Stephen Custance-Baker won the Budleigh 14-point Advanced AC Tournament

[<<] [>>] by Peter Moore at Budleigh Salterton
17th August 2019 (AC)

Budleigh Salterton held its first 14-point Advanced AC Tournament on Sunday 28th July. We've previously used this format in the A-class blocks of our class weekends when rain made 26-point games impracticable, and now - inspired by the success of the annual Letchworth event - we've gone for a stand-alone fixtures book tournament.

Naturally enough, only relative locals (Budleigh, Exeter, Taunton) made the trek for a one-day event. We were able to offer the eight entrants, handicaps -1 to a very brave 10, single-banked games through the day on immaculate lawns. Stephen Custance-Baker (0.5, Taunton Deane) won the event, beating Robert Moss (3 and fast-improving, Budleigh) in a tense final.

Most of the players hadn't experienced this format in serious competitions before; all of them enjoyed it immensely and want more. We intend to make this a regular one-day tournament and will probably tag it on to another AC event - the August tournament or one of our class weekends - in the hope of attracting players from farther afield. We can cope with 40+ entrants!

Stephen C-B got the new silver cup for winning, but the other and more valuable prize went unclaimed. The Manager promised a special treat for the first player to achieve the 14-point version of a sextuple: stop at 3 with the first ball to avoid the lift, finish next turn with a quadruple peel. None of those who tried came close - could it be you next year? Watch the Fixtures Book for your chance.