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STADIUS FULFILLS POTENTIAL TO TAKE CHICHESTER CLASSIC
Chichester's Matthew Stadius, once known as the Mighty Atom, finally won a Frank Sandell Grand Prix series event when he won the Flintlease Chichester Classic at his home club - The Triangle, Chichester.
Stadius, 16, made up for the disappointment of losing in the final of the previous event to series leader James Dew, by beating the 16 year old East Grinstead player 2-1 in the semi-finals. This was the only frame Stadius lost all day and he went on to beat another East Grinstead player - first time finalist Craig Peadon, aged 13 - 2-0. Peadon reached the final by defeating Joe Lloyd, 15, 2-1 in the semi-finals. This was by far Lloyd's best performance to date, his confidence obviously high after two Handicap finals in the preceding two tournaments.
Highlight of the day was the third round defeat of Chichester's number seven seed Christian Chislett, 14. At one frame each against Rye seven-year-old Liam Harper, Chislett, who reached the final of the first event of the season, could only watch as the youngster knocked in a break of 65, narrowly missing a red with enough well-placed balls for a century to be clearly possible. Harper picked up the high break prize and a Hunters Inn performance award for his efforts.
The other performance award went to Worthing's Calum Boyd, 15, who won four matches without dropping a frame to reach the quarter-finals, including victory over number three seed Matthew Redfern,18. Boyd's run was only halted when he met Stadius.
In the Handicap events, James Kipping took great advantage of Lloyd's extended run in the main competition to win the Junior Handicap and move back to the top of the Handicap Grand Prix series with only one event to go. Kipping, 13, beat fellow Worthing club-mate Oliver Rogers, also 13, in the final.
The Senior Handicap event was won by number 32 seed Curtis Lambert, 16, from Brighton, who had been beaten by Lloyd in the fourth round of the main competition. Lambert defeated Worthing's Daniel Goodwin, 17, another defeated seed (14) in the final.
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