Sussex Open 2023 Draw

[NigelS]

Here is the draw, Jean apologises if you dont like your start time......

		SUSSEX OPEN DRAW
		ROUND 2
11.00	TABLE 10	CARLA ALLEN	v	CURT DRIVER
11.45	TABLE 10	STEVE BEACH	v	GERRY FITZJOHN
10.15	TABLE 9	JOE OAKLEY	v	LUKE BUSH
9.30	TABLE 9	MICHELLE BADEN	v	RICHARD DAVEY
10.15	TABLE 8	JENNY NOEL	v	CHRIS OAKLEY
11.45	TABLE 8	ADRIAN BUSH	v	SIMON COLEMAN
9.30	TABLE 7	KEVIN TUNSTALL	v	TONY JENNER
10.15	TABLE 7	ABBEY BALCHIN	v	DARREN OGIER
11.00	TABLE 6	CHRIS BOURGAIZE	v	ROBBIE HELP
11.45	TABLE 6	JON SCOONES	v	IAN CHAMPION
9.30	TABLE 5	HAYDN INGRAM	v	JAMES WHITTLE
11.45	TABLE 5	MARK TRAFFORD	v	MATT JONES
11.00	TABLE 4	DANIEL WHEAL	v	JOHN TYSON
11.45	TABLE 4	CLIVE THOMPSON	v	LEE RADFORD
10.15	TABLE 3	PAUL JOBBINS	v	LEON OGIER
11.45	TABLE 3	PAULINE WITHEY	v	RICK CUNNINGHAM
11.00	TABLE 2	DAMIAN COATES	v	CHRIS COX
10.15	TABLE 2	CLAIRE GAUVAIN	v	EMMA NOEL
11.00	TABLE 1	KYLE INGRAM	v	PAULA KEMSLEY
11.45	TABLE 1	NEV BLACKMAN	v	BARRY RADFORD
9.30	TABLE 6	DAVE INGRAM	v	JIM BALCHIN
1.15	TABLE 6	NIGEL SENIOR	v	BOB MCKENZIE
		ROUND 1
9.30	TABLE 10	BYE	v	ERNIE JORDAN
10.15	TABLE 10	MARK FRASER	v	ANITA BLACKMAN
9.30	TABLE 1	KRYSTAL BECK	v	IAN CROSS
10.15	TABLE 1	BOB OSBORNE	v	JEAN BRACKENRIDGE
11.45	TABLE 2	JENNY FLOREY	v	STUART CARRUTHERS
9.30	TABLE 2	KAREN BACCHUS	v	JOHN SLEE
9.30	TABLE 3	COLIN ROBBINS	v	PHIL OSBORNE
11.00	TABLE 3	MELVYN JOHNSON	v	MICKY FAIRS
9.30	TABLE 4	ALAN BRACKENRIDGE	v	BOB HALL
10.15	TABLE 4	CAROLINE JONES	v	SUE OAKLEY
11.00	TABLE 5	MARTIN KEMSLEY	v	DAVE JONES
10.15	TABLE 5	BRYAN STEVENS	v	MAX BURT
12.30	TABLE 6	PETE SAINSBURY	v	MICHAEL WILSON
10.15	TABLE 6	MARK JAMES	v	STEPHEN COLEMAN
11.00	TABLE 7	PAUL LE GALLEZ	v	ASHLEY HARRISON
11.45	TABLE 7	PAUL SAINSBURY	v	MATTHEW KNIGHT
11.00	TABLE 8	ALAN DONOVAN	v	MARTIN SMITH
9.30	TABLE 8	MARTIN COLE	v	STUART MEPHAM
11.45	TABLE 9	BOB CHAPPLE	v	VINNIE BROWN
11.00	TABLE 9	GARY POWELL	v	DAWN JORDAN

[billiardsmichael]

Glad to see Chelle gets the lie in that she requested... 

[JB]

Richard Davey will now have a bye at 9.30

[JB]

The following have a bye in the first round. The times for their first game will be

Ernie Jordan 12.30

Richard Davey 12.30

[JB]

Jason Neal replaces Krystal Beck

Jason Neal v Ian Cross will now be 10.15

Bob Osborne v Jean Brackenridge will now be 9.30

[JB]

Daniel Wheal will have a bye at 11.00 first game will be 12.30

Alan Brackenridge v Bob Hall will now be 11.00

[BB Warrior]

Unfortunately, Haydn Ingram will have to withdraw from the competition due to travel problems (train strikes) so he will be unable to play on Sunday.

[JB]

James Whittle will have a bye at 9.30

[StuC]

On Sunday there will be a menu of hot food and toasted sandwiches available between 12 and 4.

The football team who use the pitch at the club are scheduled to have a charity match on Sunday morning, so the car park may be very busy. Please park responsibly and use nearby streets if required.

