EXCITEMENT BUILDS

THURSDAY, Manjimup
The current New Zealand Cherry Stone Spitting Champion has arrived in Manjimup, Western Australia, pumped, aggressive, ready.
In a blatant and provocative move, as soon as Mike Bassett got out of the car on arrival at the Manjimup Tourist Centre, he spat.
The town is hot, well, cold, because the weather refuses to cooperate, but the town's cherry growers are promissing cherries from the Southern Forests Region.
These folk don't promise unless they can deliver. They will deliver.
And the current local champ, Mark Mr Big Vitler, from Mt Barker, is angry.
He lost in an awkward moment in Cromwell NZ and is determined to wrest back the trophy he never held.
It should be an exciting day, a day of big spits, a day of cherries, happiness, goodwill and exhuberance.
And the weather?
The gods have laps, and they keep them to themselves.