HOLGATE Clubbers beat Haxby Road Rockets to regain the Super 7 Bowls Trophy at York's Railway Institute.

Clubbers, who had been beaten by Railway Locos last year, had reached the final for the fifth consecutive season.

The Rockets, meanwhile, have now been beaten in the last six finals.

Clubbers got off to the best possible start thanks to the pairings of John Crowe/Peter Jackson and Stuart Smith/Gary Lewington.

Smith and Lewington won four ends in a row to go from 6-4 down to 11-6 up against Rockets' Brian White and Steve Cain only for White and Cain to respond with five shots in the next two ends for 11-11.

It was 12-12 before Smith and Lewington won the 15th and 16th and the match 15-12.

There was an extraordinary pairs contest on the next rink as Crowe and Jackson powered to a 10-1 lead after five ends against Jan Suchecki and Gary Bunce but the latter recovered to 5-12 at the eight end change-over only to go 6-14 behind with five to play.

However, a storming finish of eight shots in the last three ends gave the Rockets duo a thrilling 16-15 result.

Ultimately, it was the Clubbers' triple of Rich Ellis, Alan Smith, and Steve Lea who put the brakes on a Rockets' recovery on the two pairs rinks.

John Stroughair, Jeff Dobbin, and Roy Robinson were at 5-0 after two ends for Rockets against Ellis, Smith and Lea but the five and ten end change-overs in Super 7 triples are often pivotal as one team can lose momentum as the other receives a boost from the shuffling of positions.

With the Clubbers' trio just 10-8 in front, and four ends still to go, Ellis, Smith and Lea (who was now skippering) scored a magnificent 7 on the 12th, setting up not only an 18-12 success on their rink but the return of the Super 7 Trophy to New Lane.