8th December 2007
Kris Vincent from Plymouth recorded the highest break of the day, a fine 117, on his way to winning the second event in the WEBSF Gold Waistcoat Tour. In the final Vincent, aided with an 85 break beat another in-form century maker Greg Batten from Tiverton 3-2 in a closely fought contest. Batten recorded a 48 and a 116 in the final missing a black to take the highest break prize. In the final frame Batten was in prime position on the final blue when he missed handing Vincent a life-line to take pink and black to win. The semi finals both finished 3-1. Vincent beating reigning champion Mike King (Exeter) with a break of 66 and Batten beating Matt Williams (Plymouth). Batten recorded 48 & 47 breaks. In the Quarter finals youth player Dale Branton from Plymouth played very well to qualify but found King in dominant form after a close first frame. King won 3-0 with breaks of 77 & 64. In the second match of the quarters Vincent was in great break building form beating Sam Baird (Halberton) 3-1 with breaks of 117, 56 & 53. Plymouth is fast becoming a hot bed for talented players and two, Matt Williams and Grant Cole, fought out a tight match, England under 21 International Williams came out on top 3-2 despite a 52 break from Cole. In the final match of the round Batten edged past fellow Tivertonian Darren Bond 3-2, Batten recorded breaks of 85 & 45.

The group stages was full of the quality snooker that we have come to expect from some of the regions best players. In group A Williams was knocked aback by fast improving Dale Branton. Williams started strongly with breaks of 80 & 51 to take a 2-1 lead. However Branton finished the strongest to win 3-2 aided with breaks of 61 & 53. Former Champions Andy Radford (Exeter) and Wayne Branton (Plymouth) should have produced a close contest, both being good match players. However, Radford is struggling to find time to practice and it showed as Branton won comfortably 3(56)-0. Radford was also to find Williams to hot in his next match losing 0-3. Williams in frame two looked O’Sullivan like amongst the balls potting 10 reds and blacks in rapid succession before he lost position. After some tremendous recovery pots to give him a real chance of a possible maximum 147, he miscued to end the break on 96. Radford got his game together to beat Dale Branton 3-1 after losing the first frame 0-60. Williams just beat Wayne Branton 3(48)-2(55) to qualify himself for the knock-out stages and set up a head to head between father and son to determine the second qualifier. Son Dale narrowly won the contest 3-2.

Darran Lock (Seaton) against Baird started group B and Lock found Baird to hot losing 0-3. Silver Waistcoat player Mitchel Grinsted (Plymouth) trying his hand in the Gold found the Tiverton duo of Batten and Baird too strong as they both beat him 3-0 with Batten making breaks of 51 & 41 and Baird a break of 72. Grinsted did find some form in his final match against Lock, making breaks of 46 & 41. Lock made a 52 in frame two but still lost to Grinsted 3-0. Lock fared better in his last match, taking Batten all the way before losing 3-2. Batten making 52 & 41 breaks. Group B qualifiers Batten and Baird fought out a ding-dong match that Baird won 3(74,51)-2(53).

King was clear favourite to win group C and he duly did dropping just one frame and producing a barrage of breaks in the 40’s & 50’s. Bond finished second in the group edging out top Billiards player Steve Brookshaw from Plymouth. Paul Veitch struggled to find form after reaching the qualifying stages at the last event. Group D comprised some of the best of Plymouth’s youth in Vincent, Cole, Chris Batey & Tom Casey. The more experienced Cole & Vincent qualified to the knock-out stages. Batey put up some resistance making a fine 72 to level at 1-1 against Vincent only for Vincent to reply with a 71 to take fourth frame to win 3-1. Casey couldn’t match up to Cole & Vincent, losing both matches 3-0 but he came good against Batey to win 3-2. Cole’s 3-1 victory over the event winner Vincent meant that he took maximum points by topping the group.

Tournament Director Roger Cole, said "We’ve not had a barrage of 100 breaks here today to match the six we had at last months event. Nevertheless, the standard of play has still been a joy to watch. It is also good to see young talented players stepping up from the Silver Waistcoat and holding their own against the more experienced players in the region" For more information about this and other WEBSF tournaments visit the website www.websf.co.uk

Report by Steve Canniford