Fast Lane

Orange continued it's dominance in the Central West Tenpin Pennants series, winning eight of the twelve finals in early September, with Dubbo and Bathurst winning two events apiece.

The Orange ladies ones went through the qualifying rounds undefeated and proved too strong for Dubbo in the final, winning by nine points. Marilyn Schwenke was Orange's best, averaging 180 and winning six games. Other team members were Dianne Gee, Sharon Trudgett and Maree Brown.

The girls' team was also undefeated in 1999 but faced a tough fight against a determined Dubbo side, winning by just three points. Best for Orange was Mel Brown who won seven of eight games and averaged 164 ahead of Bindy Irwin (145), Sarah Wilson (142) and Rebecca Belmonte (142).

The boys' team got up by four points in another close battle and was led by a 182 average from Jason Belmonte who won six matches. Greg Perry, Tim Irwin and Kiel Bugden were the other winning bowlers.

The men's threes beat Dubbo by 8 points with Col Edwards rolling an impressive 178 average from Frank McGovern (170) and Anthony Knudsen (165).

The Orange men's fours, undefeated this year, trailed for most of the day but staged a strong finish to record a narrow two-point victory over Bathurst. Will Harvey and Trevor Rowney bowled well to average 172 and 171 respectively while Garry Johnson wasn't too far back on a 162 mark.

The closest game of the finals was the ladies fours where Orange nudged Dubbo for the title by just 0.18 points. Orange led all the way but got the staggers in the last two games and just held on. For Orange Kathy Aurisch and Brigitte Eden both averaged 144 while Vivienne Chaston averaged 139 and importantly win her final match in the deciding sixth game.

Orange won the Mixed Juniors by 21 points and the Mixed Adults final by 10 points.

In the junior final Cameron Burley was on fire with a 164 average from Jeff Hunt (150) and Kristin Byrnes (127).

Kevin Carr topped the Mixed Adult averages on 163 ahead of Murray Smith (143) and Lyn Priest (136).

The Orange City Championships were also held during September with Henry Phillips and Marilyn Schwenke emerging as city singles champions after rolling respective series of 653 and 562.

Other singles champions were Debbie Seers (A), Jan Peters (B), Kathy Aurisch (C), Frank McGovern (Classic), Allan Hudson (A), Alan Priest (B) and Grant Huggett (C).

This year's doubles champions in the women's division were Debbie Seers/Sharon Trudgett (Open), Marisa Belmonte/Christine Morrison (A), Margaret Rapley/Julie Said (B) and Dorothy & Lyn Priest (C).

Successful in the mixed doubles were Henry Phillips/Marilyn Schwenke (Open), Frank McGovern/Brigitte Eden (Classic), Bruce & Cindy Clements (A), Anthony Glanville/Kathy Aurisch (B) and Alan & Dorothy Priest (C).

The teams event was won by "Ducks and Drakes" consisting of Leo McKay, Jan Peters, Marie Rosser and Brigitte Eden.

Men's winners were David Hayward/Jason Osborne (Open), David Hayward/Pat Cass (Classic), John Rapley/Chris Fuller (A), Grant Huggett/Rob Jones (B) and Alan Priest/Murray Smith (C).

The sought after all-events crowns, the combination of scores from singles, doubles and teams, were won by Marilyn Schwenke, Mark Lijic (Open), John Rapley (Classic), Debbie Seers, Chris Fuller (A), Derry Fuge, Alan Priest (B), Vivienne Chaston and Grant Huggett (C).

There was a schedule change and the Orange City Masters was also held in conjunction with the championships, bought forward from it's usual May date.

Jason Osborne was in the middle of a purple form patch at the time and captured the Masters with a 205 average from defending champion David Rosser and David Hayward.

There were insufficient entries in the women's open grade and no event was contested.

Chris Fuller won the men's graded Masters from Allan priest and John Hayward. The women's graded final went to Marie Rosser from Kathy Aurisch and Dorothy Priest.

Frank McGovern won the veteran's Masters from Henry Phillips and Trevor Rowney while the women's veterans went to Jackie Graham ahead of Marie Rosser and Dorothy Priest.

While there was plenty of Pennants and Championship action, league scoring was very quite compared to previous months. Jason Osborne led the way with a 704 series including as 266 game while the only other high series came from Ian Hazzard 686/3, Will Harvey 267 and 669/3, and Greg Perry 267. Joanne Sullivan and Col Edwards both rolled a personal best game of 255. 1999 standouts Jason Belmonte and Mark Lijic both had a quite month with a 1311/6 series from Belmonte the only claim to fame.

With October dedicated to the Australian National Championships in Adelaide there were no tournaments contested locally.

In Sydney Jason Belmonte finished third in the junior Sydney Cup behind Matthew Middlemiss and Jason Leong. Belmonte topped the qualifiers on day one with a big 225 average including a 279 game. In the matchplay section he dropped to second spot before being beaten in the preliminary stepladder match.

League scores were also on a decided downturn during October with the only big efforts coming from Jason Belmonte 688/3 and 1283/6, Jason Brown 871/4 and 1284/6 and John Rapley 678/3.

