West Bowling moved to just one point behind National Conference Division One leaders Ince Rose Bridge following a sparkling eight-try romp over Askam at the Bankfoot Oval.

The writing was on the wall for the Cumbrian visitors as early as the fourth minute when a simple cross-field passing move saw centre Martin Tordoff coast through a gap.

Loose forward Ricky Helliwell, who was to prove Askam's tormentor in chief, then broke clear out wide and his inside pass put hooker Sha Basha on a long galloping run to the uprights to leave scrum half Steve Illingworth a simple conversion.

Askam rallied strongly and after pounding the line for three sets of six, scrum half Dave High spotted the chance to burrow over from acting half.

Second-row forward Ryan Carter slotted over the extra two, which stung West's back into try mode immediately and stand-off Gareth Cullerton ducked under a high tackle to find the ever-willing Basha backing up on his inside.

West's superiority was increasingly apparent and only two last-ditch tackles from full back Stu Tippett prevented centre Danny Ramsden and Helliwell from crossing the chalk.

The relentless pressure finally told when giant prop Gareth Shepherd used every ounce of his considerable bulk to crash under the uprights to close the half 22-6 in Bowling's favour.

It was more of the same on the restart when Helliwell was felled inches short and his wild pass to wingman James Dewhurst wasted a certain score, but he quickly made amends for his faux pas with a smart off-load to Illingworth, who scurried in at the side of the posts.

The roles were reversed shortly afterwards with the scrum half as the provider as the scoreboard clicked merrily along. And vastly experienced former Salford Red and Keighley Cougar Helliwell brought up the 40-point mark when he proved impossible to stop from ten yards out for his second.

Illingworth marked a successful return from injury when he slid over for his brace after collecting a Basha pass and promptly slotted over his seventh conversion.

A weary Askam grabbed a consolation effort when Tippett won a kick and chase but they were outclassed by an impressive Bowling outfit who now sit

third in the table and menacingly placed in the race for promotion.