The 2024 Derwent Valley Asbestos Removal Individual Snooker League is now underway with 14 competitors vying for honours.
The 2023 runner-up Peter O’Hagan made a positive start to his Division 1 title aspirations with a 4-1 victory over Sal Cakmak.
Some steady scoring enabled O’Hagan to open up a 2-0 lead, before Cakmak produced a 49 break to claim the third frame.
O’Hagan responded with breaks of 32 and 31 to take the final two frames and wrap up a comfortable victory,
Mark Tunstall opened his account with a 3-2 win against Andrew Mitchelhill. Tunstall made the quicker start and with some fine potting comfortably took the opening frame.
Mitchelhill responded decisively in the next with a 46 break to level the score. Tunstall was proving the more consistent in his play and took the next two frames to open up a 3-1 lead.
Mitchelhill once again found his potting form to produce a 32 break to take the final frame as consolation and minimise the losing deficit.
However, Tunstall found himself on the back foot in his following match against defending champion Kevin Basnett, who produced a consistent display of scoring, with breaks of 71, 69, 54, 49 and 33 to earn a 5-0 match victory.
This year has seen a number of debutants in Division 2, and the early results suggests that the race for honours is warming up to be very competitive.
Newcomer Adam Hodgson made a swift start to earn a convincing 5-0 victory over Stephen Harrison, although Harrison was left rueing missed opportunities in the third and fifth frames for a closer scoreline.
Hodgson then faced fellow debutant Wayne Sinclair. It was Sinclair who started stronger producing a break of 30 to secure the first frame.
Hodgson countered with some strong potting to edge the second frame and level the match, but Sinclair took control and dominated the last the frames to close the match out with a 4-1 win.
Sinclair faced a stronger challenge against Dave Chapman in a match that swung both ways. Chapman made a promising start to take the first frame, but Sinclair immediately responded to take the next two frames and move within one of victory.
Chapman showed his experience and calmly stepped in to level the match and force a decider. With both players determined to secure the win they traded points throughout and typically the deciding frame went to the colours, but the final chance was converted by Sinclair to edge out the match 3-2 and move to the top of the Division 2 table.
In his second consecutive close match Chapman was able to reverse the scoreline and emerge the victor against Jamie Flitton. It was another match that swung to and fro from start to finish.
Flitton edged out two close frames on the final black, but Chapman was able to make the better of his opportunities in the remaining three frames and emerge a 3-2 victor.
Flitton also found himself on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline against Stephen Jackson. Flitton started well taking the first, before Jackson levelled with the second. Once again Flitton showed composure to take the third on the black, but Jackson’s showed his determination and took the final two frames for a hard-earned victory.
Jackson started strongly against another of the debutants, Andrew Carter, with a convincing first frame win. This did little to faze Carter, who calmly levelled the match with some good potting of his own.
With both players trying to establish an advantage, the third frame developed into a tense black ball finish. Jackson held the stronger position with a slight scoreboard lead, but a nerveless pot from Carter was enough to secure the frame by a single point.
Jackson showed his experience and put the disappointment behind him with some steady potting to guarantee the match went to a decider. Belying his debutant status Carter continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over in the decider and held his nerve to close out the match 3-2.
Carter took confidence from his performance into his match against fellow newcomer Adam Sowden to maintain his unbeaten status with another 3-2 victory.
The pattern of 3-2 results continued as the match between Sowden and Stephen Harrison once again came down to a deciding frame, after both players had traded frames in yet another evenly matched contest.
In the end it was Harrison who held firm to capture the decider and record his first win of the season.
