The first game of the Freeway Express Championship saw Ronaldsway Rockets move to the top of the table with last years winners Rushen coming through a tough battle to win their opening game 9-8.

The Rockets started with a defeat to Ramsey Rebels in the pairs, with John Jauncey & Moira Anderson winning 10-8. Emma Smith & Collin Holland soon levelled the match with a 10-4 victory in the second pairs game. The singles were also shared between the sides with Collin Holland & Chris Holland both winning their games 11-4 and 11-2 respectively. While John Jauncey and Eric Maddocks won 12-6 and 9-4. The match came down to the final game of fours and it was the Rockets who won it 13-4 to claim the bonus point as well to finish 11-6 winners overall.

The other game of the day saw Rushen win 9-8 in a close match against Colby Cosmos. Rushen won both the opening pairs games with Richard Faragher & Seamus Whelan winning 8-4 and Peter Coward & Stephen Gale securing a 12-8 victory. Colby started to fight back in the singles with Pauline Kelly winning 15-11 and Rita Woodworth winning her singles 10-6, but Stephen Gale and Seamus Whelan both took their singles games for Rushen 12-10 and 10-5 to give Rushen back the four point advantage. The fours game saw some excellent bowling with Colby coming out with a well deserved 7-3 win to finish with 8 points and narrowly missing out on the bonus point by 3 chalks.

Next week is the Ann Holligworth Triples with Rita Woodworth, Pauline Kelly & Ann Hollingworth hoping to defend their title.