There were no surprises forthcoming in the quarter finals of the CLS MITCHELL CLOTH ON THE LEVEL North Island Billiards being played at the AUCKLAND CONFEDERATION of BILLIARD SPORTS Clubrooms in Royal Oak.

As expected, top seed Wayne Carey (Auckland) had no problem disposing of Waikato’s Peter Hammington, putting together breaks of 50, 48 & 40 in a 545 – 207 win. Second seed Grant Hayward (Auckland) also had a comfortable win over Waikato’s Darren Taylor and included breaks of 97, 95, 60 & 55 in a 659 – 292 win. The other 2 matches were closer affairs with Capital City’s Derek Gibb prevailing over Waikato’s Joe Ifa 413 – 257 and North Harbour’s Ray Habgood defeating Auckland’s Bryce Good 357 – 277.

Semi finals:

In the first semi final, former NZ Champion and defending North Island Champion Wayne Carey, Auckland, was not having things all his own way against North Harbour’s Ray Habgood and held 199 – 158 lead at the half way point. Carey continued to apply the pressure but Habgood responded well and it was only in the last 20 minutes that Carey slowly put the match out of Habgood’s reach with a hard fought win 472 – 262.

In the second semi final, Derek Gibb, Capital City, also a former NZ Champion, got off to a great start against Auckland’s Grant Hayward with breaks of 143 & 40 to Hayward’s 61 held a handy lead 211 – 135 at the hour. Hayward continued to battle away but the form he had shown up to this point deserted him and he just couldn’t close the gap on Gibb who eventually ran out the winner 447 – 287.

Final:

The 3 hr final started off well and within a few shots of the start Carey had compiled a 76 break only to be immediately followed by Gibb with a 65. Carey also compiled a break of 74 and Gibb had breaks of 30 & 38 to leave it nicely poised at the halfway point with Carey slightly ahead at 257 to 227. The flow of the game changed in the second session and both players struggled to maintain any real rhythm It was ironic really as it was the same table that Carey had the tournament high break of 199 on day 1. A 40 break by Gibb and a couple of 44’s from Carey enabled him to run out the winner at 509 – 445.

Full results from Day 3 are as follows:

Quarter finals:

W Carey (AK)(50, 48, 40) 545 bt P Hammington (WK) 207, R Habgood (NH) 357 bt B Good (AK) 277, D Gibb (CC)(63, 42) 413 bt J Ifa (WK) 257, G Hayward (AK)(97, 95, 60, 55) 659 bt D Taylor (WK) 292.

Semi-finals:

Carey (54) 472 bt Habgood 262, Gibb (143, 40) 447 bt Hayward (61) 287.

Final:

Carey (76, 74, 44, 44) 509 bt Gibb (65, 40) 445.

Warren Burke
Chief Referee & Tournament Controller.