I have just spent a great weekend in Solihull at the GB 9 Ball Tour, the Midlands Classic was the years first event and the action was always going to be serious.
40 new players joined the tour this year through the qualification tournaments and they battled across 3 tournaments with £11,000 prize money.
The Pro Event finished early Sunday morning with Michael Valentine coming out an 11-5 victor over Darren Appleton to lift his first GB9 title. The match took just over two hours as both players struggled with the break.
On the adjacent table former European Junior 8-ball champion, Steve Petty, beat hot favourite for the Challenge Tour this year, Anthony Ginn, 11-9 to lift his first title – both players in their first full season on the tour.
In the main event on Sunday Mark Gray went one better than last year when he lifted the title over an improved Daryl Peach, 11-5 (Peach, our reigning 9-ball World Champion was beaten in the Pro Cup first round by Chris Cowie). Gray moves to number 2 in the rankings but is still 30 points behind Imran Majid.
The next event takes place in March at Rileys Croydon for the Southern Masters.
