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GB9 Northern Masters
Rileys American Pool and Snooker - Stretford
Stretford Arndale Centre
Chester Road, Stretford
MANCHESTER
Greater Manchester
M32 9BD
Tel: 0161 865 8123
www.rileysltd.com
www.gb9balltour.com
www.gb9balltour.com/latest.htm - For the VERY LATEST RESULTS click here!
120 photos from this event, to view and buy - AVAILABLE NOW!!!

Fri/Sat/Sun 29/30/31 August 2008

Stretford Rileys Manager Michelle congratulates Darren Appleton on a splendid win!
Click the picture to download the full size photograph. (2Mb)
The GB9 Northern Masters

Today marks the start of the penultimate event of the season for the UK's official 9 ball tour, and players will understand that a good result here could make all the difference to their 2009 season prospects.

Promotion or relegation, onwards and upwards or the downward spiral? Only time will tell, but surely the pressure will start showing now that the players can see the goal posts more clearly.

"Read More..." for the details.

You won't be able to miss the new referee at the next GB9 event in Mansfield!

The staff at Rileys Stretford did everything to make us feel welcome - thanks!

The fabulous table fitters finished recovering the tables minutes before the players arrived!

Swiss watch-like precision from team of table fitters

Like a well oiled machine, the small team of table fitters employed to recover the tables at Rileys Stretford did a splendid job, and with precision timing managed to finish the job just as the first early-bird players arrived to start practicing.

New tip please? Yes... Eventually The Pro Shop and Joe Matthews got his custom!!
The Bitter End

You'll have to wait for the proof positive of an actual photograph, but trust me, you'll be as incredulous as I was when you see the tip that Jason Howard is refusing to replace before this tournament.

He has been practicing with this tip all week, and he noticed it getting a bit thin and hoped it would last until after the event, but then it started getting smaller and smaller until he noticed small amounts of white coming off into his tip shaper.

Never-the-less he doggedly continued to pray that it would last but alas more and more white was appearing until he was left with a tiny morsel of a graze of leather remaining on his rapidly diminishing ferrule.

It's so small that even "CSI Miami" would struggle to get a DNA sample from it. The tip? A Moori Medium. The cue? A Meucci Freshman. The player... Desperate!

The Luck Of The Draw

As usual there are the everyday clashes of travelling partners who have journeyed hundreds of miles in the same car to enter the main 128 player event at the GB9 Tour, only to draw each other in the first round, but there's an interesting twist with the match between Brian Craig and Andy Mistry...

Craig lost 9-8 in the Main Event first round to Mistry, but as luck would have it he has also drawn Mistry in the Challenge Cup and will be hoping to repay the compliment!

Update: Brian Craig DID get his revenge and defeated Andy Mistry with a score of 9:7 in the 96 player Challenge Cup division the following day!

Rack 'Em High!!!

This was the first event where the powers that be have implemented the rule that the nine-ball is to be racked on the foot-spot in a direct response to some very vocal, mid-season demands by a number of players wanting similar conditions to the Euro Tour.

The table used by Chris Buckmaster and Chris Stocker was accidentally tapped twice, once in the traditional position, and then again when it was noticed that it needed to be tapped in the higher position.

This resulted in poor racking properties and a decision was made by the tournament director to re-tap the table mid-match.

Apart from that one incident, things seem to be going smoothly, although we think there will be slightly more dry-breaks at this event, despite many of the tables having brand new cloth on them they are still playing a little slow as the cloth is so new the balls are sliding off the cushions a little bit, rather than bouncing off quickly.

The full ramifications of the change are yet to be clarified, although there has been talk of some interesting consequences, one of which is a somewhat higher percentage of 9-ball breaks being noticed.

