12th February 2005

Ben Pike of Exeter won the February Silver Waistcoat tournament held at the Victoria Snooker Centre, Plymouth with an emphatic 3-0 win over Tiverton's Darren Bond. Although Darren was favourite to lift the trophy, Ben's safety was the telling factor. Ben grew with confidence which left Darren with no answer. Ben defeated his practice partner Sam Cox in the semi-finals 2-1. Darren dispersed of Plymouth's Grant Cole with breaks of 37, 39 & 42.

In the quarter finals Sam Cox (Exeter) made a 30 break in defeating Gary Mills (Plymouth). Adrian Bond (Tiverton) lost to the winner Ben Pike. Sam Baird lost to his fellow team mate Darren Bond. In the Plymouth derby Sam Edmunds had a hard match just losing out to Grant Cole 2-1. Sam made a 32 break & Grant had a 30.

Group 1

Sam Cox won Group 1 with maximum points only dropping one frame. Runner-up was the eventual winner Ben Pike. Ben's only defeat came at the hands of Sam Cox. Ben recorded breaks of 71 & 38. other notable breaks in this group were Bobby Southworth 39, 48 & Darren Lock 39.

Group 2

Sam Baird won this group with breaks of 32 & 36. Grant Cole qualified in second place with consistent break building (31, 39, 58 and 65). Scott Seldon deserves a mention after beating group winner Sam Baird 2-1.

Group 3

This turned out to be the hardest fought group of the lot with just one point separating the top four. Adrian Bond won the group with the help of 44 & 33 breaks. Gary Mills was runner up with the highest break of the day, a very credible 73. Mike Day who leads the ranking table failed to qualify for the knockout stages.

Group 4

Local boy from Plymouth and newcomer to the Silver Waistcoat tour Sam Edmunds won group 4 without losing a match. Sam was cueing well and a few of the spectators were putting their money on him to win the tournament, after defeating Darren Bond 2-0. Darren qualified in second place with the help of a 44 break.

Report by Keith Millard