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PONTINS TEAM HOLD THEIR NERVE
Saturday 24th March 2007, after no less than 252 frames of snooker and nearly 17 playing hours of English Billiards three teams emerged victorious. The Senior Snooker was won by the narrowest of margins by a team of young guns Grant Cole, Matt Williams, both from Plymouth and Darren Bond, Tiverton representing Pontins International Snooker Team. The Youth (U21) Snooker also went close with Cornwall taking the spoils. The Billiards event resulted in a Cornish double with Cornwall romping to victory. The tournament was promoted and hosted at Rileys, Plymouth and sponsored by Rileys, Jersey Billiards & Snooker Association, Crownhill Taxis Services, Challenger Tyre Services & the West of England Billiards & Snooker Foundation (WEBSF). The WEBSF Management Team aided by Referees from around the region and Team Managers worked tirelessly to organise and run the event which proved to be a resounding success on all fronts. The event began with a civic reception with the Lord Mayor Mr Michael Fletcher and Lady Mayoress in the Mayor's Chambers where both parties exchanged gifts and pleasantries. The innovative format of the competition was designed to maximise the amount of play and competition. This also proved to be a recipe for nail biting snooker for most of the afternoon. As the day progressed of the twelve teams four pulled away edging neck and neck towards the winning line, each taking turns to hold the lead. It wasn't until the final frames that the winners emerged. The first of the four to show signs of flagging were Cuestars, a team made up of top players from the southern half of England, at one point they looked to be the team to beat, forging ahead, but they faded in the closing stages. This left Rileys Newport, Rileys Exeter and Pontins to fight it out. In the final run in, it was the young Pontins team that held their nerve to win by just a single point in what was the closest of contests. The other two teams finished equal second and after a single frame shoot out, Rileys Newport secured second place.
BRITTON'S CENTURY BREAKS
Gary Britton (Jersey) showed his team the form required to compete at International level by recording two of the three century breaks that were made on the day. His first came early on against England International Kris Vincent, a magnificent 120 clearance, which sent a real sense of excitement around the Rileys matchroom. Britton's second century was against Welsh International John Payne from Rileys, Newport in Wales. Britton was 36 points down before he once again found his touch constructing a fine 103. This served to inspire Payne who in a later frame posted a superb 116 clearance against Steve Thomas from Jersey D. Jersey A beat Riley's Plymouth 4-2. Jersey team captain Karl Le Fevre won both his frames, these were soon cancelled out by Michael Day, Plymouth who beat the in-form Britton. Jersey A then lost 1-5 to Pontins, Britton being the only winner against Matt Williams helped with a break of 57. Jersey A also lost by the same score to hot shots from the South of England, Cuestars. Britton, Jersey was first to notch up a win with a break of 45 but Cuestars came back via Ryan Mears (47 break) and Daniel Hildyard won both their frames to win the match 5-1. (next page)
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