THE final of the Yorkshire County Bowling Association Inter District Competition for the Walter West Trophy was won by No 1 District (Redcar & Guisborough) who beat No 7 (Holgate, RI & West Park) 6-2 on the RI green.

For the York side, Peter Littlewood's triple won 21-11 but the pairs skipped by Eric Wilkinson lost 21-12.

Keith Nelson's rink required seven on the last end to tie the match but failed by two shots.

A 7-1 win for Burnholme over Osbaldwick lifted them three places off the bottom of division one in the Persimmon Homes/Ideal Standard Bowls Leagues and with only six points separating the bottom five clubs further moves can be expected weekly.

In division two, RI Corinthians continued their unbeaten run 7-1 over Poppleton Road WMC who were leading overall by 17 shots after 17 ends.

But Corinthians not only made up the deficit but notched a further 15 shots in four ends.

Two wins out of three for Stewart has allowed them to climb out of the relegation zone at the expense of Poppleton.

Minster lost touch with the leaders of division three, losing 6-1 to Acomb who took the aggregate by four shots for their first win of the season.

The first round of the Williamson Cup provided few surprises, but Retreat of division three beat second division Clifton 74-71.

Despite home advantage Burnholme trailed Dringhouses by five shots across the board with only one end to play. They managed to pull back all six shots before Gordon Fratson delivered the killer blow with his last wood to seal a 82-81 win.

The next round is on Wednesday, July 2, but before then the following supplementary rounds must be arranged by the secretaries involved.

Williamson Cup: Haxby Road v Hull Road Park and Stamford Bridge v Dunnington 'B'.

Freedom & Fellowship Cup: RI Corinthians v Wetherby and Stewart v Harrogate.

The York teams will contest the final of the Yorkshire Ladies Fours competition.

In the semi-finals at Clarence Gardens, Shirley Stacey, Marjorie Elvidge, Sue Kirkpatrick and Pat Wilson (Railway Institute) led throughout the match to beat four from Richmond 26-16.

In the other game Joyce Chelin, Mavis Claire, Doreen Rodgers and Melanie Brooke (Bert Keech) came back from 19-6 down to win with two shots on the last end against Lyn Metcalf's Swinton team.

The final will be at Thirsk on August 31 but before then both sides will represent Yorkshire in the National finals at Leamington Spa.

Updated: 10:42 Thursday, June 12, 2003