BURNIE climbed over Penguin to move into the double chance position on the North-West Premier League bowls ladder when it convincingly defeated East Devonport on all rinks by 38 shots yesterday.
All coastal greens were lightning fast after another glorious week of fine weather, which suited the Burnie combination to a tee.
Paul Harman won 36-21 to record the biggest rink win.
Tony Simpson finished 11 up against Brodie Webb and Mark Nitz won 26-15 over Tim Arnold.
Sam McLean made it a clean sweep for the Tigers with his one-shot defeat of Michael Webb.
Devonport, with Leon Webb, Jason Lane, Dean Martin and Bradley Williamson in devastating form easily accounted for Wynyard and in doing so has turned the heat up on Ulverstone, who were surprisingly beaten by Turners Beach.
The win by Devonport puts it within 12 points of fourth spot and its clash next week against Burnie has now taken on much more importance.
Ulverstone's top skip Rodney Horton could find no answer to the brilliant display of lawn bowls netted out by Barry Hill, Matthew Brown, Juan Emanuel and Les Becker, who put together an imposing 36-13 win.
Colin Willcox finished 29-24 in front of Kim Redshaw, and Tim Dwyer won 29-18 over Ron Sherlock.
Matthew Clarke salvaged two points for the Robins with his 25-24 defeat of Ken Hamilton.
As stated, Penguin lost the double chance despite defeating reigning premier and ladder leader Latrobe by five shots.
For Penguin, Russell Cornwall, Cameron Windram, Harvey Clarke and Terrence McCullogh were impressive in their 33-14 shot defeat of Chris Bannon.
This more than covered the 34-18 shot win by Latrobe's Greg Douce over Wayne Manson.
Celebrations would no doubt have lasted well into the night down at Smithton after it recorded its first win of the season, defeating Burnie by two shots 104-102.
It can thank Aaron Amos, Maurice Moles, Ian Morrice and Clayton Williams for the win as it finished nine to the good of former Saint Nathan Poke.
Wynyard defeated Devonport by 19 and Port Sorell inflicted a second straight loss on Railton, winning by 15.
Ladder leader Latrobe had to pull out all stops to defeat South Burnie by four.
Division 2 saw Spreyton hand out a convincing 45-shot defeat of former powerhouse Burnie, winning on three rinks 120-75.
Ian Moore, Alan Carver and Richard Sheehan all had big wins for the Eagles, while Robert Haslock managed to get two points for Burnie when he finished seven to the good of Phillip Atkins.
Top dog and flag favourite Penguin was surprisingly defeated by Ridgley by 16 shots after sharing the rinks.
Latrobe with Don Fawkner, John Lee, Colin Beaumont and Coke Murfet in top form easily defeated South Burnie 116-89.
Ulverstone was impressive in its 34-shot defeat of Turners Beach, winning on all rinks.
The forecast thriller in division 3 between Wynyard and Devonport proved to be correct, with Devonport sharing the rinks but sneaking over the line by five shots.
Port Sorell was much too good for Ulverstone, winning by 23.
South Burnie won the battle to shake the wooden spoon when it defeated Ridgley by 44.
Sheffield held on to fourth place with its four-shot defeat of Penguin.
In division 4, on a lightning-fast green, Spreyton must have thought it was in a Twenty20 game of cricket with a score of 152-44 over a badly depleted Burnie.
The win puts the Eagles right in contention for the double chance along with Turners Beach, who won by 15 over Port Sorell.
The wins put the Beach and Spreyton well clear in the top two positions.
Wynyard was much too good for Devonport, winning by 30, and Latrobe had 29 to spare over South Burnie.
Email a friend