Lloyd favourite for second Championship Tour title
MARK Lloyd’s bid for a second Cuestars Championship Tour rankings title gained momentum after he clinched the fourth leg in south London.
The 25-year-old from Gosport overcame ex-professional Billy Castle (Reading) 3-1 in the final at Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon.
A 55 clearance to take the third frame on the black was the turning point in the match for the former English junior champion.
Lloyd, who also won the opening leg of the season in Chandler’s Ford, collected £170 in prize money. He won the title in 2018/19 and stretched his lead this season to 24 points over Paul Davis (Wareham). Castle is one point further back in third place.
Marcos Dayao (Battersea Park) recorded two of the day’s four centuries – and had the other two scored against him!
The 2021/22 rankings champion made a monster 137 in the first round against Ronnie Blake (Sutton) and a 101 against Riley Ellis (Swindon) in the last-eight. And Castle put together back-to-back tons of 115 and 135 against Dayao in the semi-finals.
Neil Herd (Frome) made the last-four for the first time this season.
Lun Lee (Orpington) defeated Jimmy Gregory (Woking) 2-1 in the Plate final.
Frames Sports Bar (framessportsbar.com) sponsored the event which attracted a high-quality field of 24.
Salisbury Snooker Club hosts the fifth leg of nine on Sunday, January 12.
RESULTS (BREAKS)
PRELIMS: Labeeb Ahmed 3-2 Peter Devlin, Ryan Hughes 3-0 Jimmy Gregory, Connor Benzey (80, 67, 57) 3-2 Bradley Cowdroy, Billy Castle (50) 3-1 (50) Simon Bubb, Evan Plummer 3-1 Lun Lee, Marcos Dayao (137) 3-0 Ronnie Blake, Riley Ellis 3-2 Paul Davis, Jake Fowler (50) 3-2 Jack Dady.
LAST-16: Labeeb Ahmed (74) Ryan Hughes, Billy Castle 3-1 (60) Connor Benzey, Marcos Dayao (78) 3-1 Evan Plummer, Riley Ellis 3-2 Jake Fowler, Mark Lloyd 3-0 Riccardo Drayton, Ray Grall 3-2 Andy Darken, Neil Herd 3-2 John Donovan, Kevin Palmer (75) 3-1 Isaac Wong.
QUARTER-FINALS: Billy Castle (51, 50) 3-2 (70, 50) Labeeb Ahmed (74), Marcos Dayao (101, 83) 3-0 Riley Ellis, Mark Lloyd (51) 3-0 Ray Grall, Neil Herd 3-0 Kevin Palmer.
SEMI-FINALS (£40): Billy Castle (135, 115, 56) 3-0 Marcos Dayao, Mark Lloyd (59) 3-0 Neil Herd.
FINAL (£170/£80): Mark Lloyd (55) 3-1 (61) Billy Castle.
PLATE RESULTS (BREAKS)
PRELIMS: Jimmy Gregory 2-1 John Donovan, Ronnie Blake 2-0 Jack Dady. .
QUARTER-FINALS: Jimmy Gregory 2-1 Ronnie Blake, Paul Davis 2-1 Bradley Cowdroy, Lun Lee (50, 60) 2-1 Riccardo Drayton, Isaac Wong 2-1 (63) Simon Bubb.
SEMI-FINALS: Jimmy Gregory 2-0 Paul Davis, Lun Lee 2-0 Isaac Wong.
FINAL (£30): Lun Lee 2-1 Jimmy Gregory.
Picture: Billy Castle (left) and Mark Lloyd