More rolled gold from Jones

RISK REWARDED: Stephen Yuretich, Clayton Jones, and Lynne Pooley took out the NIBC Triples title in Kaitaia last Sunday. PICTURE / SUPPLIED.

Mangonui's Clayton Jones earned his first gold star after helping his team to a centre title at the Kaitaia Primary School on Sunday.

The Northland Indoor Bowling Centre's annual Centre Triples title was contested by teams representing the Bay of Islands, Whangarei, Rodney and the Far North associations, where the format saw four games played in the morning to qualify for the semi-finals and finals after lunch. Local commentator Stephen Joyce noted that two Far North teams eventually made the top four, which meant the hosts were ensured of a third placing at least.

The final results saw Jones with Lynne Pooley and Stephen Yuretich take first place, the Bay team of Trudy Watson, Judy Bethel and Kenny Ashby claim the runners-up spot, while Ivan Buselich, 'He Who Shall Remain Nameless' and Angela Curle finished third overall.

"I watched the final and was impressed by the quality of the bowling by both teams, especially one particular shot by Clayton, which was very risky but would remove two of the opposition bowls from the head if successful. It could have also burned the kitty if unsuccessful, but he took the chance and was successful. A brave bloke our Clayton. A confident one too," said Joyce.

The Gold Star achievement certainly impressed Jones' mum, who came up with the following poem to celebrate her son's achievement.

"The golden boy has got his star, Now he's trying for the bar.

He's good alone or in a team, Almost unbeatable, it would seem.

He bowls the bowl and walks the walk, He's got that swagger and talks the talk.

He'll see the shot that others don't, He'll take the chance when others won't

I always knew that he'd go far, My golden boy has got his star."

In domestic news, the annual Lup Gardiner Drawn Triples tournament was also contested at the Kaitaia Primary school last Thursday evening and featured a slightly different format this year, with the lead and No 2 members of the team given three bowls each while the skipper was only given two.

This shifted the emphasis slightly off the skipper on to the rest of the team, Joyce noted.

The winning team also featured the aforementioned Jones enjoying a remarkable streak of success this year, as well as Freddie Petricevich and Mary Katavich, while runners-up were Clarence Thomas, Bertha Yerkovich and Joleen Waaka.

The players in the top two teams teams all won meat packs, while the vege box raffle was won by Ivan Jurlina, for the second year in a row, Joyce noted.