BOSCOMBE Cliff made it three Section One championship titles in a row with a 10-4 (86-65) victory over relegation-threatened Alexandra Park.

The Cliff’s top return was supplied by Don Hamilton, Derek Ridyard, Brian Frith and Chris Martin (27-12), while rink wins by Steve Chalker and Mike Stapleton kept Alex survival hopes alive.

Southbourne look to be favourites for the runners-up spot following their 80-68 home win over Broadstone-Wessex.

Bob Read, Chris Broomfield, John Challis and Dean Hopkins (25-17) topped the Towermen’s three winning rinks, while Chris Howard (21-15) collected what could be two priceless points for the Wessex Men.

Poole Park could mathematically catch Southbourne after taking all 14 points on offer at Wimborne.

The Dolphins were led to a 77-61 triumph by John Kingdom, Clive Fawkes, Bob Atkins and Peter Willats (19-12).

Ringwood would appear to have secured their tenure in the top flight by picking up four points from their 79-66 defeat at Knyveton Gardens.

Tim Dent, Trevor ‘Wicker’ Smith, Deric Pritchard and Dave Hart (22-11) were the pick of the Gardeners’ winning rinks.

It was a similar situation for Fordingbridge who lost 12-2 to Poole Park A, who incidentally, are the only team to have beaten the Cliff this season.

Mike Bennett, Jim Stainer, Dennis Fletcher and Graham Mould (26-21) shaped the Dolphins’ 88-77 win, while Roy Moretti (19-17) salvaged what could be two vital points for the Turks.

Who falls through the trapdoor could well be decided in next week’s final fixture between Broadstone-Wessex and Wimborne. Alex are the third candidates and they have a tough match lined up at Ringwood.

  • Section Two champions Bournemouth may have thwarted New Milton’s chance of promotion by defeating them 12-2 on their own patch.

John Barclay, John Cuff, Ian Rawlinson and Chris Dowding (30-16) were the main contributors to the Marauders’ 87-66 triumph.

West Moors took advantage of New Milton’s misfortune and moved into second place by crushing visitors Swanmore 111-54.

The Moors Men won on all four rinks with the best return coming from David Bird, David Sibley, Mike Tappenden and Chas Wake.

Going into the last end at Branksome Park, the hosts held a 73-71 advantage over Braeside. However, Braeside skips Tony Brunt, Neil Rogers, Pat Day and Bob Penn rewrote the script and picked up seven shots between them to give the Carpetbaggers a 10-4 (78-73) victory.

Boscombe Cliff secured their Section Two status after defeating already-relegated Highcliffe 10-4 (78-69). The David Burgess quartet of Bill Ashworth, Peter Maher and Ron Sparks shone brightest for the Cliff.

Who goes down with Highcliffe will not be decided until next week after Southbourne came out on top in their basement battle at Lymington.

With rinks shared, Peter Dockree’s squad of Colin Haynes, Roy Fenton and Scott Biden (24-15) paved the way for the Towermen’s 76-72 win over the Lymos.

  • Section Three leaders Knyveton Gardens lost 10-4 to nearest rivals Iford Bridge. The Bridge’s 82-69 win was inspired by Chris Quick, Gordon Greenwood, Mike Emsley and ‘Demon’ Alan Doughty (25-9), while Chris Hollier (28-20) headed the Gardeners’ two winning rinks.

Pelhams moved ahead of Iford by virtue of a 12-2 success at Swanage.

Chris Cieciura, Brian Norton, John Bond and Bob Robins (31-20) featured in Pelhams’ 93-74 win. Ollie Thake (22-19) bagged two points for Swanage.

It’s a hotbed in the basement also as four clubs are fighting to avoid the drop. Branksome Park fared best by picking up 10 points on the Magic Carpet, which leaves Braeside just ahead of the bottom two, Kings Park and Swanage. Colin Burns, Roger Owen, Graham Cox and Doug Mitchell (25-9) were the Squirrels’ best.

Kings Park shared rinks with visitors Electric, but the Sparkies took the 10 points courtesy of a 23-15 return from John Ellis, Kevin Cornforth, Mike Elkins and Les Rogerson.

Elsewhere, the mid-table tussle at Argyll resulted in an 11-3 (78-65) defeat for Milford-on-Sea. The main input in Argyll’s 78-65 win was supplied by George Murdoch, Peter Fisher, Dave Charles and Dave Cleave (26-9).

  • The top two in Section Four – Moordown and Richmond Park – both collected 12 points. Moordown cruised to a 102-72 triumph at Redhill Park.

Bob Affleck, Dave Cox, Alan Richardson and John Long had that silver touch as they topped Moordown’s winning rinks.

Richmond Park, meanwhile, cruised to a 96-62 home win over Christchurch. A massive 32-6 win carded by Terry Frapwell, Eddie Gilmore, Tony Wanklin and David Wakelin topped HQ’s winning rinks.

The stage is set for a final shootout when the frontrunners go head to head at Moordown next week.

Poole Park remained in touch following their 10-4 (84-70) success over visitors Wimborne. The Dolphins were put on the road to victory by Norman Austin, Mick Wallis, Richard Sawyer and Roger Bazeley (29-9).

A chorus of ‘Nice one Cyril’ rang out over Knyveton Gardens as Cyril Archer’s rink recovered from a 19-7 deficit to win 20-19 on the last end to tie up a 14-0 win for the Gardeners over Highcliffe. Knyveton’s three other winning skips were Bob Osler (20-13), Dave Foote (20-13) and Ray Elrick (19-15).

New Milton returned home with just two points from their mid-table skirmish with Broadstone-Wessex. John Hall, Francis Reeves, Mike Sabine and Gordon Tompsett (23-12) starred for the Wessex Men who won 74-66.

  • West Moors sealed their promotion with a 9-5 win at Southbourne in Section Five. With one rink tied (23-23), Moors Men Gerald Power, Bill Archer, Bill Leworthy and Arthur Baxter (26-14) covered Southbourne’s successful rinks.

Argyll returned from Boscombe Cliff with eight points in the bag thanks to Ian Gibbs, Alan Godfrey, Phil Reeves and Jeff Lewin (35-17). They earned Argyll an 87-77 win by covering Cliff’s three winning rinks.

Ringwood closed in on the leaders with a 10-4 (74-67) home win over Lymington. The top Foresters were Denis Seymour, David Lewis, Ken Wyatt and Brian Tester (24-13).

Branksome Park stayed in the drop zone despite taking 10 points off of fellow strugglers Redhill Park. Branksome’s best were Barry Stone, Ernie Culley, Geoff Arnold and Colin Taylor who designed a 24-10 win.

Iford Bridge were relegated following their 10-4 defeat at Ferndown. Stags’ Ron Taylor celebrated his 88th birthday by gaining top rink honours, aided by Ron Hutchins, Ray Higgins and Eddie Boyt (24-17).

  • Section Six champions Poole Park took their foot off the pedal when going down 8-6 at Moordown. The home crowd were ecstatic after Vic Cutland (23-17) collected four shots on the last end to give Moordown a 71-70 victory.

Ferndown held on to second spot by picking up 11 points in their 87-74 win at Pelhams.

Bournemouth remained two points behind after easily accounting for bottom-club Richmond Park. It is certain that Bournemouth’s mobiles will be busy next Saturday as Poole Park play their final match at Ferndown.

Elsewhere, Milford (14-0) and Swanmore (11-3) secured mid-table security with home victories over West Moors and Southbourne.