Bowl Orange players won a number of events.
Rebecca Belmonte broke State records in winning both the Classic Grade Singles and All Events titles while Melanie Brown and Maree Caltabiano took first place in the Open Trios. Belinda Irwin won the C Grade Doubles with Nalinda George.
David Hayward was impressive in the Australian Deaf National Championships in Canberra. He won the Singles, Doubles and All Events with a 207 average, rolling 663/3 in the Singles and 620 in the Doubles. He also finished second in both the teams event and the prestigious Masters.
In the gruelling Individual Championship he averaged a brilliant 211 for 17 games but could still manage only fourth place because of the handicap differences.
Nowra's Shaun Cummings won the New South Wales Country Open in impressive fashion by leading virtually all the way and then holding off a strong challenge from Orange's Mark Lijic in the stepladder final.
Bowling in the first qualifying squad on Saturday, Cummings shot a 300 game in just his second game of the day and went on to average a hot 232 for the ten games. Sydney's Tony Livianiou was also perfect, shooting a 300 game in the second qualifying squad.
At the end of day two action, Cummings averaged 224 for his 20 games to go into the stepladder as top seed ahead of Orange's Jason Brown who averaged 218, including an impressive 231 on the Sunday.
Rounding out the top five were Tony Murray (217 average), Chris Baker (217) and Mark Lijic (215) while finishing in the top ten were Steve Pieters (214), Mark Donaldson (213), Jason Belmonte (210), Jason Osborne (207) and Robert Alston (205).
In the stepladder finals Mark Lijic beat Chris Baker 202-196, Tony Murray 211-178 and Jason Brown196-165 then looked to have the match against Shaun Cummings sewn up when he posted an opening four bagger to give himself a huge 43 pin lead. Nerves bought him undone, opening three of the last four frames to let Cummings grab a come-from-behind 205-194 victory and the first place prizemoney of $1,000.
Orange bowlers outside the top ten were Ken Wiseman (11th), David Rosser (20th), Tim Irwin (28th) and Mario Mastronardi (29th).
David Hayward added another tournament to his collection with a hard-fought win in the Anzac Day Singles finishing 19 pins clear of runner-up Leo McKay with Jason Osborne third in front of Frank McGovern, Marie Rosser, David Rosser and John Hayward.
League News:
Jason Belmonte was in great form during April as he rolled a 289 game as well as a 277 and a number of high series including 661, 679, 703 and 713. Arch-rival Mark Lijic countered with two games of 279 plus series of 706, 726/3 and a hot 1363/6.
Other great efforts were bowled by Rhearne Trudgett 259, John Cooney 279 and 672/3, Greg Perry 266, 694/3 and 913/4, David Hayward 277, Jason Brown 279 and 692/3, Melanie Brown 267, Chris Warner 279 and 1316/6, SharonTrudgett 258 and 659/3 and Henry Phillips 732 beating his previous personal best from earlier in the year.
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