[JB]

Phil Osborne will now have a bye at 9.30

["Silent"]

Congratulations to Paul Sainsbury on winning the Sussex Open yesterday, and a very well done to Daniel Wheal who was runner up

Paul was superb all day, his only real scare coming in the semi-final against Jason Neal win he tried very hard to peg his opening break with the bar just seconds away We don't see him quite so often at opens nowadays but clearly he is still a formidable opponent. He decided to call himself a part-timer so he was christened at the presentation as "Part-Time" Paul He had to contend with most of those present supporting his opponent and with going first on one of the non-AEBBA tables, which although, perfectly good, was not quite as good as the others in the main room. Paul went off with 5k, and was first to get them back, he built a substanial lead, Dan was off early but was first to get them back but the task proved too great and Paul was a worthy winner

Daniel deserves huge credit for a great performance to get to his first final, with two big scalps on the way, he was immense against Matt Jones in the quarter-final running the table out for 18k and whilst Matt was on course he pegged a split to give Dan the win. In the semi-final Dan took on Kevin Tunstall in a very tense match on table 1. Kevin had lost on it the day before but you normally expect him to correct any errors, however he was off early again and Dan took control with a very good break before a late miss gave Kevin the chance to close the gap to nearly 5k with Dan's break to come. Again Dan looked comfortable, getting to 6k before a misjudgement on a split took out the left hand peg and a gasp from those watching. As previously the balls were awkward and Kevin could not get them back, Dan managed to and a steady break gave him the win, much to the delight of those supporting him, Kevin gracious in defeat. Well done again Dan on a great effort (hopefully no one will take offence from those two matches being singled out, only done to highlight Dan's achievement)

In the Plate final the standard was superb with Mark Trafford running the table out with a brilliant break of over 24k, to his credit Stephen Coleman also ran the table out making over 15k, showing you how quick Mark is because Stephen is certainly no slouch, well done to both players

Dawn Jordan won the ladies high break with 4380 and Joe Oakley the high break of the day (in the main) with a fantastic 22,400 play out, well done to both

To add to the excitement there was an even a draw in the Plate match between Melvyn Johnson and Jenny Florey! An enthralled crowd then watched a "penalty shoot out" of 100s and 200s to determine the winner, Melvyn prevailed

The tables were of an extremely high standard, thank you to Stuart Mepham, Stuart Carruthers and Alan Brackenridge for their hard work in setting them up and to all the other Sussex helpers who got there early on Saturday morning (before our Masters) to set them up. We really appreciated the many people who helped take them down, especially as we are so tight for time with the Roffey Club having another event booked for the evening. The speed and efficiency of the operation was a sight to behold so thank you all. We were fortunate to be able to hold both finals in the back (food) room and it worked well. There was an unfortunate incident on the Saturday when the table Stuart Carruthers was kindly providing got damaged in transit but very kindly John Miller allowed us to use his from the nearby Roffey Cricket Club, so thanks to him for that and for Max Burt and Michael Wilson for helping to return it

Thank you to the Roffey Club for hosting the event and for the excellent food and support supplied by Kirstie from the club, thanks also to Nigel Senior for helping with the formats and the programme

It was an extremely long and tiring weekend, personally I had my doubts that it would all work out but I was happy to be proved wrong. Massive credit and thanks for that should go to Stuart Carruthers and Jean Brackenridge for the incredible amount of work they put in to make it possible, thank you both

Hope everyone had a great day/weekend, as Curt said lovely to see all the Guernsey guys and girls there in force

Hopefully everyone will be back for more next year

[bigtj]

A great day and well organised with the timings being perfect and with the prompt volunteers for scoring the day went smoothly.

Tables as Matt said high standard and all held very good scores.

Well done to Paul and Mark on their respective wins. Great to see Daniel do so well and follows a great season for him. Mark had also ran the table out in the plate semi-final for over 20k so set a very high standard for the plate.

Well supported event and again great to see so many friends from Guernsey take part.

[billiardsmichael]

A cracking day in Roffey yesterday I must say. Happily I woke up on time and wasn't late for the pick up from Max 'Muscles' Burt. Speaking of I'd like to add a few words on his cracking debut...

R1: v Bryan (a regular reader of my forum folly). A solid start of 5.5k on table 5 was enough for the match. Having seen Traff and Curt struggle a bit with the way the break was going this opener was all the more impressive in hindsight. >5k in each leg for Max and a creditable first win.

R2: v Dave Jones. Dave sneaked a victory against Max in the Redhill league at the last moment but Max was in no mood to be beaten again. Put in (I believe) he made his maiden 10k break and ran a table out for the first time ever in leg one to put up 10.5k. Keeping Dave off the table proved the key and Max came through to win. Afterwards, in classic Max fashion, he said he "hated the break" and was "struggling so much". I look forward to when you feel good on a table Max...

