(http://nottinghamsnooker.com/Images/Logos/nottingham_grand_prix_150x68.jpg)
2010 Nottingham Grand PrixEvent 1 - Sunday January 31st, Pegasus Snooker Club16 Competitors turned out for the 1st qualifying event of the 2010 Nottingham Grand Prix 'Race for a Grand' which was won by Chris Winter. With some twenty nine breaks of 30 or over made on the day, Nottingham's and Derby's finest didn't disappoint in a high quality and enjoyable event. The competitors were put into four groups giving each player at least 3 matches with the top two from each group progressing through to the knockout stages.
Group A was won by Long Eaton's Stuart Ross who was in excellent form especially in the match against Steve Butler where he put together breaks of 31,32 & 33. This proved to be Butler's only defeat in the group though as he bagged 2nd spot with wins over Ken Michell and Sean Croft to progess into the knockout stage. Group B brought together 3 Pegasus team-mates in Nav Hussain, Danny Castel-Nuovo & Mike Langdon as well as Arnold's James Notman with Hussain finishing top of the pile. A comfortable victory for Castel-Nuovo in his final match against Langdon saw him through in 2nd place with 4 points. Group C proved too close to call with a play-off needed to determine 2nd spot between Malc Belshaw and Wayne Martin with Belshaw holding his nerve for an excellent shock win against the King of the Eastwood Open. Matlock's Martyn Taylor topped the group with a win and two draws. Group D(eath) was brilliant, perhaps not for those stuck in such a horrible group but great for those watching. The group gave us 11 breaks of 30 or more including the days highest of 72 by the brilliant Jimmy Gratton against Chris Winter. The break if not beaten over the next 10 months (i think it probably will to be honest) will bag Jimmy £72. The group was won by Chris Winter who got off to a brilliant start by beating the much fancied James Moore before breaks of 34 and 35 saw off recent Stapleford finalist Lee Crombie. In the final match Winter was held by Belper's Gratton ensuring progress for Winter and one final chance for Gratton in a play-off against Moore which he grabbed by clearing up to come from behind in the single frame group decider.
The quarter-finals saw Jimmy Gratton once again in the zone knocking in breaks of 44 and 43 to see off Stuart Ross. Nav Hussain came through a tough match 2-1 against Malc Belshaw who had made an excellent 48 break to level the match whilst Danny Castel-Nuovo beat Martyn Taylor. In the other match Chris Winter swept aside Steve Butler with telling breaks of 38 and 41 to seal his semi-final spot.
In the pick of the semi-finals Nav Hussain raced into a two nil lead over Jimmy Gratton with superb breaks of 69 & 62 before a gritty fight-back from the Belper man ensured a dramatic final frame decider. It was Hussain though who composed himself to win the frame with a couple of small but significant breaks to tumble over the line. In the other semi-final Chris Winter eased to a 3-0 win against Danny Castel-Nuovo.
The bright lights of Michael Holt's practice table were switched on for the first final of the series with Chris Winter adapting the quicker of the two players to the lightning cloth and tighter pockets making a 40 break to go two up. Hussain clawed a frame back helped by 39 break in the third to make it interesting but it was Winter who pocketed the prize money and 3,000 ranking points winning what at one stage was a very close final frame. A deserving 3-1 winner who showed great consistency and class throughout the day to win the first of the monthly qualifying events.
Group A Results:Stuart Ross
(31,32,33) 2-0 Steve Butler
Ken Michell
2-0 Sean Croft
Steve Butler
(31) 2-0 Ken Michell
Sean Croft
0-2 Stuart Ross
Sean Croft
0-2 Steve Butler
Stuart Ross
1-1 Ken Michell
TableGroup A | Player | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Stuart Ross | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Steve Butler | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| Ken Michell | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Sean Croft | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
Group B Results:Nav Hussain
2-0 Danny Castel-Nuovo
James Notman
2-0 Mike Langdon
Danny Castel-Nuovo
2-0 James Notman
Mike Langdon
0-2 Nav Hussain
Mike Langdon
0-2 Danny Castel-Nuovo
Nav Hussain
1-1 James Notman
TableGroup B | Player | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Nav Hussain | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Danny Castel-Nuovo | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| James Notman | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Mike Langdon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
Group C Results:Wayne Martin
(34) 1-1 Malc Belshaw
(43)Martyn Taylor
1-1 James Booth
Malc Belshaw
0-2 Martyn Taylor
James Booth
1-1 Wayne Martin
James Booth
0-2 Malc Belshaw
Wayne Martin
1-1 Martyn Taylor
Play-off: Malc Belshaw
bt Wayne Martin
Table:Group C | Player | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Martyn Taylor | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| Malc Belshaw | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Wayne Martin | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| James Booth | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Group D Results:Jimmy Gratton
(41) 1-1 Lee Crombie
(30)Chris Winter
2-0 James Moore
Lee Crombie
0-2 Chris Winter
(34,35)James Moore
(41) 1-1 Jimmy Gratton
(36,33) James Moore
(54,39) 2-0 Lee Crombie
Jimmy Gratton
(72) 1-1 Chris Winter
(46)Play-off: Jimmy Gratton
bt James Moore
Table:Group D | Player | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Chris Winter | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Jimmy Gratton | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| James Moore | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Lee Crombie | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
Non-Qualifier Bonus Frame (500 ranking points) Results:Wayne Martin
(38,36) bt Mike Langdon
Ken Michell
bt Sean Croft
James Moore
(39) bt Lee Crombie
Quarter Final Results:Steve Butler
0-2 Chris Winter
(41,38)Nav Hussain
2-1 Malc Belshaw
(48)Martyn Taylor
0-2 Danny Castel-Nuovo
Jimmy Gratton
(44,43) 2-0 Stuart Ross
Semi Final Results:Chris Winter
3-0 Danny Castel-Nuovo
Nav Hussain
(69,62) 3-2 Jimmy Gratton
Final:Chris Winter
(40) 3-1 Nav Hussain
(39)Thanks to everyone who turned out especially Wayne & Steve for their help. The Grand Finals prize fund now has £100 banked and the next qualifying event will be held at Pegasus Snooker Club on Sunday 21st February....see you there.
