JUNIOR RANKING SERIES

Raunds Cuesports, Northants.

Sunday 31st January 1999

Twenty-six entries drawn from six different counties gathered at the excellent Raunds Cuesports, Northants, for the second event of the season, which was generously sponsored by Vinescope Ltd; and Mr. Mark Wildman. All games were one hour duration.

Middlesbrough´s John Hartley was in fine form, producing breaks of 50 and 37 to defeat Paul Bean in the first round. He then made runs of 39, 38 an 37 to produce an aggregate of 398 in winning his second round match. Robin Wilson produced a break of 78 in this round, on the way to an aggregate of 412 points. However, it was James Chambers who set the highest aggregate of the competition with 418, which was also made in the second round.

Robin Wilson (Middlesbrough) looked to be moving into top gear as he put in breaks of 69 and 55 in his quarter final victory over Hartley. However, he crashed out by over 200 points to his great rival Matthew Sutton in the semi´s, the Kettering player making three breaks over fifty.

In a relatively low-scoring final, Cambridge player James Chambers completed a good victory when he defeated Sutton by just 13 points in a closely fought encounter.

Ben Hooton (Middlesbrough) and Calvin Daws (Norfolk) did well to reach the semi-finals and quarters respectively. At 12 years-old Daws was the youngest competitor taking part. This result moved Daws up to 4th in the overall Junior rankings. Jim Chambers moved to equal first place alongside Matthew Sutton, with Dean Bavister standing in third spot.

With the top four at the end of the season looking for a place in the national squad, a further group of three players are poised on equal 5th and will be sure to be fighting for their place in the England team.

Breaks Snooker Club, Lincoln

Sunday 21st March 1999

The third of this season's junior billiards ranking events at Lincoln, attracted a record entry of 39 competitors, substantially comprised of a contingent of 23 players who made the journey from Teesside. The preliminary round saw series leader Matthew Sutton include a break of 87 in his defeat of Darren Clark (Middlesbrough). The closest finish of the round came as Tony King—who was in play with a 42 break—finished just 4 points behind fellow Teessider Martin Shutt's total of 265 at the bell. James Chambers also included a break of 45 in winning his first game.

Robin Wilson, with breaks of 72 and 65, demolished Tony Lodge of Eston by a margin of 502-57 in the first round. Other big score's in the one-hour games came from Martin Shutt (354) and Dean Bavister (315). Gary Lewis made a break of 69 which helped him to a 42 point victory over Fraser Adams, and John Hartley included runs of 47 and 39 in his win.

The closest match of the second round saw David Wells from Norfolk, edge out Billy Bousfield (Middlesbrough) by just 10 points. Another exciting finish occurred in the quarter-finals where Martin Shutt made breaks of 64 and 57 against fellow Teessider Robin Wilson. Even so, Wilson´s consistent play enabled him to secure victory by 3 points in a high scoring game. Matthew Sutton took the opportunity for some revenge over James Chambers, knocking in runs of 74, 68 and 50 to win by 250 points in an impressive performance.

The semi-finals saw Robin Wilson in free-scoring mood once more as he included a break of 74 in compiling another massive aggregate of 499 against Danny Thompson. Matthew Sutton was also untroubled by the challenge of Dean Bavister as he joined his “old” adversary Robin Wilson in the final.

The final saw Matthew Sutton threaten the century mark as he built the day's highest break of 91, but he still went down to Wilson who put in a solid performance to win by 23 points.

The Junior season will conclude with two more events at Middlesbrough and Harrogate. The Middlesbrough tournament will be held at the Inn off the Park, on 25th April. Details of the Harrogate event have still to be confirmed, but it is expected to be held some time in May.