JUNIOR RANKING SERIES

The Manhattan Club, Harrogate (Sunday 30th May 1999)

The final junior ranking event of the season was held in Harrogate with all but one of the 21 entries coming from Teesside. Jimmy Chambers being the only competitor to venture North.

In the preliminary round, North Ormesby player Danny Thompson had a 32 break in defeating Jason Thomas, but Cambridge's Jimmy Chambers was the highest scorer of the round, making an aggregate of 299 in his one-hour match.

In the next round, Chambers included a break of 40 to beat David Phillips, whilst Thompson edged out his team-mate Tony King by just 21 points. Ben Hooton and Billy Bousfield, who both play for the Elm Tree in Teesside, were drawn together in the first round. A 49 break from Ben playing a decisive part in his 81 point victory.

Nine-year-old Paul Close of Eston Institute became the youngest ever competitor in a junior ranking event, but he could make no impression on the more experienced Mark Coates from Ormesby, who finished a comfortable winner. At ten years old, Dominic Mulhall is also one of the youngest competitors. He made a good showing against Chris Appleton, but his 139 points were insufficient to keep pace with the TUC player, who finished a winner by nearly half the game.

Martin Shutt, knew that he needed to reach the final of this event if he was to break into the top four rankings and secure automatic selection for international duty. He began this task confidently, registering break of 40 in a comfortable victory over Michael Wright of Hemlington. Darren Clark defeated his Eston Institute practise partner Anthony Peacock, while last year's winner Robin Wilson opened his competition with a solid 332-236 win over Craig Murphy.

The quarter-finals saw Wilson make the day's highest break of 97 to defeat Danny Thompson, and Martin Shutt was a narrow 20 point winner over Darren Clark. Chris Appleton reached his first semi-final after beating Mark Coates, whilst Ben Hooton went down to Cambridgeshire´s representative, Jimmy Chambers, who made a 35 break.

In the semi-finals, Appleton wasn't given a chance by Chambers, who never seemed in difficulty, winning by over a hundred points. On the other table, Wilson slipped into top gear against Shutt, producing breaks of 44, 42, 32, 30 and 25 in a 386-179 victory

In a repeat of last year's final, Wilson won a low-key encounter with a top break of only 36. This victory ensured that he retained his No.1 ranking position for another season.

Due mainly to a lack of response from local players, it has been decided to discontinue the use of the Harrogate venue from next season´s Junior circuit. However, the trophy generously donated by the sponsors for this event will now be presented to the top ranked player of the season. Coincidentally, Robin Wilson has won both the Harrogate competition and topped the Junior rankings for the last three seasons, and the trophy is therefore already suitably engraved.

In the Plate competition, 10 year-old Dominic Mulhall put up a good performance, fighting his way through to the final where he easily defeated his 17 year-old Ormesby team-mate, Max Cook, 100-55.