Orange's Melanie Brown scored a one pin victory in the girl's division while Gosford bowler Jarrod Lean scored his second successive win in the boy's division of the 4^th Annual Ron Boulton Marine & Cycles and Harvey Norman Orange NSW Country Cup.

Brown (176 average) qualified third and faced Belinda Irwin (174 average) in the first knockout match in the stepladder finals, advancing 193-181 to set up a match with Rebecca Belmonte (190 average). Brown prevailed in that game also, rolling a top 225 game to Belmonte's 179.

The decider went down to the wire with Brown scraping in 203-202 against top seed Leanne Prenzel (195 average) of Shellharbour.

Local hotshot Jason Belmonte dominated the boy's qualifying round, averaging 215 that including games of 209-230-202-223-264 (1128/5) to outdistance eventual winner Lean by a massive 157 pins. However, in the one game stepladder shootout Lean proved too good winning 210-194.

Taking third place in the stepladder was Sydney's Michael Frazi (193 average) ahead of Greg Perry (192 average). Perry fired a 214 at Frazi who was only able to counter with a 153. Perry wasn't able to reproduce that form against Lean however with the Gosford player winning easily 223-167 to move into the decider against Belmonte.

Jai Prentice (Gosford) won the handicap division with a 215-190 victory over top seed Matthew Sing (Sydney). In the earlier rounds Fiona Smydzuk (Sydney) beat Joshua Dwyer (Corrimal) 239-195 before Prentice beat her 260-236.

Jason Belmonte rolled a 300 game in the President's Shield roll-offs at the Castle Hill Bowl as both he and Melanie Brown gained a spot in the New South Wales Central Zone team for 2000.

Melanie Brown was in devastating form, winning all but one of her matches and drawing that other game. Brown averaged 185 for the 20 games of matchplay to qualify in first place, the second time she's made the team in the past three years. She finished a massive 385 pins clear of her nearest rival.

Dual New South Wales Country Junior Open champion Jarrod Lean topped the qualifiers for the boy's team on a 201 average, 128 pins clear of Chris Warner (199 average) with Jason Belmonte in third place on a 194 average.

The Orange Women's team finished second in the state final of the Country Challenge held at Campbelltown with local team Macarthur beat Orange in the last game to claim victory. Team members were Gwen Britt, Judy Streatfeild, Lyn Handel, Dianne Gee, Bonnea Wiseman and Marilyn Schwenke.

The men's team finished seventh.

Azul and Edith Grice outshone some of their more fancied rivals with a decisive win in the Orange Tenpin Bowling Association Adult-Junior Tournament.

The Grices came into the tournament with a large handicap advantage and both bowled well over their entering averages as they won the four game doubles event easily by 56 pins. Edith shot a 477/4 series while Azul rolled just four pins less.

Finishing second was the combination of Ben Lees and Judy Louie, nine pins ahead of minor placegetters Sarah Hunt and Brigitte Eden.

Glenn Robinson did well with a 269 game plus a 710/3 series while other good efforts included Ian Hazzard 700/3, Greg Perry 1278/6, Wally Price 1295/6, Dianne Hazzard 665/3, Jason Osborne 276 and 663/3 and Frank McGovern 650/3.

Belinda Irwin 247, Rebecca Belmonte 255 and Sharon Trudgett 269 bowled high games. Mark Lijic returned from a mini-slump with 677/3, 684/3 and 1322/6.

Jason Belmonte was selected to compete in the televised Coca-Cola Skins in Brisbane and won $500, missing out on a spot in the final by just one pin.

In the bowler-of-the-month roll-offs, Melanie Brown won the scratch section from Jason Osborne and Mark Lijic while the handicap section went to Rhearne Trudgett ahead of Marie Rosser and Julie Wilson.

Jason Belmonte continued his amazing form with a 300 game, his second in the space of a few weeks. Mark Lijic fired 688 and 671/3 plus a 264 game while Ian Hazzard rolled a 681/3 series.

The Orange Tenpin Bowling Association Bowlers-of-the-year for 1999, based on points won in various tournaments throughout the year, were announced at the annual presentation day barbecue with the honours going to Rebecca Belmonte and Jason Belmonte in the junior ranks and Marie Rosser and John Rapley in the adults. The honour is a testament to those bowlers consistency during 1999.

The annual junior high game awards were won by Rhearne Trudgett (277) and Jason Belmonte (290) while Sharon Trudgett's 277 was best for the women. Jason Osborne, Jason Brown, Mark Lijic and John Cooney shared the men's high game of 279.

The high three-game series awards went to Sharon Trudgett (685) and David Hayward (753) while June Reil (940) and Mark Lijic (961) won the four-game awards.

The prestigious Association award for services to tenpin bowling during 1999 went to Marisa Belmonte and Bob Waddell.

Bowler of the year. It's impossible to go past Mark Lijic (adults) and Jason Belmonte (juniors). Lijic set new league scoring records during 1999 and captured the City Championships all-events crown while Belmonte won the Country Masters and rolled two 300 games.

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