WARILLA pair Jeremy Henry and Jared Hamilton have claimed the 2014 Local Bloke Removals Golden Eagle Classic, completing a dominant week with an emphatic final victory yesterday afternoon.
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Taking on Lithgow City’s Mick Djatschenko and Grenfell’s Steve Galvin for the Eagle crown, Henry, the world’s number two bowler, and his playing partner Hamilton soared to a 23 shots to 11 lead after the first 16 ends.
Keeping their slim hopes alive, Galvin and Djatschenko claimed the 18th end by three shots to reduce the margin to 10 with three ends remaining.
But the class of the Warilla Gorillas prevailed.
And with an end remaining, the final was stopped with Henry and Hamilton’s lead proving unassailable, the pair taking home the 2014 Local Bloke Removals Golden Eagle courtesy of a 25-15 final scoreline.
“It’s great,” Henry beamed yesterday at the Orange City Bowling Club.
“We’ve had a fantastic week, me and Jared and a few of the other guys, and it’s just fantastic to win it at the end of the day.
“You always think you’ve got a chance, but you have to win eight games to win the whole thing. It’s a sport at the end of the day and it doesn’t always go your way.
“Lucky enough, we played pretty well and got the breaks at the right time.”
Orange hopes Lee Stinson and Steve Carr fell to Djatschenko and Galvin 22-14 in the semi-final stage, while Hamilton and Henry faced the defending champions in their penultimate game of the Eagle classic.
But last year’s winners, Glen Raymond and Phil Westcott, fell at the Warilla hurdle 25-16.
With the World Cup next on Henry’s bowls agenda, the Irish-born Australian representative had one eye on his Eagle defence.
“It’s a terrific standard. The greens were good, the weather was fantastic all week. Six guys came up from Warilla with me, so we had a fantastic time. Hopefully we’ll be back next year,” he said, before adding with a grin: “I’m representing Australia at the World Cup, again, for the third year ... with an Irish accent.”