Dave Burgess was hardly a surprise winner of the recently held annual Portsmouth billiards championship, he had after all won the title for the previous eight years. It was the manner of his victory and the high breaks that caught the eye. In his semi against Steve Kearns, Dave made a break of 193, a record for the event, at his second visit to the table and further runs of 76, 70, 67 and 51 ensured a 500-103 victory.
In the final against local stalwart Stan Pitts, honours were even at the halfway stage with no significant contributions from either player when Dave embarked on a break of 259, breaking the record for a second time that day and leaving him just 18 points short of his eventual victory target which was secured at his next visit to guarantee a ninth successive title by the margin of 600-292. What makes this achievement even more noteworthy is that business commitments as an international sales director mean that Dave is abroad on an almost weekly basis and therefore hardly ever has the time to practice let alone get any competitive matchplay!