AMATEUR BILLIARDS CIRCUIT
All games one-hour
Atack S.C. Nuneaton (Sunday 12th November 2000)
With the World Open Billiards taking place in Middlesbrough, the usual entry of Teesside players was absent from the Nuneaton ABC, which nevertheless attracted 49 competitors.
The top performance of the preliminary round came from local player, Neal Rewhorn, who put together breaks of 168, 98 and 64 to overwhelm the unfortunate Ian Dennis 469-94. Perhaps the greatest shock came when the current English Champion, Phil Welham, was convincingly defeated by young Matthew Sutton, who included a 67 break in his 266-121 win.
Sutton was again in fine form in his next match against Eric Gratton, breaks of 78, and 55 (twice), seeing him through to a comfortable 341-85 result. A break of 88 by Brian Harvey could not prevent the Wessex Champion going out to Tony Done, who had a run of 69 himself in winning by 45 points. Paul Dunning, having avoided the preliminary draw, entered the competition with a bang, registering the highest break of the day with a run of 182. His opponent, John White, could do little more than watch as Dunning added another break of 73 to complete a 437-71 victory.
Paul Dunning's run came to an end in the very next round, when he failed to overcome Tony Done, finishing on the wrong side of a 245-190 scoreline. Matthew Sutton also showed little sign of his earlier form, going out to Michael White 256-145. Neal Rewhorn was less troubled as he brushed aside the challenge of David Nichols to progress to the quarter finals. Breaks of 77 and 63 eased his way to a 320-194 victory. In the battle of the "Loose Cannons" Bill Andress also put up a good performance when he ousted Peter Shelley with an impressive 346-187 scoreline.
Jim McCann, who had previously disposed of Stephen Crosland by a narrow 19 point margin, now accounted for Michael White with a somewhat more comfortable 211-174 win. Also through went Neal Rewhorn and Tony Done, both looking in good form as they defeated Norman Routledge and Ivan Chambers, respectively. The semifinal line-up was completed by Bill Andress with a 298-225 victory over Dennis Marr.
Jim McCann was again scoring well in his semi-final encounter against Tony Done. His consistency was enough to see him through 303-207, despite an 83 break from Done. Neal Rewhorn, who had managed to score a break of 70+ in every round so far, continued his sequence with a 74 against Bill Andress, winning easily, 383-168.
Jim McCann had last appeared in an ABC final in the corresponding fixture of 1997 when he lost to Stephen Crosland and based on the day's performances, looked favourite to be on the losing side again. However, McCann rose to the occasion, and as Rewhorn's scoring touch suddenly deserted him, he carried off a fine victory by 259-197. This earned him £150 from the total of £480 of prize money presented on the day. Rewhorn took £75 as runner-up and Paul Dunning received £25 for his high break of 182.
Phillip Welham made some amends for his early exit by taking the Plate competition, defeating John Smith in the one-hour final by 299-172, which included a break of 96. Geoff Lingard and Johnny Hills were the semi-finalists in this event.