Event 3 of the prestigious WEBSF Gold Waistcoat tour was played at the Victoria Snooker Centre, Plymouth. Throughout the day the best players from around the region demonstrated their talent. The cream of the crop, current champion Greg Batten, proved the most consistent on the table culminating with a defeat of Darren Bond 2-1(57). Batten’s talent extended off the table with a master class in the art of ‘slight of hand’ amazing onlookers with an array of card tricks.

In the semi finals Batten made a 41 break in taking the first frame against Roger Cole to lead 1-0. Cole brought experience to bear in making the second frame a lot tougher for Batten. However, it was not enough to halt Batten on his way to a place in the final. The other semi final saw Bond play very well in beating Dale Branton 2-0 with breaks of 69 & 54.

In the quarter finals son Dale Branton beat father Wayne 2-0 aided by clearance breaks of 41 & 51. Cole beat Neil Chiswell 2-1, Cole took the first frame with Chiswell potting the pink in the second to draw level. The deciding frame was closely fought out before Cole won on the blue. Michael Day was having a good day until he found Batten too hot to handle losing 2-0. The clash of the Bond brothers should have been close as both have been in good form. However, it was Darren that was on his game posting breaks of 69 & 59 to win 2-0.

The group stages provided the customary consignment of breaks the best break came in group D a magnificent 136 clearance by Sam Baird. The preceding two frames also included breaks of 78 & 84 that completed a 3-0 win over Billiards champion Steve Brookshaw. This was all too late for Baird to qualify for the knock-out stages as he lost his previous two matches to Dale Branton and Adrian Bond. Later in the evening, in his next competitive frame of snooker Baird made another magnificent break, a 142 clearance for Tiverton in against Exeter. Other breaks in the group where made by Dale Branton 48, 48, 44 & 83 clearance, Brookshaw 51 and Adrian Bond 108 & 41. Michael Day topped group A with three wins and breaks of 63, 51 & 48. second place Darren Bond made breaks of 84, 62 & 50, third place Grant Cole 50 and fourth place Andi Sheehan, Taunton with breaks of 62 & 41. Group B was won by Batten making a host of breaks, 92, 78, 70, 66, 62, 52, 52 & 41. Wayne Branton finished in second place with breaks of 57 & 46. Current Silver Waistcoat Tour leader Mitchell Grinsted finished in third place with breaks of 67 & 48, Darran Lock finished in fourth place. Breaks were sparse in Group C, winner Neil Chiswell posting the only break, a 51. Roger Cole came second with two wins, Darren Hall third and Ben Holley fourth. After three events Dale Branton heads the ranking table with Baird second and Darren Bond third.

Report by Steve Canniford