Charteris' Albert Sainsbury took his second Eastern Counties Championship when defeating Tony Mathews of Lincoln in the one hour final at the Newmarket Snooker Centre.
Earlier, Salisbury had defeated three times champion Philip Welham (Westacre), the holder, in the semi-finals in a close game. Mathews who excelled to reach a championship final that only seven other players have ever reached, defeated 22 year old David Nichols (Erpingham) in an equally close game.
Ivan Chambers of Ely retained his plate championship beating team-mate Gordon Maze in the final.
In the junior Championship, a record 16 entries contested, with the standard very high. Kettering's Matthew Sutton took his first major title, defeating the current English No. 1 junior, Jim Chambers (Ely) by 232-219 in the final, including breaks of 56 and 51. Sutton defeated Dean Bavister (Rushden) 188-148 in the quarter finals, and Lincoln's Gavin Whittle 319-154 in the semi's. Chambers defeated Raunds Wayne Gardner 306- 115 in the Quarter's and then Fraser Adams (Raunds) 336-172 in the semi's. The form of Sutton (14) and Chambers (15) is continually improving and"big things"are expected of them in this year's British Boy's and Junior's Championships.
As a whole, the championships were again very successful with 39 entries in the main event—not quite a record—but a healthy number. The conditions at Newmarket were, as usual, excellent and the competition healthy.
Next year the Eastern Counties Association hopes and expects to see entries from Essex and the North Lincolnshire/South Humberside area.
Cambridge took the"A"division title from Mid Norfolk with Newmarket (a) in 3rd and Norwich (a) taking the wooden spoon. Philip Welham, topped the highest break list with a 166 from Fos Wilson 134 and Albert Salisbury 113. Thirteen players made breaks over 50 and this was achieved 52 times in the 12 league fixtures. Philip and Fos also headed the highest scoring list with 618 and 602 totals from Denis McGuigan 529, Ivan Chambers 519 and Albert Salisbury 468.
League 2A was won by Lincoln (a) by a single point from Alby. Boston were 3rd and Norwich (b) a long way last. David Nichols 110 break just pipped the 109 by John Carman. 45 breaks over 50 were made by 10 different players.
Phil Johnson was the divisions top scorer with 607 from John Carman 537, David Nichols 515, Derick Chessum 498, Nigel Salmon 471, Ian Cotter 466 and Colin Payne 427.
League 2B went to Lincoln 'B' who beat Lincoln (C and Newmarket 'B' by 5 points with Raunds their wooden-spoonists 1 point further behind. Matthew Sutten, aged 15, was the divisions highest break maker with a 76 from Derick Ellis (73) and Simon Bean (69), Derick and Simon topped the highest scorers list with 542 and 445 scores respectively. Dean Bavister, aged 17 was the highest junior scorer with 353.