AC Club Champions Day

Staged at Colchester this year, the entries were slightly down due to unforeseen late withdrawals. The 12 remaining players were however treated to a bright but slightly chilly day to battle out the 3 classes on the superbly prepared Colchester lawns. As the 'A' and 'B' Blocks had attracted only 3 entries each, to even the balance of play it was decided that the players sitting out would engage in playing a non-scheduled Handicap Advanced game. All the games had time limits of 2½ hours, and due to expedition in play only very few went to time.

'A' Block: (Level Advanced)

Comprising Jack Wicks (-2, Colchester), Simon Hathrell (-1, Watford) and Jeff Race (0, Hunstanton), play went as per handicap, in that in his qualifying games Jack recorded wins over both Simon and Jeff +21tp to run out the undisputed winner. Simon was runner up due to recording a +6 win over Jeff.

'B' Block: (B-Level Advanced)

The 'B' Block also comprising 3 entrants Jonathan Toye (6, Downham Market), Jeff Farrington (2½, Colchester) and John Bee (5, Watford) proved to be very close, ending up on 1 win apiece. The Manager Terrey Sparks decided to apply the Nottingham Tie Break to determine the winner. In the first attempt Both Jonathan and Jeff managed to reach hoop 5, with John failing on hoop 4 and therefore being eliminated. In the second attempt Jonathan managed to run hoops 4 & 5 whilst Jeff only managed hoop 4. Jonathan was then declared the winner.

'C' Block: (Handicap)

Always a popular block, this year it had again attracted 6 entries from clubs around the region. Again play was competitive, and at the end of the day's play the Manager was again faced with a tied position with 4 players on 2 wins each, which he decided to settle by using the Hemming Tie Break in which players hit 4 balls at hoop 1 from baulk, scoring 3 points for a hoop run, 2 points for a ball lodged in the hoop and 1 point for a ball hitting the hoop. Nick Archer and Peter Brown went first but only managed to record low scores. John Street upped the ante by scoring 5, leaving David Wicks the task of scoring 6 to end up the overall winner. Not to be outdone David in his first attempts ran two consecutive hoops with his first balls to emerge victorious.

Report & photos by Terrey Sparks

Click on images for an enlargement

'A' block winner Jack Wicks

'B' block winner Jonathan Toye

'C' block winner David Wicks (no relation!)

Handicap'C' Block

	Club	H'cap	DW	JS	PB	NA	DR	JC	Wins	Net points	Rank
David Wicks	Ipswich	14		+14	-12		+1		2	+3	1†
John Street	Enfield	9	-14		+4			+17	2	+7
Peter Brown	Hunstanton	12	+12	-4		+3			2	+11
Nick Archer	Watford	3½			-3		+5	+9	2	+11
David Rose	Histon	16	-1			-5		+11	1	+5	5
Jane Collier	Colchester	14		-17		-9	-11		0	-37	6

†Resolved by a hoop shoot-out