Whitby star Kenny Wale nets Winter Champion of Champions title again

With 18 qualifiers there were two preliminary round games in the main competition featuring three Whitby players, all main competition games being played off scratch.

In the first game Tim Purcell beat clubmate Jo Leeman 21-14 while Josh Emmerson beat Thomas Colclough (Doncaster) 21-19 in the other.

In the top half of the first round 1st seed Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) beat North Cliff’s Ian Richardson 21-10, Andy Webb (Alverthorpe) won 21-8 against Ronnie Noble (Borough), Geoff Watson (Whitby) had a 21-15 win over Gary Thornton (Eastfield) and home player Alan Lee went down 21-12 against 4th seed Kevin Gates (Dukes Park).

In the bottom half of the draw, third seed, and current Winter Champion of Champions, Kenny Wale (Whitby) had a close escape against Mo Chambers (Castleford) going through 21-19 while Nigel Trotter (North Cliff) beats Whitby’s Paul Morgan 21-15.

Purcell beat fellow preliminary round winner and Whitby clubmate Emmerson 21-14 and 2nd seed, North Cliff’s Alan Landers cruised through 21-7 against Barrie Watson (Borough).

In the quarter-finals Webb came through 21-12 against Thompson, Gates beat Watson 21-6, Wale had a 21-4 win against Trotter and Landers went through 21-3 against Purcell meaning three of the four seeds had made the semi-finals.

In the Webb-Gates match the first 6 ends were very even with Gates just in front 5-4.

Gates then began to dominate stretching out to 19-8 after 19 ends before Webb won five successive ends to pull back to 19-14. Gates then scored a single and Webb two singles to make it 20-16 at which point Gates closed the game out 21-16.

The Wale-Landers game followed a similar pattern with Wale leading 10-2 after nine ends. Landers then pulled back to 11-11 after 16 ends after which things were quite even.

After 27 ends Landers led 20-19 and was lying game with a wood almost touching the jack only for Wale to score a hit on it and record the two needed to win 21-19.

The final was no less gripping with Wale leading 11-5 after 11 ends only for Gates to come back to 13-13 after 17 ends.

The next few ends were more or less shared until gates led 20-19 after 27.

At this point Wale again scored the necessary two to retain his title, the cup being presented by the East Coast of Yorkshire Association President Ed McCormack.

This Sunday sees the beginning of the Summer Merit programme with an Open Pairs at Dukes Park.

Please note that the start time is now 9.30am and that anyone wanting to play must register beforehand as the draw will be made in advance, probably on Saturday.