King sees best days still ahead of him | Rural

It's five years since Napier shearer Dion King set the world nine-hour lambshearing record, and almost another year since he won the ultimate prize, the Golden Shears Open.

But at 35, ominously for his opponents, he reckons he's entering the best years of his shearing career, after winning both the Northern Southland Community Shears title on the longwool at Lumsden and the New Zealand Crossbred Lambshearing title at the Winton A&P; Show.

The wins came just 24 hours apart, on Friday and Saturday, and established King as a true contender for world championships selection. He also won a speedshear at Otautau last Thursday.

A fortnight earlier King was runner-up in the national lambshearing championship final in Raglan to fellow Napier gun John Kirkpatrick.

The favourite for the southern events, defending champion at both venues and going for the double for at least a fifth time, Kirkpatrick didn't cover the air fares at the weekend, missing out on a place in the Lumsden final and managing just fifth in a 20-lamb Winton final in which one cut cost him the chance of winning.

He did however return to winning form on Sunday, at the Horowhenua Show, where world champion Waipawa shearer Cam Ferguson's third place was some redemption after failing to reach either southern final.

The Bay featured on the prizelist at all five of the far-flung shows from Friday to Saturday, with two others also claiming two wins each.

Porangahau teenager Anaru Wakefield made his Junior breakthrough at Tauranga on Saturday and repeated the success at Levin the next day, while Hastings-based Jack Robinson from Ireland won the Senior final at the Wairoa Show on Saturday and also Levin.

The other wins went to Tysson Hema, of Waipukurau, in the senior final at Tauranga, and new show-performer Ben Nicholson, in the Wairoa Junior final.

King's maximum points for two days' work rocketed him up the world championships selection series table from 14th last week to be all-but safe at No4 with three rounds to go before the series final in Gore.

He said "it's not the end of the world" if he doesn't make the two-man machine shearing team for the worlds in Masterton in March.

"There could be three different New Zealand teams named in the next couple of months.

"I wouldn't actually mind going back to the UK."

King has now won four open finals this summer, including the Romney Shears in Australia and the Great Raihania Shears in Hastings, while Kirkpatrick has won six finals.

He was first to finish both finals, cutting the 20 ewes out in 17m 17s on Friday, with a 10-second margin to second-man-off Matthew Smith, and on Saturday blew 20 sizeable lambs away in 15m 34s, eight seconds ahead of Kirkpatrick.

With the near challengers both dropping away amid the clicking of the judges' counters, King led home the same trifecta on each day, Te Kuiti evergreen David Fagan was runner-up and local hope Nathan Stratford, third.

Stratford maintained his lead in the series, with Kirkpatrick and Fagan next reigning World champion Cam Ferguson dropped to fifth, after failing to reach either final.

Hastings-based Northlander and New Zealand Open champion Rowland Smith climbed into the 12 for the first time after placing fourth in the lambs final.

The absence of the big guns in the south provided plenty of opportunity for others at such shows as Wairoa, notably Tama Niania, of Gisborne, getting his maiden top-class win, to whom competition organiser Bart Hadfield was runner-up.

Former world champion Joanne Kumeroa, of Whanganui, won the Lumsden woolhandling final. She missed out by one place on the Winton final, which featured a return to winning form by Joel Henare, of Gisborne.

Reigning world champions Sheree Alabaster, of Taihape, and Keryn Herbert, of Te Awamutu, had mixed results, appearing in one final each. Alabaster was third to Kumeroa and Monica Potae, of Milton, while Herbert was runner-up to Henare.

A feature of the weekend was the number of overseas competitors making their marks in finals, buoyed perhaps by England world championships woolhandling representative Natalie Crisp's winning of the national junior lambshearing final at Raglan on January 7.

Three more victories came at the weekend with Hastings-based Northern Ireland shearer Jack Robinson winning senior titles at both Wairoa and Levin, and English shearer Dean Nelmes claiming the intermediate title at Tauranga on Saturday, beating Kaeo's Bryce Guy in a final in which Welshman Digger Lewis was third.