Napier Shearer Wins Season Opener

Napier shearer Dion King won the Poverty Bay open shearing championship at Gisborne on Saturday to set the 2005/06 shearing sports season off on a successful note.

One of the rising stars on the New Zealand shearing circuit, King shore his pen of 15 woolly sheep in just over 15 minutes to head current Golden Shears champion Paul Avery (Stratford) by just over a point, with John Kirkpatrick (Napier) and Dean Ball (Te Kuiti) completing the open final line up.

King's victory earned him the inaugural Jamie Fleming Memorial Trophy, offered by the Poverty Bay Shears as a memorial to Fleming, an East Coast contractor and former champion who died in a motor accident earlier this year.

Jamie Fleming's son, Thomas Fleming (22) won the Poverty Bay open woolhandling championship, defeating reigning New Zealand champion Sheree Alabaster of Taihape to secure the title for the first time.

Dion King and Paul Avery join with Oamaru's Ken Fergusson in the Meat and Wool New Zealand-sponsored national team at the end of the month to contest the first leg of the bi-annual trans-Tasman test series at Millicent, in South Australia.

While Fergusson took part in the 2001 test series, King and Avery will be representing New Zealand for the first time against Australia. New Zealand's woolhandling representatives for the test series are Veronica Goss of Apiti and Tia Potae, formerly of Milton and now based in Te Kuiti.

Poverty Bay results:

Jamie Fleming memorial open: Dion King, Napier, 54.90 1; Paul Avery, Stratford, 55.95 2; John Kirkpatrick, Napier, 56.00; Dean Ball, Te Kuiti, 58.39 4.

Senior: Riki Chase, Gisborne, 45.20 1; Michael Fabish, Stratford, 46.52 2; Harvey Pairama, Kurow, 47.12 3; Joseph Kyle, Napier, 47.30 4.

Intermediate: Svarn Creswell, Gisborne, 1; Wesley Cave, Putorino, 2; Paul Lewis, Gisborne, 3; Ken Lewis, Gisborne, 4.

Open woolhandling: Thomas Fleming, Te Karaka, 142.0 1; Sheree Alabaster, Taihape, 179.0 2; Veronica Goss, Apiti, 208.0 3; Amy Karaka, Te Karaka, 229.0 4.

Senior woolhandling: Joel Henare, Cromwell, 133.0 1; Rebecca Pattison, Gisborne, 249.0 2; Darceen Ruru, Gisborne, 3; Molly King, Gisborne, 4.

Junior woolhandling: Rose Kakahi, Gisborne, 1; Hinemoa Chambers, 2; Jess Rutene, 3; Ashley Kirkpatrick, 4.

Ends.

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