Castle makes quarter-finals of national tour

BILLY Castle pocketed £50 after reaching the quarter-finals of the fifth leg of the English Ranking Series at his new home club in Newbury.

Castle (pictured), who won the Cuestars South of England Championship Tour event at The Crucible Sports & Social Club last month, returned to the venue as the national tour moved south.

The 22-year-old, now living in Reading, fired in a 96 break to wrap up a 4-2 victory over Wayne Townsend (London) and then beat Brandon Sargeant (Stoke) 4-0 before going down 4-2 to Michael Wild (Oldham).

Jordan Winbourne (Hedge End) went out 4-3 to Johnathan Bagley (Leeds) in the first round.

Jon Charlton, the three-time Cuestars Championship Tour rankings winner, picked up £50 after losing 4-1 in the quarter-finals to Saqib Nasir (Birmingham), the eventual tournament winner.

The sixth and final leg is at Cueball Derby on April 25-26.

Castle beat Chris Christodoulou 3-0 in the last-four of Southampton’s Town Championship to set up another final against four-time champion Mike Finn.

The former Chandler’s Ford SC junior beat his Churchills A teammate in the 2013 final, avenging the previous year’s defeat.

Report and picture by Tim Dunkley.