Pro9 - Europe's No.1 Pool Player Resource

GB9 British Grand Prix
Rileys American Pool and Snooker - Mansfield
Leeming Street
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 1NG
Telephone: 01623 662623
www.rileysltd.com
www.gb9balltour.com
www.gb9balltour.com/latest.htm - For the VERY LATEST RESULTS click here!

Fri/Sat/Sun 19/20/21 September 2008

2008 British Grand Prix Main Event winner, Mark Gray.
Photograph by Big Dave Knight at www.Pro9.co.uk
"Granite" Mark Gray wins GB9 British Grand Prix Main Event

"Obviously I'm well happy to win the last one, and to beat Imran for a change" said Mark Gray from Peterborough after he won the GB9 British Grand Prix - the final event of the GB9 Ball Tour season, beating Tour supremo Imran Majid 11-6 in the final of the Main Event at Mansfield.

"It's a shame it's the last one for me now, because it's my first victory this season, I'm usually one of the winners but the standard this year now on the English circuit is getting so tough, I'm just one of 12 or 14 players capable of winning The Pro Cup and the Main Event."

"Read More..." for further details!

2008 GB9 Grand Prix winner, Mark Gray watched closely by referee Mel Harley.
Photograph by Big Dave Knight at www.Pro9.co.uk
Gray, a former snooker player who has relatively recently converted to full-time American pool, rose to the top of the game at a meteoric pace, and has now "ruled the roost" on the European Rankings seemingly forever!

It's a strange phenomenon that some players can play well on one tour, and not achieve the same standard on another, just like there are good "money players" who struggle to perform well in tournaments, but this isn't the case with Gray. Majid's supreme dominance of the GB9 tour has stifled everyone's ambitions this year, and Gray admits to Majid being his nemesis in pool only beating him once in the last 13 meetings.

The future for Gray however, is bright, as he is hoping to be selected for the European Mosconi Cup Team after staying ahead of Italy's Bruno Muratore in the Euro Tour rankings (Gray is ranked No.1 on the Euro Tour, and has been number one for many months, but is now only 5 points ahead of Muratore).

It's a busy time for "Granite" now, he will shortly be leaving for the Philippines and the World 10 Ball Championships, then he will fly from there straight to the Netherlands for Matchroom's World Cup of Pool, and then after two days at home he will be off to the next Euro Tour event in Switzerland, but Gray says he loves the travelling as there wasn't so much travel when he played snooker, as Gray says, "it's all a great adventure really!"

2008 British 9 Ball Champion, Imran Majid.
Photograph by Big Dave Knight at www.Pro9.co.uk
Maharaja crowned 2008 British Champion after final ranking event of season

Imran Majid, without doubt the most successful British tour player in 2008, has had his dominance of Great Britain's 9 Ball Tour rewarded after his appearance in the GB9 British Grand Prix final this weekend.

Majid, from West London, won the first four consecutive events of the 128 player, six event season, and was also runner-up in the final ranking event, the GB9 British Grand Prix, only succumbing in the final to worthy champion Mark Gray.

The final event of the year, The GB9 British Grand Prix, is the most important event of the year for the UK's professional pool playing fraternity. The rankings after this event determine which 8 players will be relegated from the elite 32 player Pro Cup division, as well as selecting the top 8 for promotion from the 96 player Challenge Cup division. The bottom ranked 24 players from the main rankings will also be relegated, and will now need to enter the open qualifiers in November along with other hopefuls attempting to gain entry into Europe's most prestigious 9 ball tour.

2008 GB9 Mansfield Challenge Cup Winner, Jason Howard.
Photograph by Big Dave Knight at www.Pro9.co.uk
Howard wins GB9 Mansfield Challenge Cup

Jason Howard, a quietly spoken gentlemanly player from Bournemouth modestly accepted his victory in the GB9 Challenge Cup event at Mansfield, whilst his friends and well wishers roared their very vocal support and congratulations from the overlooking raised tier bar area!

