The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Craig Fitter lifted his fifth Snooker Scratch title on Saturday night after seeing off Pyramid’s James Sharpe 4-2 in the show-piece match of the Spalding and District Snooker and Billiards League’s finals weekend.
Services star Fitter, who first lifted the President’s Cup back in 1999, beat Sharpe 4-2 (29-47, 28-77, 64-50, 67-29, 58-28, 71-47).
Sharpe got off to a great start, winning the first two frames, but Fitter hit back taking the next four with a 39 break to boot.
The top team trophy up for grabs at the Springfields Events Centre-hosted weekend ended up at Donington, as Neil Reynolds, Tony Scully and Ben Wrigglesworth beat Sutton Bridge (Glenn Ryan, Shane Balding and Tom Horspool) 4-2 to secure the Norey Cup.
Reynolds starred with breaks of 40 and 21 in that one, while there were breaks of 25 and 22 for Balding, 21 for Horspool, 24, 20 and 20 for Scully and 28 and 20 for Wrigglesworth in what was the final game of the weekend.
The action got under way on Friday night, with an all-Donington singles pairs final.
Carl Manning and Chrissy Allwood started well, with Allwood (O14) beating Mick Pearl (O21) and Manning getting the better of Neil Favell (O7).
Pearl and Favell then turned the tables, winning the doubles, before Pearl beat Manning and Favell saw off Allwood to lift the trophy.
Saturday morning kicked off with the Billiards Handicap which saw Gosberton’s Des Forbes (R50) beat Donington’s Scully (R40) in a game that finished 200-171.
There was a new name on the Snooker Senior Masters trophy after Consti’s Ady Sibley (O35) defeated Sutton Bridge’s Glenn Ryan (O28) 2-0.
It came down to the pink in the Snooker Mixed Pairs, as Susan Lefley and Sean Swinburn (Holbeach) made it a third title win, beating Chrissy Allwood and Neil Reynolds (Donington).
The 2016 winners took the victory 116-105, with Lefley potting the pink for the win.
Next up was the Snooker KO Cup final, which went with the form book as top tier title chasers Bourne SC B defeated Division Two side Consti H 3-2. Wins on the day came from Jason Bates (O77), Elliot Gaunt (O28) and Gary Surridge (O7) for Bourne. Bates knocked in breaks of 25 and 24.
Getting the frames for Consti were Oliver Turner (O14) and Adam Mayman (O14).
League legend Mick Johnson was the first of Sunday’s winners as he beat defending champion Mick Cooper 248-212 in the Billiards Scratch.
Johnson lifted the crown for a fourth time since 1999.
Next was a first for the Spalding league as two father and son teams did battle in the snooker pairs.
Services twosome Kevin and Craig Fitter got the better of Donington duo Neil and Ben Reynolds.
The Snooker Handicap final saw Bourne SC’s James Kingston (O28) beat Services’ Vince Fitter (O28) 2-1 for his first success in the competition.
There’s a new name on the Snooker Scratch Pairs trophy, with formidable Donington duo Neil Reynolds and Dan Burt seeing off Sutton Bridge pair Tom Horspool and Shane Balding.
A poignant moment over the weekend saw a minute’s silence held in memory of league stalwart Bill Parker who died recently.
