South West Durham League - Tom Ward of Hunwick clinched the top spot in the League's ranking tournaments when he won the final event at Tow Law, with Heppell Hodgson of Wolsingham finishing in second place after losing to Ward in the semi final.

Ward showed some lovely touches in his first game against Arnold Fleming of Crook and was never headed as he won by 27 points. John Bate, after a poor spell, discovered his old form and put in a fine display against Peter Laverick of Coxhoe, who never managed a serious challenge, going down by 36 points.

The closest game of the tournament came between Ken Robinson of Witton Gilbert and Jim Phillipson of Bowburn. Robinson set the early pace with Phillipson successfully playing catch up in the later stages and only failed to play game when a very thin in-off rattled the pocket, allowing Robinson to finish with an red in-off and a cannon to win by three points.

In Bate's semi-final he ran in a decisive 27 break with Robinson never able to catch up, finally going down by 22 points. Bate never got going in the final, where Ward knocked in a 31 break and went on to win by 39 points.

CIU Singles Championship

The third qualifying stage of the Championship played at Tow Law produced a close finish. In the first match Peter Laverick of Coxhoe made an excellent start against Lawrence Jones of Witton Gilbert and looked to have established a winning lead. However Jones came back in the late stages and closed the gap to only six points when he lost position and Laverick completed his victory.

Laverick was back at the table in the next match against Dennis Dodd of Spennymoor. However the Coxhoe man's form from the first match left him and Dodd went through to win by 50 points.

In the third match Jones played Dodd and edged through to an early lead that he never lost, going through to a 16 points victory. With all three players recording one win each the two to move forward had to be decided on points scored. The final positions were Lawrence Jones in first place, Dennis Dodd second and Peter Laverick third.

Cleveland League

Acklam Steelworks played away at Redcar Cons. Club and John Hartley kicked off with a great 37 break followed by a 40. Opponent, Mick McDermott, could do nothing but admire John's break building skills and was eventually overhauled by 150-114.

Mike Donnelly, from Acklam, must have been inspired by his teammates' performance when knocking in a 50 break then followed this up with a 40.

It was not long before he had his opponent, Ian Whittle, beaten 150-81.

Daniel Beagrie mopped up against Dave Presgrave with a score of 150-100. Beagrie also chalked up a 38 break in this encounter. Acklam were worthy winners on the night 3-0.

In the second match leaders, Lakes Social Club, were playing away to Carlin How's A team.

Gary Beckett was the first to chalk up a win against Brian Magor, the score being 150-107. In the second game Tony Zutshi levelled the match when beating Dave Beckett 150-127. The final game between Andrew Shelley and Mark Andrews was a very close encounter with Shelley coming out on top, winning 150-144.

This is only the second time that the Lakes have been beaten and with only one week remaining in the League, they lead Acklam by only two points, they also play Acklam in their final match and going by Acklam Steelworks present form this will be an encounter not to be missed.

The final match of the week was between Guisborough Cons. who were playing host to Carlin How's B team.

Steve Rutter won his first game against Andrew Wiseman 150-147. Colin Buckton then made it 2-0 for the home team when beating Mark Agar 150-78.

With the away team being unable to field a third player, Mike King won by not potting a single ball. The overall result was a 3-0 victory in Guisborough's favour