This was the first final for the modest 29 year old, who is a Safety Officer for a Solar Energy company, and the 15 ranking points accrued have boosted his ranking into the vital top eight on the Challenge Cup Division and therefore qualifies him for automatic promotion into next season's elite Pro Cup Division.

The eight promoted players are Thomas Ainsworth-Smith, Brad Parker, David Walsh, Andrew Nicholson, Christopher Robson, Jason Howard, Andy Barnett, and Scott Higgins ranked 1-8 respectively.

2008 GB9 Mansfield Pro Cup Winner, Darren Appleton.
Photograph by Big Dave Knight at www.Pro9.co.uk
"Dynamite" wins GB9 Mansfield Pro Cup

A delighted Darren Appleton won The GB9 Mansfield Pro Cup event for the second time of the season, beating Imran Majid with a comfortable 11-5 score in the final.

The timely win promotes the Yorkshireman to the top of the Pro Cup rankings, displacing Junior player Phil Burford from the pole position that he had held since the start of the tour.

Karl Boyes and Tony Drago finished the season ranked 3rd and 4th on the GB9 Pro Cup division rankings, with Imran Majid, Kevin Uzzell, James Kay, Daryl Peach, Mark Gray, Jayson Shaw, Craig Osborne, Raj Hundal, Paul Williams, Damian Overton, Pat Holtz and Michael Valentine filling out the top 16 respectively.

GB9 Officials presented with thank you gifts from the players.
Photograph by Big Dave Knight at www.Pro9.co.uk
Heart-breaking tears of sadness, but tears of joy too!

It was with a heavy heart that Tour Chairman, Lee Rigby, took the microphone after the usual "housekeeping" announcements and began to explain his absence from the playing table at the last two events.

Affectionately known to the players as "Riggers", he explained that nerve damage from an extremely painful and very rare condition has paralysed his upper-right arm from the shoulder to the elbow, effectively making playing pool impossible for the foreseeable future. The nerve will take up to two years to repair, and even then the condition might not be sufficient to ever play pool again.

With his voice cracking with emotion, and stopping to compose himself several times, he assured everyone that nothing would stop him from continuing to run the tour, and vowed that the 2009 season would be better than ever.

Ironically, despite not playing in the last two events and therefore only receiving ranking points from four events, Lee had already secured sufficient points to secure his spot in the elite Pro Cup Division for the 2009 season.

Later on there was another tearful event, but with a much happier tone, as the players awarded gifts to the Tour Chairman, Lee Rigby, and Tour Director, Shirley Ang.

Shir came to the microphone and "blubbed" continuously for thirty seconds, and the only comprehensible words were "thank you" in between the flood of tears... Bless!

Action from the GB9 British Grand Prix.
Photograph by Big Dave Knight at www.Pro9.co.uk

THE STATS

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE LAST 32
Imran Majid	9 : 3	Caroline Walch
Andy Nicholson	9 : 6	Ben Moore
Matthew Ford	9 : 7	Andy Worthington
James Kay	9 : 7	Jason Howard
Phil Burford	9 : 8	Daryl Peach
Karl Boyes	9 : 6	David Nelson
Adam Clarke	9 : 8	Andy Barnett
Damian Overton	9 : 8	David Walsh
Raj Hundal	9 : 8	Thomas Ainsworth-Smith
Pat Holtz	9 : 5	Stephen Capaldi
Craig Osborne	9 : 8	Martin Chapman
Mark Gray	9 : 6	Gareth Steele
Chris Buckmaster	9 : 8	Brad Parker
Tony Drago	9 : 6	Tony Burton
Damian Massey	9 : 7	Ian West
Darren Appleton	9 : 7	Gareth Esprit

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE LAST 16
Imran Majid	9 : 1	Andy Nicholson
Matthew Ford	9 : 8	James Kay
Phil Burford	9 : 6	Karl Boyes
Damian Overton	9 : 1	Adam Clarke
Raj Hundal	9 : 2	Pat Holtz
Mark Gray	9 : 5	Craig Osborne
Tony Drago	9 : 4	Chris Buckmaster
Darren Appleton	9 : 1	Damian Massey