R3 v Bob Hall. After the draw had been made I'd sent Max a few notes on his likely opponents up to and including R3. Max decided, rather amusingly, to read my notes out to Bob without knowing he was talking to Bob... so, as I promised, because they managed to meet each other in the L32 here are those notes...
    "R3: Bob Hall. Good Sussex player but no better than DJ. Can get angry when he starts missing - keep the pressure on him!"
Bob had, naturally, promised to be as relaxed and calm as possible. So when he was asked to break first he had to stop sipping his Margarita and make his way from the sun lounger to the table in his Hawaiian shorts. In fact it was an interesting match, Bob only went off with a couple of k, but Max couldn't get the balls back and Bob added a further 9k. Max was once again unfortunate not to clear and Bob added 2.5k to lead by 13k. Max struggled in his attempt to chase, pegging his opening 3k and coming off after 4k on his second attempt. A valiant effort but the pressure of the chase was a little too much this time - he will no doubt be back.

To add to the day Max, Stu C and I took Junkie's top back to the cricket club which caused Max much arm, leg and back pain. He was worried he wouldn't be able to drive due to no longer being able to bend his joints and genuinely looked about 90 trying to eat his fish and chips on the way home. A very amusing journey home.

I should also say congratulations to the winners, runners up et al. and to all those who set up and helped run a rather mega event (I'll forget someone if I try and name people - you know who you are!).

Finally a quick note for Silent: now that you've got to this line it probably means you've woken up during the night. Get back to sleep fella!

[tommo III]

Well I think a couple of excellent writeups from Silent and BilliardsMichael have covered most of a momentous competition.... so I'll just be adding a few highlights of my own:
Round 1:

• A 19k playout from Pete Sainsbury - his own comment "still life in the old dog yet". Too soon for young Michael to make a maiden 20k in reply? I'm sure will come one day, but on this occasion it was not to be;
  
• Micky Fairs, looking like a victim from 'Attack of the Killer Zombies, shows no adverse effect to his play, easing past Melvyn Johnson.
  

Round 2:

• A 22k from K.T. to remind everyone he is the GOAT; Traffs settles for an easy passage though to the Plate, courtesy of Matt Jones;
  
• Sleezy beats Carruthers in a close one;
  
• Jason Neal goes large against Bob Osborne - I am scoring this one and kept glancing through to Max's game on the other side of the room: when's he going to bank these? I thought, but he played the table out completely !
  
• Bob Chapple is unfortunately knocked from behind by a small child running amok: Gary sportingly offered him some moments to gather his composure, but soon after he pegged.
  

Round 3:

• I come a cropper against Daniel Wheal, who scores 3k plus a chanceless 13k in his break game; Ah well, at least I gave it a go (my first Sussex Open since 2011 - although I've attended each one in between as a spectator)
  
• Curt beats Fitz; the Warrior loses to Nigel; Sleezy loses to big Phil; Boball accounts for Max; Mark James loses to Paul Sainbury.
  

Last 16:

• Jason Neal beats Nigel in the shock of the round

Qr Final:

• Daniel beats Matt Jones in another shock result: this lad can play !

S/Finals:

• Daniel's exploits have been covered, but in the other semi Paul sets Jason a 17k target: Jason struggles manfully for a good 10k in two visits but time was always against him

The Final

•  Paul proves a worthy winner, has played faultless b-b's all day.

Thanks to everyone who made such a great day possible, and would add a special mention for unsung hero Alan Brackenridge for his input.

[StuC]

Would like to add my congratulations to Paul and Mark on their wins and to Dan and Stephen for both playing well in reaching the Finals.

Matt has given a great report but as usual has omitted himself, so would like to start by thanking him for all his help over the weekend; the loud voice certainly comes in useful!

I would like to add my own personal thanks to everyone who helped over the weekend; most of whom have been named in Matt’s report. A couple of names missed who deserve call outs are Martin Kemsley for his assistance, particularly on the Saturday evening with moving tables around Horsham, and to Kevin Hall for helping to set-up the tables on Saturday morning.

Alan, Jean and Stuart have already been named but deserve an extra shout out as were first in and last out over the weekend and put in a tremendous amount of work between them to make both the Open and the Masters the day before possible.

Also to all for helping us keep on schedule and get out of the way before the dancing in the evening. A few things hopeful we can change before next year so that we don’t have to do this next year and can avoid such an early start.

[PaulS]

Just want to add my thanks to the 2 Stu’s, Jean, Alan, Matthew and everyone else who helped run things on Sunday. Well done everyone. Also huge well done to Daniel for getting to the final with some excellent performances.
Great to see old friends, looking forward to next year already.
And a big thank you to big brother for driving as always.