Sports Reports: Matt Egel secures another win against Lockie McHugh

Plus the latest in Lower Murray bowls, Murray Towns cricket, Murray Bridge golf and more.

Contributed, Viki Ntafillis

Nov 9, 2022 — 6 min read

This post includes contributions from MMS Media, the Murray Towns Cricket Association, Murray Bridge Golf Club, Derek Vanderzon, Joe Di Santo and Daniel Irvine.

Matt Egel has taken another first place at Murray Bridge Speedway. Photo: Stephen Pickering/Pickos Photos.

Egel out-maneuvers McHugh at the Speedway once again

After a tough start to his South Australian season at the opening event in October, Matt Egel returned to top form on Saturday night as he led all 30 laps in the latest Sprintcars SA club event at Murray Bridge Speedway.

Egel fell just short of clean-sweeping the night, as he was only defeated by local Ryan Jones, who edged him out in qualifying.

Second place went to Lockie McHugh, whose disappointment was clear to see.

The car that Egel beat McHugh in on Saturday night was the exact car McHugh had utilised to win the SA championship two seasons ago, while subbing for Egel in #52 at Whyalla.

Read more: murraybridgespeedway.com.

Murray Towns cricket results

Wanderers 138 defeated Karoonda 95
Wanderers best: Tyler Miller 46, Joardyn Williams 5/25
Karoonda best: Cameron Cox 3/12, Campbell Ballard 23
Monarto 5/133 defeated Tailem Bend 132
Tailem Bend best: Umesh Badu 31, Joshua van Piere 1/14
Monarto best: Trent Frahn 3/28, Jacob Rance 59
Mypolonga 4/126 defeated Mannum 125
Mannum best: Nick Lindner 68, Noah Vivian 1/7
Mypolonga best: Aaron Zrim 3/13, Jared Marston 60*

Pannell beats the competition at Murray Bridge Golf Club

Deane Pannell won Saturday’s stroke competition at Murray Bridge Golf Club with a score of nett 63.

The field comprised 105 players on a nice sunny day for golf.

Derek Parrott, of Echunga, won the A grade with a nett 67 from Mark Bolton, with a nett 69.

Wayne Lobban, of Echunga, was too good in the B grade with his nett 66 beating compatriot Dave Lockwood, on nett 68.

Troy Penhall took out the C grade with a nett 65, from Echunga’s David Stoddard, on nett 66.

Read more: murraybridgegolfclub.com.au.

Mannum sweeps Jervois, Murray Bridge defeats RSL in lawn bowls

Mannum have made a clean sweep of their match against Jervois with a 71-to-41-shot win at Mannum, despite missing some first choice players due to COVID.

Gary Fowler, Stephen Gregory, Graham Leathers and Kerry Pascoe were big winners over Rodger Zarantonello, Rob Solley, Graham Fromm and Len Gommers with the scoreline 30-11.

They had no problems running up some big numbers with four threes, a five and a six boosting their total, while conceding only ones and twos in return.

Terry McDonnell, Tom Towns, Trevor Dicker and Marie Wachtel took a few ends to settle in, then asserted themselves with a 24-14 win over Graeme Herbert, Shawn Hicks, Graham Schenke and Jeremy Scannell.

A five on the fourth end kick-started them after they dropped a three on the first end.

From there they steadily built on their lead for a comfortable win.

The final rink came down to the final end, with Graham Wakefield, John Howe, Chris Mundie and John McDiarmid prevailing 17-16 over Tim Hicks, Steve Kroehn, Derek Vanderzon and Shane Fromm.

The home side got off to a bright start, but Jervois clawed back through the middle stages and looked likely winners when they edged ahead by five shots with four ends remaining.

Neither skipper had had any influence up to this point, but Wakefield suddenly came good, drawing the shot while down three to keep them in the hunt on the 18th.

Two more big shots on the final end again got them out of trouble and over the line.

What looked like being an easy all-rinks win to Murray Bridge ended up being a much closer seven-shot win, with RSL salvaging one rink with a remarkable turnaround.

Ben Traeger, Brian Traeger, Charlie DiSanto and Trevor Pevic continued their good form with a 33-19 win over Max Wilkin, Michael Walker, Gillian Newell and Damian Dolman.

Two fives and two threes saw Traeger take a commanding 19-6 lead into the break, and when he picked up a six on the 17th end the lead had blown out to 20 shots.

Wilkin responded over the final four ends to reduce the margin to a more respectable, but nevertheless convincing margin of 14.

Bruce Attrill, Peter Shilton, Tony Gill and Les Trewren would be thankful for a five scored on the first end as they hung on to win by a solitary shot over David Thiele, Karen Kneebone, David Newell and James Galbraith.

Thiele had edged in front by a shot immediately after the break when he picked up a three to go one ahead, but Attrill responded with a two and a four to regain some control.

He maintained a slender lead until the end in a tight contest.

In the final rink, RSL’s Anne-Marie Kuchel, David Graham, Kerri Bolt and Garry Daniel staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Darren McIntosh, Brian Leckie, Gerry Penta and Michael Ferris.

McIntosh was in complete control when he led by 12 shots after 13 ends, having won 10 of them and leading 18-6.

But a five to Kuchel on the 14th resurrected the visitors’ spirits and they went on a 20-shot scoring spree without conceding a single shot.

Suddenly a 12-shot deficit had become an eight-shot win for the visitors.

Joe Di Santo, second from right, represents South Australia at an Australian Defence Force bowls tournament in Queensland. Photo: Supplied by Joe Di Santo.

Joe Di Santo wins ADF National Lawn Bowls Association title

Murray Bridge-based Army Reservist Joe Di Santo and a combined Western Australia and South Australia squad have taken out the Ian Johnson Trophy on his debut at the Australian Defence Force National Lawn Bowls Association competition in Ipswitch, Queensland last month.

Di Santo was originally selected for South Australia in 2020, but the competition was put on hold for two years due to COVID-19.

“As a night owler, the nationals were a great opportunity to not only play bowls but to network across all three services,” he said.

“Our squad did exceptionally well to win the state competition when considering the high calibre of players, we were up against.”

He also represented the Australian Army in a knockout pairs’ competition in which he and his partner, Chris Kele, reached the semi-finals; and was awarded best novice for the Army.

Di Santo hoped to play in the ADF Anzac Series in Sydney next year, with the aim of playing in the Australian Lawn Bowls Open.

Ali Hansen has her eye on further success. Photo: supplied by Daniel Irvine

Three points separate top five shooters at district rifle championship

The 2022-23 No. 2 District Rifle Association Closed Championship began this past Saturday at the Deed Range in Monarto.

A magnificent spring day provided the backdrop as shooters competed in two rounds, one from 500 metres and one from 600 metres.

The weather, while warm and mostly sunny, also had a subtle and fluctuating breeze that tested shooters throughout the day.

Competition was tight across the grades, but perhaps no more than in F-class standard, where last year’s SARA Medal winner, Ali Hansen, got away to the best of starts, winning the round by a single point from Richard McInnes, 112.01 to 111.07.

However, the top five shooters in the grade were only separated by three points.