Pool B: Wynyard wins in wind
New Zealand lumberjack breezes through
Pool B event by event and overall results
LEHI, Utah—Lumberjack sports fans expect wood chips to fly at a STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Professional Series event presented by Carhartt. But during Friday's first round of championship qualifiers, face-chapping 36-mph wind gusts felt like they spread chunks of white pine clear across the entire Utah valley.
After the nearly unblemished performance by Wynyard on Friday, Australian Justin Beckett finished the day five points behind the leader in second place. In third place, 6'6" Melbourne resident Laurence O'Toole posted 31 points. Edging out fellow Canadian Jean-Pierre Mercier, Gaston Duperre will now make travel plans for the championships in Columbus, Ga. after the 49-year-old's 28-point performance sealed the fourth and last spot in Pool B.
Wynyard's only stumble came during the day's last event. During a demonstration the night before his competition day, he threw a chain on his custom, high-powered saw and damaged several teeth.
"I was up until midnight last night working on that hot saw," Wynyard said after the only event where he did not finish.
The bulky New Zealander did manage to reattach the chain overnight but failed to start the engine in time to score points during Friday's last event. But even without a functioning hot saw, Wynyard still won his pool by two overall points — a result of earning eight points from the springboard, stock saw, standing block and underhand chop events, and seven points in the stock saw.
Following the leader
"I'm happy now it's all done with," Beckett said about also qualifying for the next round in Columbus. "I think I did pretty well in the stock saw and hot saw, but it was tough on the springboard."
After Beckett packed away his single buck saw, he stopped to look at the pages of results barely hanging on to the corkboard just outside the competitors' tent before jumping into a SUV and heading for the shelter of his hotel room.
Still packing up inside the tent, O'Toole took a minute to reflect on his day as the last few competitors cleared the flapping canvas structure.
"I need to get better at sawing," he said. "On the springboard, I did well but just average on everything else. I'm excited to make the finals, but I'll really need to do a lot better."
Pool B's most dramatic storyline played out on Friday as Quebec native Duperre picked up his heavy, self-made contraption and headed to the stage for the last event. Going into the hot saw event, the lumberjack was clinging to a 5-point lead on his fellow countryman J.P. Mercier and needed to finish better than 6th place to capture the coveted fourth spot.
"I was not really nervous," Duperre said in a thick Canadian French accent. "Only if I was having mechanical issues would I be nervous."
Running it prior to his name being called, Duperre's hot saw was working well. When it came time to compete on stage, the meticulous care he took of his machine paid dividends.
"The mechanics all worked well," he said about his self-admitted strongest event. "I just needed three good cuts."
The second half of Pool B, Mercier, Cecil Starr, Rick Halvorson and Paul Pfenninger, were each eliminated from championship contention.
Speed climbing success
"I was a little cold, and I think I got hung up on the top," Bartow said about his wind-whipped climb. "At the last, it (the safety rope) caught a cable on the back side."
Even with the slip-up at the top, Bartow still made it down in time to beat eighth seed Shane Sabin in the bracketed event.
"He definitely scared me," the tree-climber said about the effort made by the competitor on the other pole.