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE QUARTER FINALS
Imran Majid	9 : 5	Matthew Ford
Phil Burford	9 : 7	Damian Overton
Mark Gray	9 : 3	Raj Hundal
Darren Appleton	9 : 6	Tony Drago

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE SEMI FINALS
Imran Majid	9 : 4	Phil Burford
Mark Gray	9 : 6	Darren Appleton

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE FINAL
Mark Gray	11 : 6	Imran Majid

---

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE CHALLENGE CUP
THE LAST 32
Thomas Ainsworth-Smith	9 : 2	Geoff Edge
Kevin Simpson	9 : 8	Clarke Smith
Scott Higgins	9 : 4	Mark Hughes
Andy Appleton	9 : 5	Lynette Horsburgh
Andy Barnett	9 : 5	Adam Collins
Damian Massey	9 : 2	Lloyd Matining
Dharam Singh	9 : 5	Craig Hirst
Andy Nicholson	9 : 3	Gary Thompson
Gareth Steele	9 : 3	David Walsh
Chris Cowie	9 : 9	Jimmy Carney
Ben Moore	9 : 1	Dean Goddard
Simon Wildo	9 : 5	Lee Hersey
Chris Buckmaster	9 : 7	Jonny Cooper
Jason Howard	9 : 3	Larry Catapang
Craig Dixon	9 : 5	Brett Armer
Brad Parker	9 : 3	Dave Simmons

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE CHALLENGE CUP
THE LAST 16
Thomas Ainsworth-Smith	9 : 8	Kevin Simpson
Scott Higgins	9 : 6	Andy Appleton
Damian Massey	9 : 2	Andy Barnett
Andy Nicholson	9 : 3	Dharam Singh
Gareth Steele	9 : 7	Chris Cowie
Ben Moore	9 : 5	Simon Widlo
Jason Howard	9 : 7	Chris Buckmaster
Brad Parker	9 : 4	Craig Dixon

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE CHALLENGE CUP
THE QUARTER FINALS
Thomas Ainsworth-Smith	9 : 7	Scott Higgins
Andy Nicholson	9 : 4	Damian Massey
Gareth Steele	9 : 7	Ben Moore
Jason Howard	9 : 4	Brad Parker

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE CHALLENGE CUP
THE SEMI FINALS
Andy Nicholson	9 : 6	Thomas Ainsworth-Smith
Jason Howard	9 : 5	Gareth Steele

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE CHALLENGE CUP
THE FINAL
Jason Howard	11 : 5	Andy Nicholson

---

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE PRO CUP
THE LAST 32
Phil Burford	9 : 0	walk over
Pat Holtz	9 : 3	Dave Mackay
Imran Majid	9 : 4	Andy Worthington
Mark Gray	9 : 3	Jonathan Mathers
Tony Drago	9 : 4	Adam Clarke
Raj Hundal	9 : 6	Mike Rogers
Paul Williams	9 : 4	Gareth Esprit
Alan Millership	9 : 5	Kevin Uzzell
Karl Boyes	9 : 0	walk over
Damian Overton	9 : 8	Chris Melling
Jayson Shaw	9 : 4	James Taylor
Daryl Peach	9 : 3	David Jack
James Kay	9 : 4	Ian West
Adam Benn Smith	9 : 7	Craig Osbourne
Michael Valentine	9 : 8	Steve Capaldi
Darren Appleton	9 : 0	walk over

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE PRO CUP
THE LAST 16
Pat Holtz	9 : 7	Phil Burford
Imran Majid	9 : 5	Mark Gray
Tony Drago	9 : 5	Raj Hundal
Alan Millership	9 : 7	Paul Williams
Karl Boyes	9 : 7	Damian Overton
Jayson Shaw	9 : 6	Daryl Peach
James Kay	9 : 7	Adam Benn Smith
Darren Appleton	9 : 4	Michael Appleton

THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
THE PRO CUP
THE QUARTER FINALS
Imran Majid	9 : 1	Pat Holtz
Tony Drago	9 : 1	Alan Millership
Jayson Shaw	9 : 7	Karl Boyes
Darren Appleton	9 : 2	James Kay