Cowdroy on a roll

BRADLEY Cowdroy has won his first tournament on the Cuestars Championship Tour.

The 20-year-old from Bournemouth overcame rankings leader Wayne Townsend 3-1 to collect the £150 top prize in the second leg at Jesters Snooker Club, Swindon.

Cowdroy, who had never been past the semi-finals on this tour before, has now won four of the last five Cuestars events that he has entered.

He collected winner’s trophies in the Under-21 Gold legs in Chandler’s Ford in April and Coulsdon earlier this month and he won the Gold Championship in Swindon in June.

Cowdroy is approaching the major milestone of 100 Cuestars ranking tournaments. Swindon was his 94th outing across the four tours: Under-21 Gold, Silver, Bronze and Championship.

Marcos Dayao (Battersea Park) recorded the event’s highest break in the match of the day. The reigning rankings champion put together a run of 86 in a 3-2 first-round victory over James Budd (Gosport), who contributed the day’s second highest break of 79 in the same match.

Budd then went on to reach the Plate final where he lost 2-1 to Ryan Mears (Aldershot).

Another player scaling new heights was Aristos Pampouris (Chingford). He reached the last-four having never progressed past the last-16 in his four previous events.

Leg-one winner Townsend remains top of the rankings. Mark Lloyd (Gosport) is second. Cowdroy and beaten semi-finalist Dharminder Singh Lilly (Fareham) are joint third.

The Crucible Sports & Social, Newbury, hosts the third leg of nine on Sunday, November 13.

RESULTS (BREAKS)

PRELIMS: Dan Hall 1-3 Adam Stacey, Will Harrison 3-0 Peter Chin, Paul Ives 3-0 Steven Hughes, Oliver Sykes 3-0 Riley Ellis, Marcos Dayao (86) 3-2 (79) James Budd.

LAST-16: Adam Stacey 2-3 Will Harrison, Paul Ives 2-3 Aristos Pampouris, Oliver Sykes 2-3 Marcos Dayao, Brad Cowdroy 3-0 Vikas Gupta, Wayne Townsend 3-0 Shane Kearns, O’Shay Scott (75) 3-2 Harry Turner, Josh Parker 0-3 Dhar Lilly, Mark Lloyd (78) 3-0 Jack Dady.

QUARTER-FINALS: Will Harrison 0-3 (50) Aristos Pampouris, Marcos Dayao 2-3 Brad Cowdroy, Wayne Townsend (51) 3-0 O’Shay Scott, Dhar Lilly 3-1 Mark Lloyd.

SEMI-FINALS (£30): Brad Cowdroy 3-1 Aristos Pampouris, Wayne Townsend (61) 3-1 Dhar Lilly.

FINAL (£150/£70): Brad Cowdroy 3-1 Wayne Townsend.

PLATE RESULTS (BREAKS)

PRELIMS: Riley Ellis 2-0 Peter Chin, Jack Dady 2-1 Dan Hall.

QUARTER-FINALS: Riley Ellis 2-1 Jack Dady, Ryan Mears 2-0 Harry Turner, Shane Kearns 0-2 (53) James Budd, Vikas Gupta 2-0 Josh Parker.

SEMI-FINALS: Ryan Mears 2-1 Riley Ellis, James Budd 2-0 Vikas Gupta.

FINAL (£20/£10): Ryan Mears 2-1 James Budd.