The penultimate ABC event of the season took place at the Newmarket Snooker Centre and Bowl in Suffolk and attracted an entry of 48 competitors.
The preliminary round saw some of the big names paired together, with England internationals Jim McCann and Darren Kell up against each other. A break of 86 made up over half of Darren's total score, as Jim cruised through, making a 54 of his own.
Steve Crosland made the highest score of the round, including breaks of 87 and 65 in a 425-129 win over Ely's Jimmy Chambers. Jimmy himself made a 65 break in the match.
Thirteen year-old Dominic Mulhall is certainly making a big impression of himself lately, and he produced a great break of 88 to beat Huddersfield's Tony Clegg 414-242. Another of the improving juniors is Lincoln's Rob Hall. He made breaks of 92 and 52 in a win over Chris Ross. Phil Welham (411) and Justin Cole (406) also had big scores in this round.
The first round proper saw Mark Hatton carry on his great season so far with a break of 162 in a 453-243 win over Rob Hall. Dave Burgess was scoring heavily in his game with Norman Routledge, Dave making five breaks over fifty. Phil Mumford, a newcomer to the ABC circuit this season, continued his push for an international place, with a 278- 160 win over Jim McCann, including breaks of 92, 56 and 51. The closest finish of the round was Michael Wright's 8 point win over Dominic Mulhall, whilst junior players Billy Bousfield and Callum Robinson both made it to the last 16 stage.
In the second round, Steve Crosland made a 97 to seal a win over Bousfield, whilst Teesside police officer Ron Bickerdyke reached the quarter finals for the first time with a 310-154 win over T. Grant. The clash of the round was between former English champion Phil Welham, and newcomer Phil Mumford. Breaks of 58 and 66 from Welham were not enough to stop the ex-snooker professional from going through, and it was his breaks of 96 and 64 that gave him a 296-253 win.
The quarter finals saw the fine run of Bickerdyke continue, as he beat Martin Phillips 220-108. Dave Burgess twice broke down in the nervous nineties in his win over Mark Hatton, whilst breaks of 64 and 63 from Steve Crosland ended the run of Phil Mumford. John Hartley completed the semi-final line up with a 276-212 win over Phil Davis, both players making breaks in the seventies.
Dave Burgess had no trouble reaching the final with a comfortable win over Bickerdyke. Breaks of 82 and 63 gave him a 420-92 win. In the other semi-final, John Hartley started well, and after a break of 85 he led Steve Crosland at the half way stage. However, a timely fluke pot red from the Burley-in-Wharfedale player left Hartley in his seat for almost 15 minutes, as Steve proceeded to make a wonderful break of 196, the highest of the day. Despite John's efforts to retrieve the situation, Steve went through with a 339-223 victory.
However, Steve couldn't carry his form into the final, as with only a top break of 50 he never really threatened Dave Burgess. A run of 135 from Dave helped him to a 324-203 win, and secured the fifth of this season's ABC titles.
Peter Shelley who had made breaks of 90 and 85 to produce a 30 minute total of 254 in the first round of the Plate, progressed to the final where he was defeated 315-214 by Jerry Conba in the one-hour game. Additional ranking points were also collected by Darren Kell and Robert Shanks who reached the semi-finals before losing to Shelley and Conba respectively.