Page 17 - May 2023

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The second half began with Chris Willies entering stormy waters for the first time on the night as
Mandy Marshall fought back to level their game at 6-6 with two ends remaining. But Willies held his
nerve to win the last two ends for an 11-6 victory on mat one.
On mat two Ryan Fox proved too hot to handle for Hevingham’s Chris Brooks as Fox recorded
a 13-6 win. Going into the last session Chris Willies led with six points and Ryan Fox had accumu-
lated five points so their clash on mat one would decide who would claim the title.
Chris Willies won the opening three ends to lead 4-0 but a single on the fourth end and a dou-
ble on the fifth end brought Ryan Fox back into the game just 4-3 behind. But the title slipped away
from Fox on the sixth end as a full house for Willies saw him pull away into an 8-3 lead. Halvergate’s
young star fought to the end though scoring singles on the last two ends but it was Chris Willies who
clinched the Bure Singles title with an 8-5 win. On mat two Mandy Marshall secured third place with
a 9-2 win against John Bugg.
Return of the Bure Championships

This year marks the return for the Bure League’s three championship events in the singles, pairs
and triples disciplines for the first time since they were last played in 2020 just as the Covid pandemic
began to take hold. With the league now reduced to just five clubs after Covid the events are just a
shadow of what they were previously when a number of heats took place across the league’s venues
to produce the final’s night line-up. This season each event is played on just one night on a round
robin system with each club nominating just one entry. The defending champions from 2020, Halver-
gate’s Ryan Fox in the singles, Teresa & Selwyn Goldsmith of Hevingham in the pairs and Pat
Williamson, Teresa Goldsmith & Selwyn Goldsmith in the triples, were guaranteed their club’s place
on the nights of the championships. The Bure Pairs will take place at Horsford BC with the triples
being played at Thorpe Marriott.
David Lamb & Jason Woods are Bure Pairs champs

The Bure Pairs Championships were hosted by
Horsford BC with all five clubs entering one entry
apiece for the 3 wood pairs event played to a round
robin format. Halvergate’s David Lamb & Jason
Woods opened on mat one against East Tudden-
ham’s John Turner & Simon Willies, each pair fea-
turing one current English international and one
former international.
Turner & Willies took a single on the first end
but that would prove to be their only shot scored in
this game as David Lamb & Jason Woods took
control to record an opening 8-1 win over the six
ends. On mat two defending champions Teresa &
Selwyn Goldsmith of Hevingham delivered an iden- Bure Pairs Champions
tical scoreline against Richard Perkins & Tony Jason Woods & David Lamb
Turner of Thorpe Marriott, also conceding a single of Halvergate
shot on the first end before winning the game by 8-1.
The second session saw Lamb & Woods playing the Goldsmiths with the Halvergate pair
coming out on top by 7-2. On the other mat the home pair of Chris Walsgrove & Sally Bates played
their opening game and beat Thorpe Marriott by 5-3 to open their account. In the third session David
Lamb & Jason Woods chalked up their third straight win beating Thorpe Marriott by 7-1 while East
Tuddenham’s Turner & Willies picked up two points with a 9-3 win against Horsford.
The Halvergate pairs final match of the evening came next in session four and they clinched
the title in style beating the Horsford BC pair 13-2 for a well-deserved victory. On the other mat Hev-
ingham’s Goldsmith pair faced East Tuddenham’s Turner & Willies and led 6-1 going into the final
end. The Simon Willies skipped pairing took two shots on the final end to cut the deficit to 6-3 but
with one win and two defeats their chances of finishing second looked unlikely. The last session saw
the Halvergate pair watching from the sidelines already assured of victory while the battle for the
runner-up spot took place.