Victoria claim Super 6 war chest
The Victorian contingent put the finishing touches on a dominant performance at the Super 6 series, securing three of the six gold medals on offer at South Burnie this afternoon. The Big V were clinical in their exhibition on the Tasmanian turf, whitewashing the men’s event in emphatic fashion after progressing through to the gold medal final play-offs of the singles, pairs and triples with an untarnished record yesterday. 20-year-old Australian Jackaroos squad member Dylan Fisher secured the blue-ribbon singles gold medal, eliminating his former-state-teammate-turned-Tasmanian Lee Schraner, after picking up the opening end and taking the rest of the match in his stride without ever losing the lead. “We treat the Super 6 as a really good practice for the big smoke- the Australian Sides Championships,” Fisher said after receiving his coveted medallion. “For all of us guys to have success, it gives us the confidence and belief that we can win next week, because we haven’t done that [at the Sides] for a little while, so it’s big goal of ours. “Lee hadn’t played on the green that we just played on, where as I played on it yesterday afternoon, so I was probably a little bit fortunate there, but I picked the green up early and he was always fighting it, so I stuck to my guns and was happy with my draw bowls – It’s good to get the win.” Fellow Victorian’s Peter Loe and Matthew Flapper were equally as impressive in the pairs decider, with Ocean Grove’s newly anointed Australian representative at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games skipping his teammate to a 19-6 victory over Queensland’s Anthony Fantini and world champion Mark Casey, despite taking their foot off the pedal and dropping the last six ends. Barrie Lester, Brett Foley and Aaron Wilson replicated their state teammates feats, making it a hat-trick for the Victorian line-up, edging past host-state’s Chris Dudman, Simon Zaporozec and Adam White by a four shot margin, 16-12. In the women’s event, NSW’s world champion Kelsey Cottrell went back-to-back to claim her second consecutive gold medal in the singles discipline, with 18-year-old Victorian Chloe Stewart the only member of her state to falter at the final hurdle in a gold medal match. “It’s a pretty good start to the week,” Kelsey said with a grin. “This is used as a really good lead-up to the Australian Sides Championships, so it’s a good thing to have this one in the bag leading into Sides. “I’ve played four solid games now, playing 4-bowl singles, I’ve got to play on every singles green here and more bowls than some of teammates, so I think it holds me in good stead and I’m really looking forward to Sides, where we are trying to go back-to-back in that as well.” Fellow NSW aces Kay Moran and Karen Murphy went one step further than their silver medal at last year’s Super 6 event, posting a 16-9 win over Western Australia’s Lara Merz and Kelli Rogalski. ACT’s triples line-up of Lois Waters, Ruth Moore, Nicole Mengel guided the Territory to their only gold medal with a victory over Tasmania’s Maureen Zoon, Erin Sesara, Jenny Redshaw 18-11. In was a rather forgettable day for the Tigers, with the home state heroes failing to walk away with the prized silverware from their three gold medal play-offs. Each state and territory will now enjoy a one-day respite before the Australian Sides Championships begin on Monday. Featuring the top-12 men and women from each and every state and territory across the nation, the Australian Sides Championships will be played over four action packed days from March 31 to April 3. Super 6 final results Men’s Singles: Gold Medal Match: Dylan Fisher (VIC) bt Lee Schraner (TAS) 21-13 Men’s Singles: Bronze Medal Match: Aron Sherriff (NSW) bt Andrew Howie (ACT) 21-15 Men’s Pairs: Gold Medal Match: Peter Loe, Matthew Flapper (VIC) bt Anthony Fantini, Mark Casey (QLD) 19-16 Men’s Pairs: Bronze Medal Match: Adam Forbes, Mak Kleinig (SA) bt Matthew Ayres, Matthew Ellul (WA) 22-8 Men’s Triples: Gold …