Toner on song for Hill’s upset

BELL Post Hill handled the tough conditions better to upset top team City of Geelong in Division 1 on Saturday.

The eighth-placed team’s win, by 20 shots, enabled Drysdale to reclaim top spot for the first time since Round 10 after its 12-shot win over Belmont.

The trip to Bell Post Hill is always difficult for two reasons — the synthetic surface is slick and the venue is very exposed to the wind.

BPH spokesman Paul Standaert acknowledged that was pretty much a deciding factor in the win.

The result was important to the home side as it now has a buffer in its bid to avoid relegation.

Ben Toner, who was skipping only his fourth game for the season in this side, now has a win to add to an earlier draw.

His win was an impressive one over Aaron Hyatt, whose rink had won nine of the previous 14 games.

The home side picked up three rink wins over the top side.

The other significant game was the St Leonards’ home clash with Torquay, where St Leonards won by 26 shots.

It puts Torquay’s finals hopes on a knife’s edge.

The club should bounce back against ninth-placed Belmont next week, but finishes the season with tough games against Drysdale (top) and Ocean Grove (third).

Geelong Cement is only three points behind Torquay with winnable games against Highton (next week) and Bell Post Hill ( Round 18) bookending a trip to Ocean Grove.

St Leonards (sixth) is 13 points behind Torquay and meets City of Geelong next week, but runs home with matches against Leopold and Highton.

The race for top spot might go to the final round when Drysdale travels to City of Geelong, but it also faces Ocean Grove and Torquay in the next fortnight.

CoG plays St Leonards and Belmont in the next two rounds.