ROUND two of the Mount Isa Pool Association started with two first-up winners facing off.
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The Bowling Alley CPR and the Club Hustlers, faced off at the Bowling Alley and after both sides scraped through with victory in the final frame of round one, neither side were confident of putting a big score on the other.
The opening frames would give the CPR hope of a big victory though. James Cartledge, Don Cameron and Adam Murr opened the CPR to a 3-nil lead, and with a solid win to captain Gunther Czmok, took a 4-1 advantage.
The Hustlers responded well after their slow start. Peter Burgess took two of the next five frames for the away side, while Greg Payne and Eggy Eggmolesse got the Hustlers close, trailing 6-5. Steve Healy tied the day at 6-all with a tense frame against Czmok, and it was into doubles.
The CPR, through Cartledge and Leslie Smith, again got the CPR ahead to within one frame of victory, but two massive Hustler wins got the team from The Club over the line. Hustler captain Eggmolesse starred on the day with a remarkable cut to ice the day, and keep the Hustlers undefeated heading into their bye in round 3.
CLUB HUSTLERS 10 (Greg Payne 2; Peter Burgess 2; Eggy Eggmolesse 1) DEF BOWLING ALLEY CPR 7 (James Cartledge 2; Adam Murr 2)
While the CPR and the Hustlers battled it out at the Bowling Alley, their stablemates matched up at the Shark Bar. The Club Demons look as though they will improve from a last-placed finish in 2014, while the Bowling Alley Bandits, with a few new faces to the league, hope to find where they are in the pecking order during the opening stages of the 2015 season.
It all looked like it would end badly for the Demons early, taking one of the first five frames as Rob Peni, Jean Lavictoire and Kingsley Ang all took frames early. But, like the Hustlers, the Demons came back well.
Noodle String and Wes Purcell, two experienced players for the Demons, steadied the ship with two singles matches each, and when Cameron Smith took a good win, the Demons were ahead 6-5.
In yet another close match, this would be at 7-all and in a final dramatic frame, the Bandits prevailed for their second 10-7 win in a row, and an equal share of second place. The Demons will know how close they were, and look to take some momentum into round three against the Overlander New Stars.
BOWLING ALLEY BANDITS 10 (Jean Lavictoire 2; Christina Hinds 1) DEFEATED CLUB DEMONS 7 (Wes Purcell 2; Noodle String 2)
The Barkly Str8 Shooters took a great win in the first round of the year, while the Buffs JMI went down to a determines Irish Club 303s side. Yet when the JMI and the Str8 Shooters met at the Buffs Club, it was really not a contest.
Despite James Hay taking the first frame of the day, as well as another later on, the JMI showed experience and tenacity to only concede three frames on the day. Jim Humphries, Anthony Behen and Frank Gatto led from the front, while Kerrin Smithson won all three of his frames to jump back into the winners’ circle. The dominant performance has the JMI two points out of first even though they have lost a match on the year. The Str8 Shooters must go back to the drawing board before the season may slip away early with low scores.
BUFFS JMI 14 (Jim Humphries 2; Kerrin Smithson 2; Anthony Behen 2; Frank Gatto 2) DEFEATED BARKLY STR8 SHOOTERS 3 (James Hay 2)
The Overlander New Stars kicked off their 2015 campaign after their first-up bye with an underwhelming performance against the Irish Club Outlaws, who would win their first game of the year after last week’s 10-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The Outlaws took a 5-nil lead with good wins to Randall Thorpe, Timo Kuivalainen and Russell Holdsworth who played well on the day. The New Stars were behind 10-2 before the Outlaws took the foot off the gas. The New Stars took all three doubles matches to flatter the score but the Outlaws, who sit in fourth spot, may need to contain opponent’s doubles teams or important points may be lost.
IRISH CLUB OUTLAWS 12 (Randall Thorpe 2; Timo Kuivalainen 2; Pierre Pardo 1; Russell Holdsworth 1) DEFEATED OVERLANDER NEW STARS 5
The final match of the day was the red-hot Buffalo Bills surging into first spot on the ladder against a defiant Barkly Miscues. The Miscues will know they are only three frames away from being undefeated on the year after a heart-stopping loss in the first round, but without their captain Don Carter, the day belonged to the Bills.
Jason Linke, Ziggy Grubczynski and John Houng, all of whom took two frames on the day, had the Bills out to a handy 3-nil lead but Darryl Walford and Chase Steffensen pegged the Bills back to level at 3-all. Graham Ray got the Miscues ahead by one, but the Bills flew back and took the day with six of the next seven frames. The Miscues will have a good shot at stemming the Outlaws’ momentum in round four at home, while the Bills face off against their Buffs Club counterparts, the JMI, next week.
BUFFALO BILLS 11 (Jason Linke 2; Ziggy Grubczynski 2; John Houng 2; Sam Jakk 1) DEFEATED BARKLY MISCUES 6
