More than halfway through the Campaspe Playing area weekend pennant season, the competition looks to be a three-horse race.
All three joint leaders, on six wins apiece, earned another win this week, widening the gap on the rest of the field.
Stanhope has the edge on total points over the other two leaders, adding another 14 to its total this week, 14-68 to 2-46 over Deniliquin.
Ben Fletcher grabbed the most dominant result of the tie, getting up 29-11 over opposition skip Simon Chisholm.
Timothy Hancock also scored a win, 23-17, while Shaine Laing snatched some points for Deniliquin, 18-16.
Moama was victorious over Mathoura, 14-59 to 2-50, most of the credit going to Rodney Werner’s squad, Arthur Bailey (lead), Benjamin Cottier (second) and Jock Linehan (third) earning their side a 27-10 advantage in their rink.
Rob Young scored a much narrower 21-20 win for Moama, Dennis McHarry pulling back points for Mathoura with a 20-11 rink win.
There wasn’t a lot between Tongala and Rich River, Tonny requiring the efforts of skip Brad Tinning, who scored a 25-14 victory, to get the win 13-68 to 3-59.
Gary Radford skipped his Rich River side to a win 24-22, while Tongala’s Matthew Liverton and Rich River’s Keith Hewitt played to a standstill 21-all.
Rochester jumped two places on the table after defeating Echuca.
Rochy got the win by four shots, 14-53 to 2-49, in an important result for its finals hopes.
Les Walles’ squad took the decisive rink 16-12 over rival skip Stan Barker.
In the other two rinks, the sides were locked together, Rochy’s Tim Quinlan and Echuca’s Steve Cunnington drawing 17-all, while Richard Feuk and Ian Page also couldn’t be separated at 20-all.
Division two
In division two, Rochy also got up over Echuca, 12-63 to 4-55.
A huge win for Graeme Chambers, 31-10, earned his side the win, after Echuca’s Trevor Nagorcka and Ian Whiting took the other two rinks.
Stanhope was a narrow winner over Deniliquin, prevailing by just three shots 14-62 to 2-59.
Skip Stephen King secured some points for Deni, winning 21-15, but Stanhope skips Jennifer Crilly and Andrew Morris both took out their rinks to secure the overall result.
Moama dominated Deni RSL 14-67 to 2-42.
Russell Kelly swung the scoreline 20 shots in Moama’s advantage, skipping his quartet to a 29-9 win, while teammate Ben Franklin picked up a closer victory, 22-16.
Tongala was also a big winner, defeating Rich River 14-77 to 2-51.
Jorja Ponton scored a huge result for Tonny, 36-10 while fellow skip Danny O’Brien also picked up rink honours.
Division three
Rochester suffered a heavy defeat to Moama Black, losing all three rinks in a 0-43 to 16-78 result.
Lockington came out on top against Deniliquin, 14-68 to 2-57, with skips Steve Pavone and Leanne McInnes picking up rink wins.
Elmore was defeated by Echuca, 12-63 to 4-52, Greg Clymo’s big 28-11 win for Echuca securing his side the win after Elmore took the remaining two rinks.
Moama came out on top against Rich River 15-57 to 1-43, winning two rinks and finishing level in the third.
Division four
Lockington was out-bowled by Stanhope 14-59 to 2-48, and Echuca wiped out Ky Valley View 16-85 to 0-41.
Moama brought up the century, 16-106 to 0-28 over Mathoura/Echuca, and Tongala took all three rinks over Rich River 16-60 to 0-48.
Division five
Division five saw Lockington defeat Stanhope 12-44 to 2-36, Rochester downed by Echuca 14-50 to 0-24 and Elmore lose to Deniliquin 14-33 to 0-24.
Deni RSL forfeited its tie with Moama.