AMATEUR BILLIARDS CIRCUIT
Derby
The first of the season's Amateur Billiards Circuit (ABC) Tournaments attracted 42 entrants to Derby's Corn Exchange Snooker Centre.
Dean Bavister was the only junior entrant and he was an early loser to Ron Haigh. Teesside 18 year old's Richard Bezance and Lee Halpin made their ABC debuts, but also were early losers to Colin Routledge and Steve Crosland.
In a day that saw limited break making there were seven 50 plus efforts in the preliminary round matches.
The Competition
English Amateur Champion, Paul Bennett made runs of 60 and 73 when beating Richard Ingram, and Branson Hoole had a 55 when losing to David Nichols. Steve Day included a 50 in his win over Brian Cousen, while Lee Lagan had breaks of 55 and 57 when beating Jim McCann. Jamie Moore had a 55 in his hefty win over Chris Hudson.
Tom Terry had an emphatic win over Ron Whitten, but then lost out to John Rees who had earlier beaten Martin Phillips.
Ron Haigh followed his opening win with another victory when beating Norman Routledge, who had beaten Ellis Lloyd in the opener.
CIU Individual Champion, Darren Kell, started a run to the final by beating Ivan Stevenage then Phil Welham.
Neal Rewhorn had 54 and 53 breaks but still lost out 245 - 219 to Mark Hatton. Bill Andress was just 4 points behind Peter Shelley's 267 score when the bell sounded.
David Rees and David Watts accounted for Jock McGregor and Derek Richardson in comfortable manner. Tournament administrator Derrick Townend quickly returned to pen work after an heavy defeat by Paul Dunning.
Graham Norman (65 break) pulled off a major coup when beating English Masters Champion, Brian Harvey. Malcolm Gregory beat Joe Bird, and Richie Evans accounted for Phil Davis.
Michael White (50 and 56 breaks) ended Jamie Moore's involvement, while Lee Lagan took out Steve Day. Paul Bennett (50 and 58) stopped Dave Nichols further progress.
Paul had little answer to fellow Teessider Lagan, who had runs of 66,59 and 54 in his 379 - 204 win.
White beat Evans, and Crosland was an easy victor over Gregory. Dunning had 53 and 55 breaks when beating Norman, and Watts lost out to David Rees.
Peter Shelley had a 52 break when beating Colin Routledge, while John Rees ended Haigh's further involvement.
Darren Kell faced another Teessider in Mark Hatton and made the day's highest break of 89 to add to runs of 51 and 58, winning 373-129.
Darren was equally emphatic with a 372 - 150 win over John Rees, thanks to a run of 70. Namesake David Rees also went out to Shelley. Crosland meanwhile accounted for Dunning, and Lagan with a 69 break beat White.
The semi-final put Lagan against Crosland, and Shelley against Kell. Lagan had not scored less than 300 points in his games to date, but this time managed only 203. Crosland was only marginally better with 212. Kell made 284 and was largely untroubled by Shelley's 141 total.
The final was not the highest scoring of matches, despite a 61 Kell break. A run of 25 took Darren to within 3 points of Steve Crosland's 241, when the bell sounded to end the event, leaving Steve to pick up the winner's prize.
The Plate
Phil Welham, with 86 and 71 breaks, beat Bill Andress in the Plate final. Phil had earlier tied the plate semi-final game against Brian Harvey and played extra time to win. Andress had beaten Lloyd in the other semi-final.
