30^th May 2009
The atmosphere at Victoria Snooker Centre, Plymouth was soon filled with the sound of exited young snooker players from around the region, all keen to compete in the 4^th annual Bronze Waistcoat Finals Day and chance their arm at wining the coveted title of West of England Billiards & Snooker Foundation Bronze Waistcoat Champion 2009. After 177 frames of snooker Jake Stewart (Falmouth) emerged victorious defeating Will Blackmore (Exeter) 2-0 in the final. The day started out with four groups of six qualifiers from Exeter, Plymouth, Redruth & Falmouth. In group A of the round robin stages Blackmore and Carl Mitchell (Redruth) where the first to qualify for the knock-out stages well in front of the rest of the group. Blackmore put together a string of breaks in the 20's & 30's. Peter Beckwith and Connor Williams from Plymouth and Falmouth respectively, finished a credible third & fourth respectively. Haydon Pinhey was dominant in group B after a shaky start against Aiden Johns (Redruth) and Dan Legassick (Plymouth). Devon under 16 champion Legassick took second spot edging out the man in-form coming into the tournament, Jay Bullen from Exeter into third place. Bullen was a casualty of probably the toughest group on the day. Fourth place went to George Leakey from Falmouth. This group produced a flurry of modest breaks in the 20's & 30's. The current holder Adam Gallen from Exeter and former champion Stewart finished well ahead of the rest in group C. Gallen posting four breaks in the 20's and Stewart breaks of 57, the best of the day, 39, 31 and two clearances 32 & 25. Stewart won the group on aggregate points count-back. Third and fouth places went to Chris Coumbe (Plymouth) and Jack Vivian (Falmouth). Cody Hall from Plymouth was arguably a surprise winner of group D finishing in front of one of the favourites Michael Rogers from Taunton. However, Rogers came top of his group in the breaks department with a handful of 20 plus breaks and a 43. Adam Lewin (Plymouth) came third and Falmouth champion Steven Hull fourth.

The knock-out stages saw the cream of the crop rise to the top. The biggest shock resulting from the group stages was the exit of Bullen who had come into the tournament very much the player in-form. Bullen was philosophical in defeat and remains a hot tip for future tournaments. The first quarter final match gave Stewart his first scare as Legassick took him to a final frame shoot-out. However, Legassick fouled the blue at a crucial point when he had the result at his mercy gifting Stewart the frame and match. Legassick remained upbeat in defeat and will have learned a valuable lesson for future challenges. Pinhey made light work in beating reigning champion Gallen 2-0. Gallen suffering from sunburn never found the inspiration he showed in wining last years championship. Rogers looked very much in control to bring to an end a very good day's work from Hall. Rogers won the match 2-0. Blackmore and Mitchell produced a nail biter. Blackmore held his game together the better to win 2-1 against a very tough competitor. Stewart again found the going tough in his next semi final match, he eventually edged out Pinhey 2-1 to book his place in his third regional final in a row. In the other semi final Rogers seemed to loose focus and fail to pot balls that he would normally find well within his capability. Blackmore was quick to capitalise on this going on to win a close match 2-1. The final was a bit of an anti-climax resulting from both players having played their best snooker in earlier rounds of the competition. The overall highest break prize was won with a fine 64 made by Jay Bullen earlier in the Exeter series of tournaments

A Plate tournament was run for those that failed to qualify for the main tournament. The final was fought out between two Plymouth players. Joe Murray and Chris Coumbe. Murray won through 2-0.

The tournament was sponsored jontly by Baulkline Snooker SW and the West of England Billiards & Snooker Foundation. No less than 23 trophies and awards were presented by Roger Cole (WEBSF Champion). Tournament Director Wayne Branton said "The overall standard of the players has improved since last year. This just shows what has been achieved by the structured coaching schemes the WEBSF have in place around the region."

Report by Steve Canniford