Bradford No 1 cemented their place at the top of Yorkshire Inter-District Snooker League Division One with a crushing 6-0 victory against defending champions Sheffield No 3 at Undercliffe Cricket Club.
Wayne Cooper saw off the challenge of Yorkshire handicap champion and Yorkshire under-19 runner-up, Ashley Carty with two solid if not spectacular victories.
Cooper's 58-27, 71-27 scorelines maintained his 100-per-cent season of 12 frame wins.
Captain Kevin Firth showed the kind of form that has earned him a regular place in the England line- up, giving opponent Mark Turner little opportunitiy in winning 84-0 and 91-0 with breaks of 83 and 62.
Mark Slater then took two frames from highly-rated junior Will Lemons, a 41 break in the first to edge a black-ball game (65-55) being followed by a break of 40 in the second (67-28), ensuring Bradford secured their sixth win from as many matches, leaving them seven points above Castleford No 1, whom they travel to next.
In billiards, Bradford’s successful run came to an end with a 5-2 defeat at Harrogate.
John McEachran faced a tough test against Stephen Crosland and soon found himself 52-0 behind.
The gap narrowed to 63-42 before Crosland had a break of 54 and subsequently finished off with 39 unfinished to complete a very quick 200-91 victory.
The second game between Tim Godolphin and Bradford’s Richard Lodge got off to a slow start before a break of 42 gave Godolphin an 83-59 advantage.
A later effort of 31 saw Godolphin lead 159-91 from which point Lodge had little to play at and no opportunity to mount a comeback, with Harrogate taking a 4-0 lead with a 200-120 victory.
The third game ran totally the other way, with Harrogate’s Tom Halliday finding scoring opportunities difficult to come by and Bradford captain Stephen Kershaw having a comfortable 200-82 victory without playing particularly well.
* The draws for the quarter-finals of the Bradford Snooker Championship and Bradford Pairs Snooker Championship were made following the county match at Undercliffe Cricket Club, and three-time defending champion Gareth Green (Lifeline Leisure) will take on Damian Wilks (Wibsey Cons).
Nine-times winner Wayne Cooper (Laisterdyke Cricket) will play the winner of Richard Hagerty (Calverley Cons) and Eddie Ratcliffe (East Ward), while last year's runner-up Kevin Firth (Undercliffe Cricket) takes on Dean Parker (Laisterdyke WMC).
The tie of the round sees 2004 champion Howard Mawson (Eccleshill Vic Cons) facing Allerton Con Club’s John Wellham for a place in the semi-finals.
In the pairs, the ties are as follows: G&A Green (Lifeline Leisure) v W Downey & T Borza (Undercliffe Cricket), J Murgatroyd & M Slater (Clayton Libs) v R Hagerty & R Beckford (Calverley Cons), J Walker & P Hamilton (Undercliffe Cricket) v T McDonald & S Sandhu (Undercliffe Cricket), H Mawson & C Metcalfe (Eccleshill Vic Cons) v K Firth & D Stirk (Undercliffe Cricket).
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here