Rileys American Pool and Snooker - Solihull
Hobs Moat Road
Solihull
West Midlands
B92 8JN
www.rileysltd.com
www.gb9balltour.com - Visit for LIVE scoring!
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Friday/Saturday/Sunday 25-26-27 September 2009
Ultimately, the weekend belonged to one man - congratulations Darren Appleton.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
Rileys Solihull plays host to GB9 British Grand Prix
GB9 - Britain’s official professional 9 ball pool tour is now established as the toughest and most respected national pool tour in Europe with a line up of players that reads like a "Who's Who" of European cuesports celebrities. 2007 World Pool Champion - Daryl Peach; European Number 1 - Mark Gray, 2008 World 10 Ball Champion - Darren Appleton, London's finest - Imran Majid and Raj Hundal, even snooker legend Tony Drago plays on the GB9 tour.
Here's the report from the latest event, the GB9 British Grand Prix from Solihull in the Midlands, and it's a story of one man really - Darren Appleton, and here is the story, in his own words.
"I'm very happy to win, I've had a good run on the GB9 this year, I've played 5 tournaments and had 3 wins and 2 runner-ups and now I've won the most GB9 events - 3 Main and 3 Pro events... It's just a shame I couldn't make all the tour stops as I'd most likely be No. 1 on both lists."
"I went to Solihull in good shape and played really well in the Pro event. I beat (Karl) Boyes 9-7 in the Quarter-Final and had a great match with (Chris) Melling in the final where I played perfect and won 9-8. There was around 11 break and runs between us!"
"The main event was much tougher as I was really tired. I scraped through my first 3 matches, then from the Quarter-Finals I hit a gear, beating (Daryl) Peach 9-0, and then (Michael) Valentine 9-2 in the Semi-Final. In the Final I again played faultless, beating (Mark) Gray 11-2."
Winning that match made Appleton only the second player to ever win a "double" at a GB9 event, winning both Main and Pro events, and the first person to win three consecutive events.
"I will be at the last event at Barnsley so hopefully I can keep my run going. It's been a great year for me, so many top 8 finishes world wide along with 7 titles and 8 x "2nd places" and the standard on GB9 continues to improve. As we all know we have so many good players in the UK now, and maybe there's up to 8 players capable of winning anywhere in Europe - even around 5 or 6 players capable of winning a world title."
"Besides the Philippines we probably have the strongest nation in the world with regards to strength in depth and amount of titles we've won! The GB9 has come a long way in the past two years and I'm sure the future will get better - so many thanks to all the staff and GB9 for doing a great job and giving us a good tour to play on!"
"Read More..." for further details!
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
The bright red cola sponsored cloth on the tables at Solihull.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
Alan Coton in action at the GB9 event.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
Gareth Steele smashes out a big break shot at the British Grand Prix.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
West Sussex's James Welch in action in the Challenge Division event in the Midlands.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
There's plenty of action at the GB9 Grand Prix event in the West Midlands.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
Chun Hao Man focuses on the job at hand at Solihull.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
GB9 veteran Dave Simmonds gets down to business in the Challenge event.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
Louis Clarke made sure he didn't go home empty handed by winning the plate.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
Matt Hyden receives the Challenge Cup trophy from Stephanie Parker from Rileys.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE LAST 32 | ||
Mark Gray | 9 : 2 | David McCarthy |
Matthew Ford | 9 : 8 | Paul Williams |
Damian Massey | 9 : 8 | Chris Buckmaster |
Andy Worthington | 9 : 3 | Craig Osborne |
Andy Appleton | 9 : 3 | Kevin Simpson |
Jason Howard | 9 : 5 | Andy Nicholson |
Scott Higgins | 9 : 6 | Luke Rollison |
Jayson Shaw | 9 : 8 | Imran Majid |
Arfan Dad | 9 : 7 | Karl Boyes |