Mike Langdon (Tournament Director)
Well done Mike, a cracking day thanks to the massive amount of effort that you have put in.
It was brilliant. I really enjoyed it. From a selfish point of view I hope we get between 16 and 24 entries every time because the group format is great value for money. I played 9 frames in the comp plus I played a few frames against Mike in between matches on one of the spare tables. Nice tables as well.
Thanks for all your hard work Mike in making this happen. It was all run very professionally. Well done mate!
:england: :welldone: :bravo: :welldone: :england:
Its great to see someone putting in real effort in organising excellent tournaments and very well organised events. Looking forward to the next one Mike, even Holty wanted to enter the first one :bravo:
Looks like it was a wicked day. I'm glad it went well.
I just wish I could have been there :sad:
I don't blame you Daniel the atmosphere was fantastic and I wasn't even playing. I had the pleasure of watching some great players perform. I think next month I will give it a crack and see how it goes.
I also got to watch a professional practice (Holty) which was a bonus! :happy:
Well done Mike, great tournament and well organised.
Jordan.
Go for it Jordan. I know there are some great players in it, but you have to play if you can. It's all good experience mate.
Watchin Holty practice won't hurt either. Shows you what's possible.
You never know, you me and Sean might all be in the same group. One of us would have to go through then. :thumbup:
I'm only taking part for the experience and for fun, I'm not planning on winning :laugh:
So you're entering it next month then Daniel? That would be good to be playing in your group and I love them tables.
You don't have to win to enjoy it mate. I was going to enter last time but my partner was ill and I had to look after her kid, unfortunately. I fully intend to make it next time.
Good! See you there then.
Mike, thats two more players you have entering ;)
That will make up for me then. I was gutted to find out that my daughter's birthday party is on that same day! There's no chance of me getting out of that seeing as the missus has two kids to look after now as well as organising the whole thing.
Is there any other way I can get some ranking points Mike? Perhaps if I bring you a piece of birthday cake?
:oops:
an extra large slice and I'll give you 5000 ranking points.....love cake me :happy:
Quote from: Daniel Norton on 03 February 2010
Go for it Jordan. I know there are some great players in it, but you have to play if you can. It's all good experience mate.
Watchin Holty practice won't hurt either. Shows you what's possible.
You never know, you me and Sean might all be in the same group. One of us would have to go through then. :thumbup:
That would be great danni fingers crossed ay lol,
Mike,I just wanna say thankyou for such a superb day i really enjoyed it what a climax you've done well. :thumbup:
ride on 21st of feb. :england:
:thx:
sean.
cheers for your support guys.....i really hope to attract more players to each event in the future. Like Daniel says it's a great learning experience playing against the top players and to be honest they're not unbeatable if you're playing well and catch them off their game!
Also the handicaps will start to kick in at the next event so it's certainly not a case of making up the numbers.
Even i managed to make it to a semi-final at Stapleford last year going down 3-2 to Lee Crombie, in fact i should have won with Lee needing a snooker with just 22 left on the table in the deciding frame...so it's possible.
Above all come along and have a great days snooker win or lose.
look forward to seeing you all on the 21st Feb.
Cheers
Mike
It should be a good 3 days for me:
21 feb - Grand Prix!
22 feb - Birthday!
23 feb - Driving Test!
Can't wait. :happy:
At least the middle one shouldn't cost you anything!
That's your 18th birthday too so you'll be able to (legally) have a pint to celebrate passing your test! You are exactly 13 years older then my daughter Miah. God I feel old!
:thumbup:
Considering I pass Steve ha ha :laugh:
13 years older... Gosh, that makes me feel old!
I hope your daughter has a great birthday as well :thumbup:
i left me little dobber i.e me mini butt at pegasus last sunday does anyone know if its been found :oops:
Hiya Jimmy...I'll see if it's been handed in for you. These things normally get picked up by the staff when cleaning up so it's probably behind the bar.
Cheers
Mike