The four preliminary heats of the Bure Triples Championship have been played with the winner and the runner-up triple at each heat qualifying for Finals Night. At Windows the seeded Halvergate triple of Jason Woods, Robbie Lamb & Keith Cooke reeled off four straight wins to earn maximum points. They began with a 7-3 win against Lianne Mills’ Woodbastwick triple before racing to a 13-3 win against Chris Brooks’ Hevingham triple. In their third game they faced Simon Willies, John Turner & Melvin Woods of East Tuddenham who had won their first three games but that run came to an end as Cooke’s triple won 9-3. Their last game proved to be their toughest yet but they emerged with a 7-4 win against Les Chadwick’s Horsford Heroes triple. Melvin Woods’ triples three wins proved enough to see them clinch the runner-up spot and a place in Finals Night. At the East Tuddenham heat just one shot separated the winners and the runners-up. Once again the seeded triple, Hevingham’s Teresa Goldsmith, Pat Williamson & Selwyn Goldsmith, finished first while Andy Drummie, Mick Harris & Mick Boswell of Windows finished as runners-up. In a low scoring game the seeded triple lost by just 4-3 to Windows in their opening match but a 4-3 win against Jamie Forster’s Halvergate triple, an 8-4 win against Paul Isgate’s Horsford BC triple and a 7-3 win against Thorpe Marriott’s Andy George saw them home as heat winners. Mick Boswell’s triple faced Ann Baker, Keith Baker & Jamie Forster in their last game of the night with the winning triple certain of qualification. Forster had been in tremendous form all night but was unable to stop the Windows triple winning 11-2. At the Horsford BC heat it was once again the seeded triple that came out on top. Halvergate’s Ryan Fox, Donna Lamb & David Lamb won their first game by 5-4 against Sylvia Turner’s Thorpe Marriott triple and their second game produced an identical result against Peter Jablonowski’s Woodbastwick triple. Lamb’s triple then moved up a gear as they romped to a 17-0 win against Avril Walker, Keith Halford & Melly Woodhouse of Windows. Their last game of the night was against David Sharpe, Lesley Crowe & Steve Hall of Hevingham who were themselves unbeaten with two wins and a draw under their belt. A tight game finished level at 6-6 leaving Lamb’s triple the winners on the night and Hall’s triple earning the second qualifying spot for Finals Night. The heat at Thorpe Marriott only had four of the five scheduled triples in action as Horsford Heroes failed to appear. Therefore each triple only played three games. The seeded triple should have been last year’s champions but with Morgan Warnes & Gary Best not playing Bure League bowls this season Ray Lamb of Halvergate was joined by Nigel “Dog” Willard & Jackie Smith. They opened with a 5-5 draw against East Tuddenham’s Gillian Amos, Robin Amos & Robert Howlett but a 5-4 defeat in their second game against Mike Tate’s fellow Halvergate triple cost them their chance of a Finals Night place. Howlett’s triple then produced an 8-4 win against Tim Flack, Mike Doddington & Tim Blackman of Horsford BC and a 5-3 win against Tate’s triple to finish as heat winners on five points. The runner-up spot was claimed by Karl Newby, David Knights & Mike Tate of Halvergate with four points, they had opened the evening with a 17-0 win against the Horsford BC triple.
Action from the East Tuddenham heat