SEASON pacesetters Renmark led from start to finish to break a 12-year drought with a convincing 30-shot win over Loxton RSL in the Bowls Riverland Saturday Pennant grand final on Saturday.
Renmark had been at the top of the ladder most of the season and since Christmas had emerged as hot pennant favourites.
Saturday’s victory at Loxton was Renmark’s first division one title since 2008/09 and denied Loxton RSL its first-ever division one Saturday pennant.
As was the case 12 years ago, skipper Bill Dopson had an outstanding grand final, guiding his quartet to a 29-12 win over Lou Westbrook’s four.
Across all three match-ups, Renmark was in control from early in the grand final and went into the afternoon tea break with a near-unassailable lead.
At one stage, the Renmark team skippered by Ken Schulz led Gerrin Jenke’s four 13-3, before eventually going on to win by 14 shots.
The other match-up was much closer, with the Loxton RSL four skippered by Jade Wright continuing its excellent recent form to beat Mick Rice’s team 18-17.
However, it was all academic, as Renmark finished an excellent season in fine style.
“It’s good to win another one – we’ve been waiting a few years,” Dopson said post-match.
“We all got a pretty good jump to start with, kept that lead most of the day and actually increased it. So it was a good win overall.
“I thought for weeks now that Loxton RSL was our danger size. We had a very close game with them in the last minor round, even though last week we won reasonably comfortably (in the second semi-final).”
A number of Renmark players had excellent grand finals, including Bill Cropper and Christos Karantonis for Schulz’s rink, and Guido Dicerbo and Janice Trezise for Dopson’s rink.
Dopson said keeping a settled side was a key to Renmark’s consistent season.
“We only lost a couple of games earlier in the season, but since then it’s been no dramas,” he said.
“We had changes to a couple teams probably within the first two or three weeks of the season, but other than that it’s been pretty steady.
“Everybody’s been available, which makes it a lot easier.”
Meanwhile the division two decider, also played at Loxton, was much tighter and came down to the final bowl, with Monash clinching victory over Lyrup by just three shots.
The match-up between the Monash four skippered by Phil Wilkinson and the Lyrup four skippered by Tony* Gyss was last to finish, and Lyrup needed four shots to tie-up the grand final overall.
With Lyrup holding just one shot, Wilkinson put his final bowl behind the end for insurance. Watched by a crowd of onlookers, both near the green and inside the clubrooms, Gyss attempted to kill the end with a drive, but his bowl missed to the left, leaving Monash victors by three shots overall.
Loxton won the two other grand finals, played at Loxton RSL.
Loxton White trounced Berri Blue in the division three grand final by 25 shots, reversing the second semi-final result, while Loxton was far too strong for The Lawns in the division four decider, winning both match-ups easily to claim a 36-shot win.

DIVISION ONE
Renmark 70 d Loxton RSL 40.
M. Rice 17 lost to J. Wrigh