Castle clinches Cuestars Championship
IT WAS seven years ago that Cuestars South of England Champion Billy Castle (pictured) made his debut in the Under-15 Open as a nervous 13-year-old.
And now “he leads the pack”.
Castle blitzed his opponents during the Championship Tour last-16 play-off at The Crucible Sports & Social Club, Newbury.
“I started off slow in the groups, as I always do,” explained the 20-year-old, who is based at Cue T’s Snooker Lounge, Marchwood.
“When I got to the knockout, I knew what I had to do and I upped the level a bit.”
Indeed. The Cuestars Under-21 Gold runner-up in 2011 has since forged a reputation as a formidable and ruthless break builder.
After topping his three-man round-robin group, Castle dispatched defending champion Jon Charlton (Haslemere, Surrey) 3-1 in the last-eight with efforts of 81 and 59.
But it was his semi-final breaks of 84, 100 and 47 in beating Adam Nash 3-1 from 1-0 down that drew admiring glances from Cuestars director John Hunter.
“Billy was terrifyingly good,” said Hunter.
“He seems to have got the ability all top players need and that is to get his first shot selections right so he turns half chances into frame winning breaks.
“He made a fantastic 100 clearance to demonstrate this. “From what I’ve seen, he leads the Cuestars pack right now and he is a very worthy Cuestars champion.”
Nash simply said: “Billy is just too sharp.” Castle defeated Mike Finn 3-1 in the final. Last month, Castle beat Finn in Southampton’s Town Championship final.
Nash, Castle and Finn all turn out for Churchills A, who finished runners-up in this season’s Super League run by the Southampton & District Social Clubs League.
After competing in four of the six Championship Tour legs, Castle finished runner-up to Charlton and was installed as second seed for the play-off.
BREAKS
Billy Castle: 100, 84, 81, 71, 59.
Christian Chislett: 83, 60, 59.
Mike Finn: 79.
Jon Charlton: 66.
Dominic Holmes: 54.
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP POSITIONS
GROUP A: 1st, Craig Marsh (Crucible, Newbury); 2nd, Jon Charlton (Selsey RBL); 3rd, Dominic Holmes (Sovereign SC, Farnborough).
GROUP B: 1st, Mike Finn (Churchills, Eastleigh); 2nd, Martin Wallace (Colours, Reading); 3rd, Neil Carroll (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, James Ray (Sovereign SC, Farnborough).
GROUP C: 1st, Adam Nash (Churchills, Eastleigh); 2nd, Adam King (New Arches SC, Coventry); 3rd, Jessie Stevens (Sovereign SC, Farnborough); 4th, Daniel Woods (Chandler’s Ford SC).
GROUP D: 1st, Billy Castle (Cue T’s, Marchwood); 2nd, Christian Chislett (Selsey RBL); 3rd, Wasim Khan (Liberal Club, High Wycombe).
KNOCKOUT RESULTS
QUARTER-FINALS (£10): Chislett beat Marsh 3-0, Finn beat King 3-0, Nash beat Wallace 3-0, Castle beat Charlton 3-1.
SEMI-FINALS (£20): Finn beat Chislett 3-1, Castle beat Nash 3-1.
FINAL (£100/£40): Castle beat Finn 3-0.
Picture by Adam Nash