Brighton Off the Spot result

[NigelS]

Well done to Chris Reeves who beat Nigel Senior :'( in the final of the off the spot in a repeat of last years final. Chris opened with 12k but left a white near the 100 hole but managed to keep his break and then the 1st leg petered out with not much score added. Unfortunately for me I only opened up with 1,000ish and despite efforts to get the break back Chris did eventually retreive the balls to kill off the game. Therefore, Chris retains the title he won last year.

I did gain some consolation with the highest break of the day, a 20k effort on the newly recovered Stadium home top - not bad considering the clock was 17mins. I had a bit of a moment on 19,950, rimming the split round the 100 as the bar dropped, but played a good 20-30 shot and cleared the final balls to do it. Steve Mariner tells me that I am only the 2nd player to have ever acheived the feat in Sussex (the other one being him) and that entitles me to one of his nice blue T-shirts.

The tournament was 18 players split into 4 groups, 2 of 5 and 2 of 4. The top 2 in each group progressed to the quarter finals and 3rd and 4th players went into the plate. Anyone 5th in the 2 groups of 5 were sadly sent home (a sad fate that befell my poor old dad :'(). Former winners, Jim Millward and Chris Tupper were notable casualties from the group stages both being eliminated into the plate. In the quarter finals I defeated Kev Tunstall, Brighton Masters Champ Ian Lelliott beat Mal Spier, Chris Reeves beat and Stu Mepham and Steve Mariner beat Alan Brackenridge. In the semis I beat Steve and Chris won through against Ian.

The recently retired Jim Millward won the plate against Gina Sherratt to console himself after losing the high break prize to me ;) but to be fair he had only set a target of 17k on the same table that I got the 20k. Yes I know you were against the break Jim but you are getting slow in your old age :D

Thanks to Steve and Jean for putting together the weekend - it was nice for me just to be able to play and relax for a change :)

Good report, Nigel. Sounded like a great competition.
Congrats to yourself (finalist) and to the worthy winner (Feed the Goat).

[FeedTheGoat]

Thanks Nige and Tommo. Also thanks again to Steve and Jean for a great tournament.

[SirKT]

Well done to Chris and Nigel (i`ll get you next time) ;), nicely run competition.
I think my lack of `Off the Spot` practice was the undoing of me in the end, never really got going. I knew i needed to improve on my group performances before i took on Nigel, as he`d already knocked in 16k & 20k scores. After going in with 6k and looking like i`d found my form, stupidly missed a straight pot on the 50 when i should have split into the 20. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
One thing though, it`s great to see how `Off the Spot` billiards should be played.
As the World championships are held in Jersey (which i have no problem with), maybe we should have the British Isles Open over here?
Thoughts and ideas on a new thread please.

[NigelS]

For the record here are the full results of the 2006 Brighton Off the Spot Competition

Group 1
C Tupper 450 M Spier 5,940
G Sherratt 4,700 M Senior 2,820
M Spier 4,470 N Senior 8,680
M Senior 590 N Senior 16,550
N Senior 6,190 G Sherratt 1,530
C Tupper 7,140 M Senior 1,760
G Sherratt 1,710 C Tupper 4,190
M Senior 500 M Spier 5,010
N Senior 20,320 C Tupper 0
M Spier 1,560 G Sherratt 3,520

Group 1 pld won score aver pts
N Senior (Q) 4 4 51,740 12,935 4
M Spier (Q) 4 2 16,980 4,245 2
C Tupper (q) 4 2 11,780 2,945 2
G Sherratt (q) 4 2 11,460 2,865 2
M Senior 4 0 5,670 1,418 0

Group 2
A Brackenridge 7,490 D Dawson 220
J Millward 0 B Kerr 1,430
D Dawson 150 J Millward 17,340
B Kerr 410 C Reeves 6,270
C Reeves 2,340 D Dawson 2,100
B Kerr 1,160 A Brackenridge 7,110
C Reeves 3,360 J Millward 3,080
J Millward 8,570 A Brackenridge 710
D Dawson 2,980 B Kerr 2,110
A Brackenridge 9,530 C Reeves 2,180

Group 2 pld won score aver pts
A Brackenridge (Q) 4 3 24,840 6,210 3
C Reeves (Q) 4 3 14,150 3,538 3
J Millward (q) 4 2 28,990 7,248 2
D Dawson (q) 4 1 5,450 1,363 1
B Kerr 4 1 5,110 1,278 1

