Junior Ranking Series (Northern Region)

Top Spot SC; Huddersfield

Event Two - Sunday 4th November 2001

Robin Wilson emerged victorious from a 28-strong field at the Top Spot Club in Huddersfield. Most of the competitors travelled from Teesside and contributed to a day of outstanding junior performances. Wilson was straight into action making two centuries and three more breaks over fifty to overwhelm Callum Robinson 535- 84 in their first round match. Michael Donnelly also chipped in with a break of exactly 100 against Jeff Henderson, winning this match 444- 192. This was Donnelly's first competitive century and now he has broken this important barrier it can expected that his natural talent will quickly carry him much further in the game. As if to emphasise this point, three days later he made his personal record break of 139 in a practice game against Darren Murrell at his Middlesbrough Club.

Stephen Hassack won the Plate with one of the best performances of the day.

Co-incidentally, Murrell was Donnelly's victim in the second round of this tournament, breaks of 45 and 42 taking him through to a 335-244 win. However, it was Wilson who produced the highest score in the round, four breaks over fifty helping him to a 410-211 win over Craig Brown.

Similar performances in the quarter and semi-finals saw Wilson and Donnelly through to face each other in the final round. This proved to be a high quality, but disappointingly one- sided encounter, as Wilson hit the front with breaks of 47 and 53 in his first two scoring visits and thereafter was never threatened. Wilson piled on the pressure with runs of 54, 53, 63 and 49 putting the match well out of reach for his opponent. However, Donnelly showed his character with a finely worked effort of 86—the highest of the match—which helped to make the final score a little more respectable at 505-230.

MAIN COMPETITION (One hour)

The Plate event produced one of the best contests of the day when Stephen Hassack and John Hall met in the 30 minute semi-final. Hall who had been consistently producing 200+ totals in his previous rounds, knocked in breaks of 60 and 39, but Hassack replying with runs of 54, 45 and 34 won an exciting match 194-158. Hassack went on to defeat Lee Wilson 302-187 in the one-hour final, highlighting his performance with breaks of 54 and 47.