Week 16 from 23 of the current Honda National League at the Eden SuperBowl saw Globalair Travel gain a full-point victory against DUWPA, allowing them to move up two places to sixth, while the latter drop to eighth as a result of their defeat.
Elsewhere, Aercomms took six points from Fina Excel, replacing the latter in the second spot, 24 points behind first.
Fina Excel are now in third place while sister team Fina First collected an easy eight points from Palatino to further extend their lead at the top.
Globalair Travel's victory over DUWPA hauled them away from the lower end of the first division while their opponents now find themselves in trouble after their decidedly shoddy performance.
DUWPA opened with a poor 622 game against a 679 from Globalair, but managed to improve to a 742 in the second and a 712 in game three.
Their improved games were still not good enough to get DUWPA onto the scoreboard as Globalair replied with respective winning games of 760 and 735 to complete the set. Globalair's Mark Bugeja rolled a 563, and Kenneth Arpa's 540 was DUWPA's best on the night.
Aercomms clashed with rivals Fina Excel in a crucial positional match, which resulted in the former taking a six-point win and snatching second place away from their opponents.
Excel had a strong first game, winning it 782-732 but then seemed to go to pieces in game two which they lost by 613 pins to Aercomms' 759.
Aercomms carried a 96-pin safety cushion into the third game, but that was surplus to requirement as they stepped their game up a gear to win 744-848 and take the series points by a straight 200 pins.
Paul Baldacchino took a solid 657 series for Aercomms, who are now two points ahead of Fina Excel in second place, and 24 down on the leaders. Melissa Anastasi shot a 603 total for Fina Excel.
Fina First's lead was further increased due to Excel's defeat, and also because of their convincing whitewash of Palatino who are down in 11th place.
Palatino kept it tight in game one which they lost by just 16 pins but were very much the lesser side from that point.
Fina First claimed the second with 723 pins against their opponents' 622, and then game three by a further 98 pins (778-680) to take the series with an advantage of 215 pins.
Dennis Mercieca rolled a 611 for the winners, while none of the Palatino side managed to surpass the 500-mark.
DAB Beer suffered a 2-6 defeat in their fixture against Ramis to seriously jeopardise their hopes of a trophy at the end of the season.
DAB lost the first game by a very small margin, 723-731, but then went down by a whacking 147-pin margin in the second to lose 643-790.
DAB could only hope to contain the damage in game three, and in fact managed a win (798-723) to obtain a consolatory two points from the encounter.
Evergreen Roy Swift was Ramis' best player on the day with his 559 series, and DAB's Mark Muscat rolled a 574 for his side.
There was a rare and surprising 6-2 victory for bottom side Vodka Cruiser against Maltacom KSSK, the latter also harbouring hopes of attaining some silverware in the current season.
Maltacom KSSK were stunned by a big 788 from their opponents in the first game, 103 better than their own effort of 685.
Vodka Cruiser also took game two with a score of 734 -658 to pile further pressure on the Maltacom side who were, by then, 179 pins down on the match and staring defeat in the face.
They rallied in the third, however, taking it by 30 pins (753-783) for a minor share of the points. Steve Falzon was man of the match for the winners with a 579 series, and David Debono took a 541 for Maltacom KSSK.
The match between Mizzi Organisation and Playzone ended in a four-all draw, in spite of Playzone winning two of the three games. Mizzi Org.'s high opening game of 811 against Playzone's 617 helped them on to the better total of the two to give them the series points.
Doris Camilleri was ladies' bowler of the week after shooting a 618 for Playzone, and Paul Gray had a good 626 for Mizzi Organisation.
Standings (week 16) - Fina First 106; Aercomms 82; Fina Excel 80; DAB Beer 69; Maltacom KSSK, Globalair Travel 64; Ramis 63; DUWPA, Playzone 56; Mizzi Organisation 50; Palatino 46; Vodka Cruiser 32.
Bowlers of the Week - Paul Baldacchino (657) Aercomms; Doris Camilleri (618) Playzone.