Kirkpatric shear class at show

2nd November 2009

Napier shearer John Kirkpatrick,  current New Zealand open champion, won the Wairarapa Spring  Shears Open title at Clareville,  near Carterton, at the weekend.

Kirkpatrick, a shock early elimination when he failed to make the  final of the event when it was revived last year, suffered a similar fate last week at his home  Great Raihania Shears in Hastings.

But on Saturday, in a four-man  final, he polished-off 13 sheep in 11m 58s, half-a-minute quicker  than the second man off the board.  When all points were counted, he  finished with a four-point margin over runner-up and fellow  Hawke's Bay shearer Cam  Ferguson, of Waipawa.