The unpredictable nature of this season's ranking tournaments continued at Spondon where Peter Shelley emerged from the 52 entries to defeat Stephen Crosland in the final. After four events there have now been eight different players in the final round! Preliminary Round: The day started with the strong Teesside contingent showing well. Lee Lagan had breaks of 94, 68, 53 and 50 in compiling a 411-181 score against Michael Wright, while Allan Scott also made runs of 90, 52 and 50 to defeat Matthew Peaker 393-206.
Having received preliminary round byes, Philip Welham and Stephen Crosland now demonstrated that they were also in good form, winning 459-137 and 436-60 respectively. Crosland just missed out on a century when his best effort terminated at 96, but with additional runs of 76 and 64 he was never threatened by Billy Bousfield. Allan Scott made the first century of the day with a 121 and immediately followed this with another of 133 which would prove to be the highest of the event. These breaks assisted him to a 514-207 win over John Smith, who also contributed a run of 51 to this high-scoring game. Peter Shelley had a much closer encounter with Brian Harvey, eventually winning by just 18 points, both players recording 50+ breaks. In an even tighter finish, Lee Lagan's erratic season continued as he was unexpectedly defeated by Phil Davis 217-210.
Stephen Crosland continued to play well, breaks of 64, 54 and 51 helping him to a 352-204 win over Ken Jones (51), but as the other players seemed to relax after their first round exertions, it was left to Allan Scott to produce the highest break of the round with 74. This helped him to overcome Phil Davis 283-225.
Peter Shelley's match against Tony Done was the pick of the quarter-finals. Shelley looking impressive in a 425-244 victory which included breaks of 63 and 58. Jim McCann did well to edge out the new Teesside super-star, Allan Scott, by just 12 points—this despite a break of 66 from Scott. Stephen Crosland and Phil Welham were less troubled by their opponents and completed the semi-final line up with comfortable wins.
Peter Shelley, in a repeat of last year's English Championship Final, faced Phil Welham and breaks of 93 and 84 by Shelley were the deciding factor which enabled him to reverse that particular result, winning 310-198. Stephen Crosland also made it through to the final at the expense of Jim McCann, but was pushed all the way, breaks of 79 and 58 by the Yorkshireman helped him to get home 256- 206.
Peter Shelley and Stephen Crosland looked evenly matched throughout the final round, each recording a 60+ break. However, after 60 minutes play it was Peter Shelley who had establish a 38 point advantage, and took the winner´s cheque of £160 with a final score of 293-255. Crosland received £80 as runner-up and Allan Scott earned £25 for his high break of 133.
Lee Lagan came out on top of the 49 competitors at Newmarket, defeating Paul Dunning in the final to take the winner´s cheque. This capped a series of consistently fine performances by the Teesside player on a day which also saw many high quality matches throughout the draw.
The day had started well for Lagan, who had travelled from Teesside determined to make amends for what he considered to be "bad performances" in previous events this season. In winning his preliminary round match against Michael White, he included breaks of 120, 83 and 67 in a 398-184 scoreline. Also looking good were Tony Done who had two centuries (107, 105) in a 492-77 win over Steve Poynton, and Ivan Chambers who recorded a 412-184 victory over David Rees.
Billy Bousfield was one of three Teesside juniors taking part in the event, and he proved to be the most successful, progressing to the last 16 at the expense of Norman Wallace. A break of 51 in this round adding to one of 65 he had made in his preliminary match. Paul Dunning had a good win over Phil Welham which included breaks of 110 and 75. Welham also managed a century (100) in this match, but still finished the wrong side of a 283-237 scoreline. Lee Lagan meanwhile, was posting a huge score in his game against Ivan Chambers, breaks of 147, 86 and 54 helping him to a winning total of 553 points in his allotted 60 minutes. Other players scoring heavily were David Nichols with 499 (109, 68) and Stephen Crosland 417, who both progressed to the second round with crushing victories.
Paul Dunning ended the involvement of Billy Bousfield with a comfortable 305-121 win, but most of the excitement was concentrated in the other half of the draw. Here Lee Lagan and Peter Shelley put on a tremendous display, with the Teesside star coming out on top by a final score of 515-230. Lagan contributed breaks of 165, 123, 99 and 55 while Shelley added to the entertainment with runs of 71 and 56. Stephen Crosland made two century breaks (128, 115) to defeat Chris Carpenter 435-209 and David Nichols was no less impressive in his 448-123 win over Jimmy Chambers which included runs of 118 and 64.
Crosland and Nichols were a little more subdued when they were paired together in the quarter-finals. Nichols, with breaks of 73 and 60 coming out on top by 311-207. Lee Lagan however, was in full flow in his match against Brian Harvey. Breaks of 132, 108, 71 and 69 were enough to record the highest aggregate score of the day and leave the Wessex Champion trailing 588-225. Also joining the century makers was Darren Kell who put together a run of 102 in a narrow 19 point victory over fellow Teessider Mark Hatton. Paul Dunning completed the semi-final line-up with a 276-113 win over Phil Davis.
A fine break of 152 by David Nichols was not enough to stop Lee Lagan who made no less than three centuries of his own (166, 111, 112unf.) in an impressive 461-235 success. Paul Dunning had a more difficult time against Darren Kell, a break of 134 being a decisive factor in his narrow 15 point victory.
Paul Dunning showed no signs of being over-awed by his high scoring opponent, his first visit to the table producing 82 points. Lagan struggled to make any impression on this lead for some time, but suddenly turned the match around with consecutive visits which produced 48 and a magnificent 180. Now trailing by 165 points, Dunning responded with a break of 72, but there was insufficient time to close such a big gap and Lagan finished the winner 329-270. Match averages of 23.5 and 20.8 respectively, demonstrate the high standard of play. A total of 22 century breaks were made on the day, of which Lee Lagan contributed no less than ten! This individual performance could well be a record for ABC tournaments, but if not, is still an incredible feat. His six-hour aggregate of 2,835 points, made on six different tables, will take some beating as well. Of all these centuries, the highest of the day unusually came from the 30 minute plate competition. In the semi-final of this event, Michael White almost managed to achieve a doublecentury, failing at 195. This gave him a 248-36 win over David Rees and he went on to win the 60 minute final against Norman Routledge by 279-185. Routledge had reached the final by defeating Branson Hoole, who, earlier in the competition, had set the highest 30 minute aggregate with a total of 296.