The past two weeks of DVARD summer snooker league and knockout fixtures have seen plenty of action across both competitions.
Defending champion Kevin Basnett compiled his second century break of the season, a 101, and added to his tally with breaks of 41 and 36 as he overcame an early 1-0 setback against Clive Lister to take a 4-1 victory.
The former county champion still holds the highest break of the season so far with 111. The Seaton player extended his lead to two points.
Title chasing Peter O’Hagan took on fellow Workington opponent Mark Tunstall in both home and away fixtures recently with honours ending even.
O’Hagan took the away tie 3-2 despite Tunstall recording his best break of the season with a half-century. Tunstall had battled back from 2-0 down in that match.
In the reverse fixture it was Tunstall who ended on top in another tight encounter, coming through 3-2.
Despite breaks of 35, 35 and 37 from O’Hagan, Tunstall battled back from 1-0 down to claim a closely fought final frame. Those results keep O’Hagan in second spot having played a game more than the leader.
Tunstall found time for a third league fixture over the past fortnight, coming out the 4-1 victor over Maryport’s Sal Cakmak.
Cakmak briefly rallied taking the fourth frame but Tunstall now rises one place to fourth.
In the second tier, Whitehaven’s Andy Moore extended his lead slightly to six points with a 4-1 win over Whitehaven’s Richard Kirkham.
Darren Lawson of Workington continued his rise through the ranks with a solid 5-0 win over Geoff Smith of Workington.
Smith recorded his best break of the season with a 30 as he battled hard to the final frame of the evening. Lawson moves up again to second spot to maintain a degree of pressure on the leader.
The previous week saw the DVARD knockout trophy qualification places become a little clearer.
In a DVARD group B clash, Workington’s Dave Chapman kept his slim hopes of qualification alive and snuffed out any chance Seaton’s Paul Smith had remaining to qualify with a 4-1 win.
Group leader Kevin Kirkham requires a single frame against Chapman in their final match while Chapman needs a whitewash and hope to overturn Kirkham’s superior average points for per frame.
Group C leader Geoff Smith lost his first group tie of the campaign to Cockermouth’s Andrew Mitchelhill 3-2 while Cakmak defeated Seaton’s Stephen Jackson 4-1.
Those group C results leave Smith requiring any form of win in his final fixture to qualify. Either of Mitchelhill and Cakmak can still qualify, however they are likely to take the required points from one another as they battle it out in home and away ties, meaning Smith may not require a win to qualify.
In DVARD group D Richard Kirkham got himself one foot into the semi-finals with a 4-1 win over Moore.
This leaves Kirkham needing to take a single frame against second placed O’Hagan who needs to get the whitewash over Kirkham. O’Hagan’s superior average points per frame would then be the decisive factor in qualification.
Group A sees qualification open to all three players.
