Rileys American Pool & Snooker St. Albans
15B The Colande
Upper Dagnall Street
ST ALBANS
Hertfordshire
AL3 5EA
Tel: 01727 846177
www.bpppa.org
www.rileysltd.com
Saturday 15 April 2006
Tony Burton
BUR-FECT PAIRING AGAIN IN ST ALBANS
The gifted Tony Burton has taken his second BPPPA Junior title of the season by winning the Southern Regional Championship held at the outstanding venue, Riley’s St. Albans. Burton, known as the ‘Basildon Bomber’, beat Darlington’s 15 year old sensation Philip Burford by nine racks to two in the final match. Storming into a 4 – 0 lead, Burton kept his composure and never allowed Burford to find any sure-footing in the match to take the last trophy and cash prize up for grabs before the big one - the British Junior Championships, which will be staged in Stafford on Saturday 20th May.
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The final, as was the case when this pair met at the final of the Northern Regional Championship, never really sparked. Good friends away from the table, Burton and Burford never seem to take the raw desire to win that usually shines so brightly in both, with them to the table when they meet. In sport, rivalry is a huge contributing factor to a great contest and only one thing betters it – a rivalry that ends in a genuine hand-shake. With Burton ending his junior spell at the end of this season it looks like this will never be remembered as a friendlier Eubank – Benn rivalry; a Coe – Ovett; or more recently Hendry – White; but it certainly had the potential, and still could have for one match in May.
Our champion Tony Burton qualified for the quarter-finals in St. Albans with two victories over first Luke Pepperell 9 – 7, followed by a tight battle against Dominic Gee 9 – 8. As is Burton, both Pepperell and Gee are regulars on the Main Tour, the trend seemingly being to gain a reputation before officially arriving. Burton certainly has a positive reputation with two last 16 appearances already under his belt on the Main Tour. His relative experience and growing class saw him through to the final with wins over Jack Triggs, another Main Tour runner, 9 – 4 and in the semi-final, the impressive Mark Hardy 9 – 5. Hardy’s calmness around the table is an attribute to cling onto and with his Bradley Parker-like locked bridging elbow; his cueing could take him far.
Philip Burford
Philip Burford qualified via the winners half of the draw with wins over Tom Howick 9 – 1 and Liam Wilson 9 – 4. Wilson, at just 12 years of age, could be the young man to challenge Burford the most, once the likes of Burton, Mathew Lawrenson and Ollie Waters have flown the junior nest. Burford went on to beat the aforementioned Waters and Lawrenson in the quarter and semi-final respectively. The talented Waters was seen off 9 – 4 before Burford produced a truly devastating display against Wigan’s Lawrenson. Fresh from his quarter-final appearance on the Main Tour stop in Northampton the week prior where he lost just 9 – 8 to World Pool Masters champion Raj Hundal, Lawrenson was looking for the first 9 ball title that his talent deserves. Burford took the match 9 – 2 whilst leaving the cueball in the dizziest state it’s ever been in.
10 year old Christopher Bristow gave us three entertaining matches to watch, winning one 9 – 5 and losing two just 9 – 5 and 7 – 4. Both Michael Beeston and Dominic Gee missed a 9 ball at hill-hill which would have seen them through to the quarter-finals in their respective matches – Gee even celebrated his effort, only to see the sacred striped-one rattle and sit over the pocket. An entertaining day to say the very least, the class and composure of these young cuemen never fail to make you wish you had their talent at their age. There is a world-beater amongst the names mentioned in this piece I’m sure, which name I think it is though shall remain my business.
Ben Moore
BPPPA Press Officer