October 31, 2017
Kiwis clean-up in Warrnambool
New Zealanders scored a near cleansweep at Australia’s top crossbred shearing competition on Saturday.
Competitors from New Zealand won the Open, Senior and Intermediate shearing finals, and the Open and Senior woolhandling
finals at southwest Victoria coast city Warrnambool, balanced by home show representatives Glen Stephens, Tyson Scholz
and Lee Harris beating the NZ Shears Te Kuiti team of Mark Grainger, David Buick and Dion King in a transtasman
challenge which included merinos.
The six-stand Open shearing final over 15 sheep each was a near all-Kiwi showdown won by Te Kuiti gun Grainger, son of
1985 Golden Shears Open champion, winner of five show finals in New Zealand over the last three years, and winning his
place in the NZ Shears Te Kuiti team by finishing fifth in last season’s New Zealand Championships Open final.
He beat runner-up and 2014 and 2015 Warrnambool winner Buick, of Pongaroa, by 1.37pts. King, first off in just over
12-and-a-half minutes was a further eight-tenths of a point back third.
Fourth was Queensland-based Jovan Taiki, from Porangahau and the only finalist not based in New Zealand, fifth was
Hayden Tapp, from Taihape, and sixth was South Otago shearer Jordan Boyes.
The Senior final was won by Victoria-based Karipa Tumohe, from Balclutha, and the Intermediate title was won by NZ
Shears representative and 2017 New Zealand Intermediate champion Sean Gouk, of Hamilton.
Gisborne woolhandler Keri Henare, a cousin of World champion Joel Henare, had a surprise win in the Open woollhandling
final, beating Alexandra sisters Pagan Karauria and Larnie Morrell, and the Senior woolhandling title was won by Wilz
Marshall, from Port Waikato.
The Warrnambool has had a long-standing annual home-and-away exchange with the New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti, this year
clashing with the Australian national shearing and woolhandling championships in Bendigo, including the three
transtasman test matches involving the Shearing Sports New Zealand machine shearing, woolhandling and blade shearing
team.
There was further New Zealand success at the Katanning show in West Australia where the Open woolhandling title was won
by Phoebe Nikora, from Dannevirke, and the Open Speedshear was won Cartwright Terry, from Cambridge.
Results from the Warrnambool Shears on Saturday October 28, 2017:
Shearing:
Transtasman Challenge (8 sheep): Warrnambool 218.28pts (Glen Stephens 10min 13.53sec, 69.43pts; Tyson Scholz 12min
42.78sec, 72.39pts; Lee Harris 12min 10.53sec, 76.4pts) beat NZ Shears Te Kuiti 229.18sec (Dion King 10min 42.34sec,
72.12pts; David Buick 13min 34.13sec, 76.46pts; Mark Grainger 14min 48.25sec, 80.66pts) by 10.9pts.
Open final (15 sheep): Mark Grainger (Te Kuiti) 13min 3.1sec, 46.89pts, 1; David Buick (Pongaroa) 12min 41.13sec,
48.26spts, 2; Dion King (Flaxmere) 12min 31,87sec, 49.06pts, 3; Jovan Taiki (Porangahau/Longreach Qld) 13min 31.97sec,
52.33pts, 4; Hayden Tapp (Taihape) 13min 26.74sec, 53.01pts, 5; Jordan Boyes (Owaka) 14min 6.21sec, 53.44pts, 6.
Senior final (6 sheep): Karipa Tumohe (Balclutha/Ararat Vic) 8min 52.21sec, 41.61pts, 1; Brett Caldwell (Heywood Vic)
8min 36.47sec, 44,49pts, 2; Alex Smith 10min 15.28sec, 45.33pts, 3; Rae Hokianga 9min 21.38sec, 46.4pts, 4; Phillip
Edwards 8min 35.85sec, 46.79pts, 5; Pagan Karauria (Alexandra NZ) 9min 15.6sec, 48.61pts, 6.
Intermediate final (5 sheep): Sean Gouk (Hamilton) 8min 1.19sec, 40.56pts, 1; Lachlan Bryant (Rokewood Vic) 9min
53.96sec, 44.9pts, 2; Zac Malisse (Barraba NSW) 8min 55.6sec, 45.35pts, 3; Nathan Thompson 9min 39.43sec, 49.57pts, 4.
Woolhandling:
Open final: Keri Henare (Gisborne) 4.87pts, 1; Pagan Karauria (Alexandra NZ) 7.93pts, 2; Larnie Morrell (Alexandra NZ)
8.03pts, 3; Judith Ratana 11.78pts, 4.
Senior final: Wilz Marshall (Port Waikato/Moora W.A.)16.13pts, 1; Maureen Wainohu 16.55pts, 2; Georgia Jackson
(Feilding/Naracoorte S.A.) 17.74pts, 3; Alayne Daysh (Pahiatua) 17.92pts, 4.
ENDS