RI AMATEURS held on from a strong-finishing Selby to retain their York Amateur Bowls Association division one title.

RI beat Holgate 6.5-1.5 in their final game to leave them 2.5 points ahead of Selby, who defeated Dunnington 7-1 to end a valiant attempt to catch up having lost their first three games of term.

Division two has been won by Rowntree, who made it 13 wins out of 14 by beating their only serious challengers, Shipton, who finished second with only two defeats.

It was third time lucky in division three for Poppleton Road WMC. In the past two seasons they were top nearing the end of term only to blow their chances. This time they hung on, despite hiccups along the way, a closing 8-0 win at Harrogate finally getting the job done.

Meanwhile, YABA Finals Day at Railway Institute was dominated by RI Corinthians and Holgate WMC - the former victorious in both singles events and the latter in the pairs, triples and fours.

The singles final saw Corinthians' Pete Riley, in only his fourth season playing bowls, beat the experienced Bob Elliot, of Shipton, 21-11.

Experience counted for nothing early on as Riley raced 10-0 up after five ends. Elliot rallied over the next eight to reduce the deficit to 13-9 before five shots in two ends put Riley firmly in control at 18-9.

Elliot scrapped for two singles but, with the score at 18-11, Riley won the three shots he required for a memorable victory.

The Consolation Singles went down to the wire before Corinthians' Dave Preece edged Scarcroft's Terry Wheatley on shot-difference after the pair drew their decider.

This trophy had been between these two and last year's runner-up, Paul Murray, of Bootham, and was played on a round-robin basis.

Murray lost 15-7 to Preece and 15-12 to Wheatley to fall out of the reckoning, making the final game between Preece and Wheatley all-important.

A tight ding-dong contest ensued, being tied at 10-10 after 13 of the 15 scheduled ends.

Preece picked up two shots at the penultimate end but Wheatley, last year's main singles runner-up, fought hard on the last, and, with the last bowl in his hand, he laid two shots for a tie.

However, he failed to make his last wood count - thereby drawing the game and losing the title by shots-difference, by virtue of Preece's bigger margin of victory over Murray.

The Pairs final saw Riley, seeking a double, and Mal Bulmer lose 26-13 to Alan and Stuart Smith, of Holgate WMC.

The Smith twins opened a 7-0 lead and, although after nine ends the scores were 8-8, the comeback was shortlived as the Smiths lost only three more ends.

The Triples saw John Crowe's Holgate WMC team beat the day's only third division representatives, Trevor Scott's trio from Poppleton Road WMC.

After ten tight ends, Crowe's trio led 10-8, before a push saw them extend the gap to 17-11 after 15.

A four on the 16th meant Scott's team were only two behind with two to play, but Holgate WMC took them both heavily to win 23-15.

Crowe also won the Fours final against Pete Lund's quartet from Selby.

The start was again closely contested, being level at 9-9 after 11 ends, but the second half proved one-sided as Lund's rink scored only twice more and the Holgate WMC four won 23-12.

Meanwhile, Dave Imeson's Wigginton 'B' team have won the York Veterans' League division one title after beating West Park 'C' 20-12 while nearest rivals Haxby Road were losing to Barbican.

Wigginton's challenge for the Batagas Triples League title, however, took a fatal blow when they lost 73-45 at bottom club Hovingham, though they bounced back by beating third-placed Swinton 73-49.

Wigginton 'B' won division three of the midweek Ryedale Veterans' League after winning 80-62 at Huby. Kirkbymoorside are the division one champions.