The Bure Triples Championship heats were played at four venues to determine the eight triples who will compete for the title on Final’s Night in March. The defending champions Ray Lamb, Morgan Warnes & Simon Warnes (pictured) of Halvergate won the heat held at Hevingham with three wins and a draw. They were held to a 5-5 draw in their opening game against Peter Fox’s Horsford Heroes triple but then reeled off wins of 13-2, 6-3 & 5-3 to finish first with seven points. Keith Halford, Avril Walker & Melly Woodhouse of Windows earned the second qualifying spot with an 8-4 win against Fox’s triple in the last session, the Horsford Heroes triple went into the game knowing they needed to win to snatch second place but it was not to be. Last season’s runners-up Jason Woods, Robbie Lamb & Keith Cooke of Halvergate started well at the Windows heat. Three straight wins of 4-3, 10-2 & 7-2 guaranteed them first place regardless of their last game which they went on to lose 7-3. Second place went to Woodbastwick’s Derek Sheldrake, Brian Bunting & Ron Elliott with a 12-4 win against Nigel Willard’s Halvergate triple in the third session proving crucial. At Horsford BC Ryan Fox, Josh Baxter & David Lamb of Halvergate and Norma Jablonowski, Peter Jablonowski & Willie Jefferies of Woodbastwick met in the final session with both triples level on five points. A narrow 5-4 win for Lamb’s triple earned them first place but Willie Jefferies’ triple still qualified in second place with a 16-0 win against Mick Boswell’s triple the top score of the night. An interesting statistic was recorded by Sue Fox’s Horsford Heroes triple who drew all their four games by 4-4, 5-5, 6-6 & 5-5. The heat at Woodbastwick saw the seeded triple, Hevingham’s Lesley Crowe, David Sharpe & Steve Hall, draw their first two games but defeats in their last two games saw them eliminated. East Tuddenham’s Jean Woods, John Turner & Melly Woods suffered a heavy 12-1 defeat against Hevingham’s Teresa Goldsmith, Pat Williamson & Selwyn Goldsmith in the first session but recovered well to win their next three games by 12-3, 6-5 & 6-3 to win the heat. Goldsmith’s triple earned the other qualifying spot despite going down 8-3 in their last game against John Jarvis’s Thorpe Marriott triple who had failed to win a game up to that point.
