Gus Maitland Trophy 2018
This year's competition was held at Bideford Youth Centre on 9th February. 17 of the 20 teams entered and the evening provided some fine competition.
Players were split into two groups of nine, with each person playing one game up to 21 against all the other members of that group.
Group 1 was close - 5 wins were enough for James Raymont and Dave Moore to come top of the group and progress to the semi finals. Unlucky to lose out by just one point were Joey Butt and Richard Nicholls. Richard beat Dave Moore on 'sudden death' but didn't quite have enough points elsewhere.
In group 2, Jon Taylor and Nathan Jukes shared top spot – each only losing one game. Barry Stearman and Peter Kneil were the closest of the chasers.
Semi-finals were held on the same basis of one game to 21.
James Raymont managed to turn over Nathan Jukes handicap to win 21-17. In the other semi, Jon Taylor could not manage the same feat as Dave Moore got away from the start and simply kept going.
The final – best of 3 - was a close affair. Dave Moore held his nerve to take the first on 'sudden death'. Dave came close in game 2 but finally was overtaken 21-18. In the third, deciding, game, James managed to pick off Dave's lead reasonably early, and kept things in control to take the trophy 21-16.
Well done James!
Marcus would like to thank individuals for their help on the night, which greatly contributed to its success.
