The BWPPA tour returned to Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley over the sunny weekend of 12-13 May, as 15 players did battle for the Simonis Grand Prix title. The tour welcomed Great Britain shooter Jonathan Bates, who was making his BWPPA debut in his hometown.
The first round threw up some thrilling matchups including two dramatic hill-hill battles. Fred Dinsmore had to use all of the experience that helped him win the wheelchair World 9-ball title last November, as he pipped Craig Welsh 7-6. Elsewhere having lead 3-0, Adam Pearson survived a hill-hill encounter with Matthew Lester to take the match 7-6. Stoke’s Dave Beaumont beat Frankie Gillen 7-4, which sent ”Hotwheels” into the one-loss bracket. Gillen was to fall victim to another hill-hill drama, this time at the hands of Darren Taylor who came through a 6-5 victor.
Daniel Lee began his campaign with a 7-3 win over Danny Luton to keep his hopes of a fifth consecutive BWPPA title alive. Dinsmore continued to progress, this time by a much more comfortable scoreline as he beat Adam Pearson 7-2.
One of the highlights from the tournament was a terrific clash between Beaumont and Roy Kimberley. Beaumont who has recently had a table installed at his home beat “the Sandman” 7-5. That defeat sent Kimberley over to the losers side of the draw where he beat “the Spokesman” Keith Hance 6-0. Earlier in the day Hance had recorded his maiden win on the BWPPA tour with a 6-4 win over Ifty Hussain.
Also in the one-loss side Jonathan Bates beat Pearson 6-3, after an earlier 7-3 defeat to Danny “Lucky” Luton. Unfortunately for the debutant this set up a clash with Kimberley who beat Bates 6-1. Bates is without doubt a prospect, many of the tours top players talked of the potential in him.
As the event moved into the qualification rounds for the semi-finals Lee beat Tony Southern 7-2 and Dinsmore beat Beaumont 7-4.
In the qualification round on the losers side of the draw, Beaumont beat Welsh 7-3 and Kimberley beat Southern by the same scoreline.
The semi-finals were jam packed with stories. The first semi-final saw Beaumont achieve arguably his biggest win on the tour to date as he defeated Lee 7-3 for a place in the main event final.
In the second semi- final Dinsmore beat Roy Kimberley 7-0.
The Final
Dinsmore took the first 2 racks. In the third Beaumont attempted a 4-9 combination, unfortunately for him the 9 stayed in the jaws of the pocket, which enabled Dinsmore to play a simple billiard to stretch his lead to three racks.
Beaumont came back to narrow his deficit to two racks at 5-3. At the beginning of the 9th rack the cueball got kicked into the corner pocket from Beaumont’s break. That was the catalyst to Dinsmore closing out the match beating Beaumont 7-3. This was the Irishman’s first title since being crowned as the wheelchair World Champion last November.
A video of the main event final is available to watch here
Full results of the main event can be found on our new tour sponsors cuescore’s site here.
The latest BWPPA ranking list can be found here.
The WPS Challenge Cup saw 9 entrants. The largest field for a number of years. The event began with a preliminary match between 2 heavyweights of the Challenge Cup, which saw Gillen (+2) defeat Lester (+2) 5-3.
In the quarter-finals Darren Taylor kept his good run of form going as he beat Southern 5-1 after receiving a +2 start. Bates (+1) came through a hill-hill decider with Luton to win 5-4.
Both semi-finals saw experienced BWPPA tour players pit against newcomers to the tour. Experience came through in both matches as Welsh beat Bates 5-3, and Gary Swift edged Taylor 5-4 in a South Yorkshire derby.
It was the Sheffielder Swift who was to take the title with a 5-3 win over Newport’s Welsh.
Full results of the challenge cup event can be found on the cuescore site here.
The BWPPA would like to thank all of our sponsors:
Gentlemen’s Night Out World Pool Series, Simonis cloth, Aramith billiard balls, Kamui, Predator Cues, Cuescore, Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley, Tiger Cues of Warrington, A.B. Wallace Trophies and Fred Dinsmore Billiards
We would also like to thank long time BWPPA supporter Big Dave Knight from www.pro9.co.uk for his great support including providing our event posters.
We also are always looking to expand the sponsorship side of the tour, so if you or your company would like to become one of our sponsors, please visit our contact us page.
You too can be a part of the world’s largest wheelchair pool tour; please keep checking on http://www.bwppa.com and http://www.pro9.co.uk for further information. In addition to our national tour stops there is also the possibility of representing Great Britain in international tournaments such as the EPBF European Championship and WPA World 9-ball Championship for wheelchair players.
In August we will be hosting a new event for all disabilities.
KAMUI 9-BALL OPEN DISABILITY EVENT
11-12 August 2018
Wheelchair Pool Academy, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Stoke Mandeville Stadium
Guttmann Road, Stoke Mandeville
Buckinghamshire
HP21 9PP
You can find more information about this event here.
