EABAonline
The Amateur Billiard Player : August 1998

JUNIOR RANKING TOURNAMENTS

HARROGATE

10th May 1998

A disappointing turn out of only 11 players competed in this final event sponsored by Tim Godolphin of Claro Engineering Ltd of Harrogate who provided a substantial annual trophy and replicas for the finalists.

Jimmy Chambers (Ely) and Dean Bavister (Rushden) joined nine Teessiders in the line up.

Dean was a preliminary casualty to David Butler despite a 44 break. John Hartley had a 41 break when swamping Mark Coates and Darren Clark beat his regular practice partner Anthony Peacock.

Jimmy (40) beat David and John beat Darren in the first round proper, and were joined by Robin Wilson and Michael Price. Robin made the day's best score of 362.

Jimmy beat Michael in his semi final while John and Robin were involved in a great match. Robin with breaks of 40 & 51 overcame John, whose 53 was the best break of the day, by a margin of only 4 points.

The final, aptly played by the leading pair in the ranking list, saw Jimmy with a 60 point lead for a large portion of the game. Only in the last 10 minutes did Robin draw level and a cat 'n mouse game followed until Robin took a decisive late lead after a 27 break in the closing minute to seal victory.

Tony King took the Plate winners prize from Lee McKenna by a 26 point margin.

ENGLISH JUNIOR RANKING SERIES

Matthew Sutton (Kettering) suffered injuries when being somersaulted over his mountain bike handlebars after a roadside accident. His injuries, though thankfully not serious, prevented him from competing in the final event of the series and saw him overtaken by three other players in his quest for England Junior International status and was eventually listed at 9th.

After the opening round of the last event it was confirmed that the top three ranked players Robin Wilson, Jimmy Chambers and Dean Bavister could not be ousted from their standings.

John Hartley moved up to 4th and Darren Clark 5th while absentees Chris Brunskill dropped to 6th and Fraser Adams dropped to 7th while Lee McKenna moved up to 8th.

Overall 44 players were involved in the 5 events played with 30 of them being Teessiders. Fakenham, Lincoln, Raunds, Thornaby and Harrogate were the venues used.

The top four players are expected to form part of a future international squad in conjunction with the ABC international competitions.

RAUNDS

26th April 1998

Only 12 competitors took part in the Raunds event, including four Teessiders who travelled over 230 miles to compete. Robin Wilson set the scoring standard with five breaks around 40 to make 495 in the 1 hour game.

Robin made the day's highest break in a win over Matthew Sutton who made a 51 in defeat. Dean Bavister was in free scoring mood over Peter Gamblin, while John Hartley defeated Lincoln event finalist Matthew Lee.

John fell at the semi final stage to Dean while Robin beat Jimmy Chambers in a high scoring affair.

The winners prize and ranking list top-spot went to Robin after his win over Dean. Matt Lee took the Plate when beating Michael Price in the final.

Main Competition
Preliminary Round
R. Wilson
  
  
Matthew Sutton
67, 31
292  Darren Clark
164 

30  J. Chambers
 (42.39)
Fraser Adams
221  Wayne Bean
188 
Quarter finals
Robin Wilson
70, 50, 37
340  Matthew Sutton
51
268 
Fraser Adams
428  Jimmy Chambers
40, 30
325 
Dean Bavister
  
  
John Hartley
35
301  Matthew Lee
178 
Semi finals
Robin Wilson
59
404  Jimmy Chambers
56
360 
Dean Bavister
39
196  John Hartley
168 
Final
Robin Wilson
49, 40
279  Dean Bavister
176 
Plate Competition
Preliminary Round
Michael Price
225  Peter Gamblin
193 
Wayne Bean
200  Ashley Burton
121 
Semi finals
Michael Price
43
287  Wayne Bean
193 
Matthew Lee
253  Darren Clark
211 
Final
Matthew Lee
251  Michael Price
33
219