Finntastic (sorry, Mike)
MIKE Finn returned to his happy hunting ground to win the first leg of the Cuestars Seniors Tour.
It was just over ten years ago that Finn rattled in a century break in each of his five best-of-three-frame group-stage matches on the Championship Tour at The Crucible Sports & Social Club.
And the 40-year-old was back in Newbury to pocket the £140 prize money on his debut on the circuit for players aged 40 or over.
Finn improved as the day went on and was a deserved winner, beating Lun Lee 2-1 with breaks of 56 and 50 in the final of the event sponsored by Swindon-based ice cream firm Chez’s Ices.
Dharminder Lilly made a strong start in the match of the day, his last-eight clash with Finn, taking the first frame only for his opponent to level things up with a fluent 67 break. After some good safety, a misjudged roll up behind the brown cost Lilly as he left a free ball and Finn punished him by making a 56 break from this position to take control of the decider.
Finn has won the singles competition – known affectionally as the Town Championship, which is run by the Southampton and District Social Clubs League – more times than you can shake a stick at.
The honours for the day’s highest break were shared by Finn, who made a 91 in his last-16 match against David Beakhouse, and Simon Peacock, who made a rapid 91 in his 2-1 quarter-final defeat by Dean Sycamore.
It was great to see Sycamore back for a Seniors event after a bit of a break. He was the only player to beat Finn in the group stages and he made the semi-finals where he lost 2-0 to Lee.
Jason Pusser was in good form, topping his group and then defeating both Mark Thomas and local player Chris Rice in the knockout. Pusser pushed Finn close in their semi-final and was just edged out in the decider.
Minesh Doshi, another newcomer, won his group and then beat Adam Nash 2-0 in the first knockout round.
Jimmy White’s Sports Lounge, Woking, hosts the second leg of eight on Sunday, October 25.
Follow Chez’s Ices on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. Ring Francesco on 07778 549602 or contact him through his website, www.chezsices.co.uk, if you want to hire an ice cream van for your event in the south of England.
PRIZE MONEY: Winner £140 Mike Finn; runner-up £70 Lun Lee; semi-finalists £25 Jason Pusser & Dean Sycamore; quarter-finalists £10 Dharminder Lilly, Chris Rice, Minesh Doshi & Simon Peacock.
LINKS FOR RESULTS:
https://snookerscores.net/tournament-manager/cuestars-seniors-40-and-over-tour-event-1/groups
https://snookerscores.net/tournament-manager/cuestars-seniors-40-and-over-tour-event-1/knockout
https://snookerscores.net/tournament-manager/cuestars-seniors-40-and-over-tour-event-1/breaks
https://snookerscores.net/organisation/cuestars/ranking-list/20262027-cuestars-seniors-40-and-over-tour
(Many years ago, I wrote the snooker page and the social clubs page for the Southern Daily Echo in Southampton. Mike Finn featured many times. But the sub-editors at the Echo always wrote the headlines. The first one had the brilliant idea of using Finntastic as the headline. The problem was that every subsequent sub-editor also had the same brilliant idea.)
By Tim Dunkley and Chris Wyatt