(reposted from Facebook group for completeness for those not on there)
Monster meet Day 3 (Main) and 4 (Classics) recap - Double Aw trouble
PBRs birthday festivities moved on to the weekend's main events where a tough field of 42 contested the 10/10 Main comp which would be 10 rounds of a main followed by a classic. 8 players would qualify for the playoffs which was a best of 3 random game choice .
It was the PBR 1-2 punch of Matt Vince and Yuen Aw at the top of the qualifying once the dust settled. Peter Blakemore was in great form and qualified third - and both Keith and Jack Burden also highly impressed to make the later stages and solidify a very strong showing for most of the SWL crew. The strikes Champ - Nick Marshall was still laser focused and another top 8 finisher. Perhaps the surprise package of the day was the unassuming Ben Pike - really struggling in PBR league this season with three straight bottom half performances. Ben completely flipped the script - playing like a man possessed all day to book his playoff slot.
The last qualifying spot was decided by a 3 way playoff between Leo Marshall and the best two players from the East Anglian Pinball Alliance, Nathan "the Real Deal" Garwood and DPOCK (Dan Pocklington) – Dan was the winner on Flash Gordon, earning him a match against the Machine, Matt Vince.
Matt progressed 2-0 over Dan, and Yuen survived a scare against the tricky Ben Pike who took him to a deciding game. Peter continued his strong play defeating Jack, and Keith Burden shocked the strikes champ Marshall to complete the semi finalists.
Keith was not done yet – following up this big win with yet another upset, this time against the home favourite, the Machine – winning a close game by just 1M points (82M to 81M) on Creech as Matt was housed on ball 3 when he needed only a couple of million points to win. In game 2 a strong game on Firepower sealed Keith's place in the final. In the other semi Yuen beat Peter on Demo Man and Lightning to advance.
The final was close affair on Scared Stiff with both players missing chances on Multiball to pull ahead – Yuen’s near 7 million after 2 balls just enough to take game one. Game two was on Spooky – Yuen had a strong ball 1 and ended on around 2 million after 3 – Keith started slowly, before getting used to the bounces on ball three and playing with calm and great nudging as ever – nearly doing enough but with an unfortunate drain to finish.
Results:
1st – Yuen
2nd – Keith
3rd – Matt
4th – Peter
On to day 4 – the massive classics comp with 44 players and 8 rounds of 3 games per round. Again, another top quality field had assembled – and this time it was a pumped up Ian Clarricoats who was the surprise leader after 2 rounds… with Marshall, Y Aw, Josh Iles and Conrad Chambers also in contention early on.
The Machine meanwhile was off to a terrible start – but after lunch his form returned and he begin to climb the charts rapidly… Also hot after lunch was Conrad Chambers, who played excellently all weekend, and Peter Blakemore – the former EPC Classics champion, certainly showing everyone why with some immense play throughout. Conrad led qualifying after rounds 5 and 6 but in the end it was the experienced Blakemore who took first place and a direct path to the final – alongside the on fire Gene Aw – with a stellar 13 first places out of
24 who seized the other direct finals spot behind a great game of Spirit in round 8 against Yuen, Anton and Kevlar.
Yuen and Nick Marshall would take the Semi finals berths, leaving Matt, Josh, Conrad and the surprising Clarricoats as the quarter finalists.
The playoffs were ladder format, with position 5-8 playing one game and the top two moving on to pay with positions 3 and 4. The two top players from that game would qualify for the final.
The random quarter final game was Centaur – much to the quiet delight of the Machine, who promptly smashed it for 3 Million points on ball 1 and book his place. Who out of Josh, Conrad and Clarricoats would join him? Not many would have bet on Ian coming out on top here but he duly put up a superb1.3M of his own meaning his fairytale run continued on into the semis.
The semi final was on Dolly Parton – which had been brutal to so many over the course of the weekend. This trend continued on ball 1 for players 1 to 3 – however Yuen stepped up and somehow put up 300K on ball 1, maxing the bonus multiplier and adding a few spinner rips to all but book his finals place early. Noone else could get much going, meaning Nick gratefully grabbed his pass to the final with a modest 31K of his own.
The last four men standing were hence Nick Marshall, Yuen Aw, Gene Aw and Peter Blakemore – and the final showdown was contested on Magic Castle. Gene jumped to an early lead with a great 900K on ball 1 – Peter was close behind, with Nick and Yuen starting poorly. On ball 3 the positions remained the same and Yuen had a paltry 186K, with Gene looking strong at 1.1M. Fortune was shining on Yuen this weekend however as he scored 2.2M points on the third ball to move into first – Gene could not overtake, but Peter fought well to the end to move into 2nd and finish on around 1.6M.
Results:
1st – Yuen
2nd – Peter
3rd – Gene
4th – Nick
Congrats to Peter for his 2nd straight top 4 finish away from home, and to my brother who finally showed he can actually play inside the country for once(!)
Other callouts – Martin Bedford who did brilliantly in 9th, so close to a playoff place; The rejuvenated David “Big time” Bowery – back in the top 10 of a packed tournament; the quiet but solid Mark Johnson in joint 13th– smashing it up for much of the day; Richard Hawley – showing his strikes 2ndplace was no fluke as he too finished joint 13th; Will the Monster Beynon – top half in 20th – no small feat in a quality field like this one.
Sincere thanks to Nick, Neil, Matt, Diane and all of the PBR team involved in putting on such a quality few days of events – all of the efforts really are appreciated. Thanks also to everyone who travelled near and far to support the club and the Monster Meet – it was a great to see you all and everyone together enjoying all the pinball and great games at PBR.
