Wairoa payback for national shears champion Smith

Wairoa payback for national shears champion Smith

Golden Shears and New Zealand Open champion Rowland Smith has got his World Championships bid year off to a good start with victory in the Wairoa A and P Show’s Open final on Saturday.

Smith, who next Saturday shears for New Zealand at Rotorua in the first of four Elders Primary Wool Shearing Series tests against Wales, beat fellow World Championships hopeful, 2006 Golden Shears champion and former Wairoa title winner Dion King, of Hastings, by more than 4pts in a four-man final over 15-sheep.

Having missed a place in the Wairoa final last year because of a points calculation error, it was payback time for Smith, who cleared his pen on Saturday in 12min 47.6sec, beating King by eight seconds, with third placegetter Ian Kirkpatrick, of Gisborne, just keeping in touch just over 20 seconds further adrift, and Feilding shearer Aaron Haynes a sheep behind.
It was Smith’s first final of the season in New Zealand, a similar position to last season in which he became almost unbeatable in the post-Christmas phase with 14 wins in less than three months, including his big triumphs at Masterton and Te Kuiti.

The Golden Shears and New Zealand championships Open finals this season will decide the two-man machine team for this year’s World championships in Ireland in May.

The 2012 New Zealand team of Hawke’s Bay shearers John Kirkpatrick and Cam Ferguson were both in Southland for the weekend, finishing first and second respectively in the Lumsden long-wool event on Friday, and second and third yesterday to Invercargill shearer in the lambshearing championships final at the Winton A and P Show.

Poverty Bay shearer Catherine Mullooly, of Matawai, continued to dominate male opposition in North Island intermediate competitions with her 6th win in seven finals this season in another feature of the Wairoa show. The Senior final was won by Willie Lambert, of Napier, while first-time competitor Kalochyce Forward, of Hastings, was the only New Zealander in the Junior final, which he won by two-hundredths of a point from Welsh shearer and runner-up Ilan Jones.
RESULTS from the Wairoa A and P Show Shears at Wairoa on Saturday, January 18, 2014:

Open final (15 sheep): Rowland Smith (Hastings) 12min 47.6sec, 38.24pts, 1; Dion King (Flaxmere) 12min 55.8sec, 42.58pts, 2; Ian Kirkpatrick (Gisborne) 13min 16.7sec, 55.02pts, 3; Aaron Haynes (Feilding) 14min 25.8sec, 55.68pts, 4.
Senior final (10 sheep): Willie Lambert (Napier) 10min 55.4sec, 50.27pts, 1; Cameron Hicks (Marton) 12min 27.8sec, 51.89pts, 2; Paul Swann (Wairoa) 12min 51.1sec, 55.55pts, 3; Patrick Duncan (Napier) 11min 8.2sec, 60.11pts, 4.
Intermediate final (6 sheep): Catherine Mullooly (Matawai) 10min 31.3sec, 43.39pts, 1; Simon Goss (Kimbolton) 9min 51sec, 44.04pts, 2; Bevan Pere (Gisborne) 10min 45.1sec, 47.25pts, 3; Loic Leygonie (France) 10min 21.9sec, 49.55pts, 4.
Junior final (4 sheep): Kalochyce Forward (Hastings) 8min 35.8sec, 37.54pts, 1; Ilan Jones (Wales) 8min 36.2sec, 37.56pts, 2; Dion Edwards (Wales) 7min 42.7sec, 38.38pts, 3; Loic Jauberthie (France) 7min 14.7sec, 47.98pts, 4.
Novice final (1 sheep): Jack Bennett (-) 3min 19.7sec, 36.98pts, 1; Raina Huata (-) 3min 47.4sec, 42.37pts, 2; William Elworthy (-) 3min 25.1sec, 45.25pts, 3; Tom Dever (Wairoa) 3min 27.8sec, 49.39pts, 4.
Veterans (2 sheep): Russell Knight (Apiti) 3min 5.7sec, 15.28pts, 1; Graeme Roadley (Wairoa) 3min 35.1sec, 29.25pts, 2; Neil Sidwell (Ruawai) 3min 50.6sec, 32.03pts, 3; Colin Hyde (-) 3min 48.5sec, 41.42pts, 4.

ENDS

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