Group 3
C Cooper 1,320 K Tunstall 5,190
I Lelliott 3,950 C Cooper 0
K Tunstall 2,270 R Wooton 1,450
R Wooton 310 I Lelliott 1,980
C Cooper 0 R Wooton 200
I Lelliott 6,240 K Tunstall 2,170

Group 3 pld won score aver pts
I Lelliott (Q) 3 3 12,170 4,050 3
K Tunstall (Q) 3 2 9,630 3,210 2
R Wooton (q) 3 1 1,960 653 1
C Cooper(q) 3 0 1,320 440 0

Group 4
S Mepham 5,720 S Mariner 5,470
H Burton 1,630 J Over 5,840
J Over 200 S Mepham 10,700
S Mariner 4,650 H Burton 1,330
S Mepham 1,660 H Burton 1,690
J Over 1,290 S Mariner 17,770

Group 4 pld won score aver pts
S Mepham (Q) 3 2 18,080 6,027 2
S Mariner (Q) 3 2 27,890 9,290 2
J Over (q) 3 1 7,330 2,443 1
H Burton (q) 3 1 4,650 1,550 1

Quarter Finals
N Senior 16,730 K Tunstall 6,680
S Mariner 9,200 A.Brackenridge 6,650
C Reeves 10,620 S Mepham 1,590
I Lelliott w/o M Spier
Semi Finals
N Senior 9,150 S Mariner 540
C Reeves 11,230 I Lelliott 1,170
Final
C Reeves 17,290 N Senior 2,390

Plate
Quarter Finals
J Millward 4,270 H Burton 1,300
C Cooper 2,090 C Tupper 0
G Sherratt 1,090 R Wooton 1,030
D Dawson 3,380 J Over 0
Semi Finals
J Millward 14,100 C Cooper 1,440
G Sherratt 6,320 D Dawson 1,830
Final
J Millward 6,390 G Sherratt 2,310

[NigelS]

Thanks to Steve for all the info above and he also provided the following report of the day

Another high class weekend of Bar Billiards and a touch of Déjà vu in the Off-the-Spot final. With only 18 players taking part in the OTS the groups were drawn out two groups of 5 and two of 4. Nigel Senior who tends to start favorite for most competitions these days, was drawn out first and was pleased with his group. Nigel took the high break last year with a 19k break, and he set a stiff target early on with 16,550 against his dad Mark. Jim Millward upped the break with a fine 17,340 against the break, albeit Doug Dawson only managed an opening 150. Jim was drawn in a stiffer group alongside last years winner, Chris Reeves and Alan Brackenridge who for some reason played out of his skin all weekend. Jim failed to qualify for the main Q-Final and had to be content with winning the Plate. Ian Lelliott fresh from his unexpected victory in the Brighton Masters the previous day, was drawn in with the greatest player in the game, Kevin Tunstall. Both came through their group despite being drawn with the crafty Charlie Cooper and current Sussex player Richard Wooton, Richard not having the best of weekends. Group 4 would surely be a stroll for Steve Mariner, but he tripped up early against a stubborn Stuart Mepham, and could have gone out if Jean Over had started with a solid opener against him, Jean didn’t and Steve ran out the table for 17,770, being only the second best break of the day. The high break prize would again go to Nigel Senior who became only the second Sussex player ever to compile a 20k break off the spot. The Q-Finals saw Nigel Senior somewhat easily overcome the mighty KT. Steve Mariner had to be at his very best to see off Alan Brackenridge. Chris Reeves breezed past Stu Mepham. Ian Lelliott was handed his match against Mal Spier, as Mal having played only a few shots decided he could not continue due to the sunshine coming through the window directly into his eyes, shame to end the match this way. The Semi final between Nigel and Steve was a let down, as they played on the tricky back room table and it was at its most unforgiving. Neither player could string a decent break together, Nigel eventually coming out winner. The other Semi saw Chris Reeves ease by Ian Lelliott without breaking sweat. So the final was a repeat of last year. Chris lost the toss and was invited in by Nigel. Chris started with his best break of the day a sold 12k. Leg 2 saw Nigel missing very early, he did have other chances but it was not to be, so Chris retained the title he won at the Windmill a year ago.

Vince Watts from The Stadium was disappointed that he did not know it was taking place. Could someone let him know in time for next year?