Pongaroa farmer and shearer David Buick gets his first win of the season, after six weeks of chasing the shows on a road which led to victory at Feilding on Saturday. Photo / Doug Laing SSNZ
Pongaroa farmer and shearer David Buick gets his first win of the season, after six weeks of chasing the shows on a road which led to victory at Feilding on Saturday. Photo / Doug Laing SSNZ
New Zealand representative David Buick notched his first win of the new shearing sports season with victory at the Manawatu Show in Feilding on Saturday.
It was just reward for the 41-year-old farmer from remote Pongaroa in Northern Wairarapa, becoming the current everywhere-man of New Zealand shearing.
In July he flew to the UK at a few hours' notice to replace injured national team member Cam Ferguson for a test series in Wales.
Now he has competed on all six weekends of the new season to date, as far afield as Warrnambool in Australia, to Alexandra and Waimate in the South Island.
And it won't be slowing down, with Buick crossing Cook Strait again for the New Zealand Corriedale Championships in Christchurch on Friday before heading back for the Central Hawke's Bay A and P Show the next day in Waipukurau.
Saturday's win was his twentieth in an open-class career now in its eighteen season.
It was also his eighth win at the Manawatu show, dating back to the first in the intermediate final in 1998, which he followed that season with intermediate wins at the Golden Shears in Masterton and the New Zealand championships in Te Kuiti.
The open titles at the two glamour events continue to elude him, with a best of runner-up in the 2018 Golden Shears open final, but he has claimed national open lamb shearing titles at Winton and the Mackenzie Shears in the South Island.
It was effectively a two-man race on Saturday with Buick shearing the 20 woolly ewes in 18min 7sec and pipping Scottish international and Whangamomona Gavin Mutch by barely a second before ultimately taking the win by just 0.65pts. Third was to Axle Reid, from Taihape.
Simon Goss, of Managmahu, returned to former home Manawatu territory to win the senior final in possibly the closest shearing result in any final, going to a second countback before claiming the victory from Eketahuna shearer Chris Dickson.
They were tied on total points and on pen points, Goss getting the nod with the best board result, by just 0.4pts. Dickson had had a 0.4pts advantage on time after finishing first in 11min 42sec.
Daniel Biggs, of Mangamahu, continued his domination of North Island intermediate finals with a win by just 0.2pts over runner-up Tawera Brown, of Martinborough and Adam Gordon, of Masterton won the junior final.
Josh Devane, of Taihape, won the novice event, in which Hawke's Bay wool buyer Maureen Chaffey claimed her third consecutive novice third-placing since winning the Woman and Wool Farmstrong Fundraiser at the Royal New Zealand Show in Hastings on October 25.
Logan Kamura, of Marton, win the Manawatu show open woolhandling final, shutting out national representatives Keryn Herbert and Sheree Alabaster. Photo / Doug Laing SSNZ
Marton woolhandler Logan Kamura showed he had lost none of his touch in a break from the wool sheds by winning the open woolhandling final, his first since being runner-up in the 2018 New Zealand Championships final.
It wasn't easy, with Kamura beating former world champions Keryn Herbert, of Te Kuiti, and Wairarapa show winner Sheree Alabaster, of Taihape, while fourth and just missing a place in the final was Angelique Gage, who had won at her home show in Gisborne last month and at the Great Raihania Shears title in Hastings six days later.
Tramon Campbell, of Gisborne, claimed the senior woolhandling title, her second of the season, Vinniye Phillips, of Taumarunui, won the junior final, and Topia Barrowcliff, of Piopio won the novice event, as well as finishing third in the junior shearing final.
The show attracted 52 entries in shearing events, including 25 in the junior and novice grades, and 26 in woolhandling events.