It appears that during a match between Billy Edmond and Neil Mackie, the ball at the back of the rack often travelled to the back rail, and rebounded directly into the still frozen nine-ball, sending it careering up-table, twice into the kitchen pockets and once into the side. Mackie was breaking from the centre spot and Edmond was on the receiving end of three nine-ball breaks and he was out of the event before he could attempt to respond in kind, although there are a few other players who will be "centre breaking" in their matches later.

Blackpool Lights

There was a modest fireworks display from the two semi-finalists from Blackpool as the match between World Champion Daryl Peach versus World Championship No.3 Karl Boyes went one way to the 2008 winner in dramatic fashion.

In the race-to-nine racks match, Peach could do nothing wrong and Boyes couldn't get a break as the champion roared to a 7-0 lead. Boyes was clearly frustrated and knowing there was no way back from the insurmountable deficit as he was invariably hooked when he did get a shot, he slapped a couple of shots around the table just "going through the motions" as he simply awaited the inevitable demise.

He didn't have long to wait as Peach dominated the last two racks and the first semi-final was over long before the other was half way done, a 9-1 victory for Peach.

The Flip Side!

The other semi-final couldn't be any more different, as Yorkshire's Darren Appleton faced four time GB9 Main Event winner Imran Majid in a much more thrilling chase to the final.

How odd to call a more tactical game more thrilling, but that's exactly what it is, as neck and neck they raced, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 4-4, 5-5... Majid was leading and Appleton was following but then it was Appleton's turn to lead, and then lead by two, but it wasn't long before the scores came together again, this was going to be a slog-fest marathon.

And it was... Until Appleton fought his way over the line, ending Majid's incredible four tournament championship reign and putting a stop to the Maharajah's 29 unbeaten matches in the GB9 main event tournaments.

A special announcement was made on the microphone after the match celebrating Imran's tremendous record and congratulating Darren on being the one to finally top the champion.

THE STATS

THE GB9 NORTHERN MASTERS
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE LAST 32
Imran Majid	9 : 5	Chris Cowie
Pat Holtz	9 : 6	Kevin Uzzell
David Jack	9 : 7	Andy Worthington
James Kay	9 : 5	Jonny Cooper
Mark Gray	9 : 8	Phil Burford
Stewart Colclough	9 : 4	Mike Rogers
Adam Clarke	9 : 8	Andy Barnett
Darren Appleton	9 : 2	Thomas Ainsworth-Smith
Michael Valentine	9 : 5	Damian Overton
Stephen Capaldi	9 : 4	Damian Massey
Christopher Robson	9 : 7	Craig Osborne
Daryl Peach	9 : 8	Adam Benn-Smith
Scott Higgins	9 : 8	Martin Chapman
Brad Parker	9 : 7	Jonathan Mathers
Karl Boyes	9 : 6	Andy Appleton
Jon Davies	9 : 6	Douglas Isaac

THE GB9 NORTHERN MASTERS
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE LAST 16
Imran Majid	9 : 8	Pat Holtz
David Jack	9 : 7	James Kay
Mark Gray	9 : 5	Stewart Colclough
Darren Appleton	9 : 3	Adam Clarke
Michael Valentine	9 : 4	Stephen Capaldi
Daryl Peach	9 : 8	Christopher Robson
Brad Parker	9 : 6	Scott Higgins
Karl Boyes	9 : 5	Jon Davies

THE GB9 NORTHERN MASTERS
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE QUARTER FINALS
Imran Majid	9 : 8	David Jack
Darren Appleton	9 : 3	Mark Gray
Daryl Peach	9 : 8	Michael Valentine
Karl Boyes	9 : 7	Brad Parker

THE GB9 NORTHERN MASTERS
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE SEMI FINALS
Darren Appleton	9 : 7	Imran Majid
Daryl Peach	9 : 1	Karl Boyes

THE GB9 NORTHERN MASTERS
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE FINAL
Darren Appleton	11 : 7	Daryl Peach

Visit the official tour website: www.gb9balltour.com

The GB9 Ball Tour is sponsored by:

And the GB9 Ball Tour is promoted by:

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