Michael Valentine | 9 : 5 | Steven Petty |
Stephen Capaldi | 9 : 4 | Brett Armer |
Chris Cowie | 9 : 5 | James Kay |
Darren Appleton | 9 : 7 | Craig Dixon |
Mike Rogers | 9 : 2 | Phil Burford |
Martin Chapman | 9 : 7 | Tony Burton |
Daryl Peach | 9 : 3 | Clark Smith |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE LAST 16 | ||
Mark Gray | 9 : 3 | Matthew Ford |
Damian Massey | 9 : 7 | Andy Worthington |
Jason Howard | 9 : 4 | Andy Appleton |
Scott Higgins | 9 : 8 | Jayson Shaw |
Michael Valentine | 9 : 3 | Arfan Dad |
Stephen Capaldi | 9 : 5 | Chris Cowie |
Darren Appleton | 9 : 5 | Mike Rogers |
Daryl Peach | 9 : 4 | Martin Chapman |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE QUARTER FINALS | ||
Darren Appleton | 9 : 0 | Daryl Peach |
Michael Valentine | 9 : 4 | Steve Capaldi |
Scott Higgins | 9 : 7 | Jason Howard |
Mark Gray | 9 : 6 | Damian Massey |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE SEMI FINALS | ||
Daren Appleton | 9 : 2 | Michael Valentine |
Mark Gray | 9 : 5 | Scott Higgins |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE FINAL | ||
Darren Appleton | 11 : 2 | Mark Gray |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE CHALLENGE CUP | ||
THE LAST 32 | ||
Louis Clarke | 8 : 0 | Robin Cripps |
Gary Houstoun | 8 : 7 | Roy Kimberley |
Gareth Steele | 8 : 6 | James Taylor |
Stuart Mann | 8 : 7 | Arfan Dad |
Matthew Ford | 8 : 5 | Chun Hao Mann |
Simon Hadley | 8 : 6 | Simon Gardner |
Mark Hopgood | 8 : 2 | Adam Collins |
Luke Rollison | 8 : 1 | Paul Taylor |
David McCarthy | 8 : 6 | Damian Massey |
Gordon Bain | 8 : 2 | Dan Lim |
Matt Hyden | 8 : 2 | Neil Cummins |
Paul Thomas | 8 : 7 | Martin Chapman |
Liam Wilson | 8 : 7 | Jonny Cooper |
Mike Rogers | 8 : 2 | Philip Morgan |
Chris Stocker | 8 : 6 | Clark Smith |
Adam Benn Smith | 8 : 7 | David Nelson |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE CHALLENGE CUP | ||
THE LAST 16 | ||
Louis Clarke | 8 : 3 | Gary Houstoun |
Stuart Mann | 8 : 3 | Gareth Steele |
Matthew Ford | 8 : 4 | Simon Hadley |
Luke Rollison | 8 : 5 | Mark Hopgood |
David McCarthy | 8 : 6 | Gordon Bain |
Matt Hyden | 8 : 6 | Paul Thomas |
Mike Rogers | 8 : 5 | Liam Wilson |
Chris Stocker | 8 : 6 | Adam Benn Smith |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE CHALLENGE CUP | ||
THE QUARTER FINALS | ||
Stuart Mann | 9 : 6 | Louis Clarke |
Matthew Ford | 9 : 8 | Luke Rollison |
Matt Hyden | 9 : 8 | David McCarthy |
Chris Stocker | 9 : 7 | Mike Rogers |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE CHALLENGE CUP | ||
THE SEMI FINALS | ||
Matthew Ford | 9 : 6 | Stuart Mann |
Matt Hyden | 9 : 3 | Chris Stocker |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE CHALLENGE CUP | ||
THE FINAL | ||
Matt Hyden | 9 : 7 | Matthew Ford |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE PRO CUP | ||
THE LAST 32 | ||
Imran Majid | 8 : 7 | Tony Burton |
Paul Williams | 8 : 2 | Scott Gillespie |
Chris Melling | 8 : 4 | James Kay |
Chris Buckmaster | 8 : 2 | Phil Burford |
Tony Drago | 8 : 7 | Chris Cowie |
Jayson Shaw | 8 : 1 | Simon Widlo |
Jack Triggs | 8 : 3 | Alan Millership |
Scott Higgins | 8 : 6 | Andy Worthington |
Karl Boyes | 8 : 2 | Stephen Capaldi |
Jason Howard | 8 : 7 | Michael Valentine |
Raj Hundal | 8 : 7 | Ben Moore |
Craig Osborne | 8 : 3 | Dan McCreadie |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE PRO CUP | ||
THE LAST 16 | ||
Daryl Peach | 8 : 4 | Stewart Colclough |
Imran Majid | 8 : 3 | Paul Williams |
Chris Melling | 8 : 4 | Chris Buckmaster |
Tony Drago | 8 : 7 | Jayson Shaw |
Darren Appleton | 8 : 0 | Jack Triggs |
Karl Boyes | 8 : 4 | Scott Higgins |
Raj Hundal | 8 : 7 | Jason Howard |
Craig Osborne | 8 : 4 | Mark Gray |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE PRO CUP | ||
THE QUARTER FINALS | ||
Imran Majid | 9 : 4 | Daryl Peach |
Chris Melling | 9 : 8 | Tony Drago |
Darren Appleton | 9 : 7 | Karl Boyes |
Craig Osborne | 9 : 8 | Raj Hundal |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE PRO CUP | ||
THE SEMI FINALS | ||
Chris Melling | 9 : 0 | Imran Majid |
Darren Appleton | 9 : 7 | Craig Osborne |
THE GB9 BRITISH GRAND PRIX | ||
THE PRO CUP | ||
THE FINAL | ||
Darren Appleton | 9 : 8 | Chris Melling |
Darren Appleton celebrates his double victories - GB9 Grand Prix AND Pro Cup.
Photograph courtesy of Andrew Warden, www.belleza-photography.co.uk
