Busy schedule rocks Hawkins
Snooker
Ditton’s Barry Hawkins admitted he struggled to adapt to the tough 19.com English Open scheduling after he crashed out in the last 16 on Thursday.
Two matches in one day proved too much for the
2013 World Championship runner-up, and he went down 4-0 to world No.7 Mark Allen having beaten Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien 4-2.
Hawkins had looked in imperious form throughout the tournament – reaching the last 32 at the K2
Leisure Centre in Crawley before losing a frame with wins over Amine Amiri and Michael Georgiou – but fell short against 2018 Masters champion Allen, who notched two tons and two halfcenturies.
The nature of playing twice in one day ahead of the weekend meant players had to wait long periods between games, and while quick to applaud Allen for his superior performance, Hawkins believes the scheduling had a negative impact on his display.
“I don’t enjoy having two games in a day,” he said. “I like to know when I’m playing and the hanging around drives me a little bit mad. “I felt good in the morning against Fergal. I got a bit twitchy towards the end, but I was pleased to get the win and was really looking forward to the evening’s game.
“I just felt a bit flat to be honest and started off too slowly, but everyone’s in the same boat and Mark dealt with it really well.
“I missed a couple of balls early doors and then he really got going.
“I just needed to be a bit more professional and I just wasn’t as ready as I should’ve been.”
Despite the defeat, Hawkins’ early-round performances included glimpses of his best form, and having already won the Paul Hunter Classic this season – as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the China Championship and Shanghai Masters – he has plenty to work with ahead of the busy winter period.
Scott Redding had a debut season to remember as he clinched the 2019 British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.
Be Wiser Ducati team-mate Josh Brookes won all three races at the weekened but was unable to overturn Redding’s 28-point advantage.
Mechanical problems left Redding ninth on the grid for race one following a disastrous qualifying session when a mechanical problem left him ninth on the grid.
Brookes took pole position with Danny Buchan and Christian Iddon completing the front row while Tommy Bridewell, needing to win to stay in title contention, headed up the second row. Brookes took full advantage from his pole start while Redding struggled off the line and dropped back to 11th but a big off from Luke Mossey on lap two shook the pack and Redding fought his way up to seventh. On lap seven, James Ellison’s engine failure at Surtees caused a red flag as he took out Joe Francis and Ryan Vickers with him. With the new restart rules being based on the result of the last completed lap, Brookes kept pole leaving the advantage in favour of Bridewell, who took second on the grid in front of Iddon. A trouble-free 12 laps saw Brookes finish first and Bridewell take second with
Redding in third.
On Sunday, pole position again gave Brookes a perfect start in race two for Josh Brookes. Bridewell was the filling in a PBM Ducati sandwich for the majority of the race.
Lap 18 saw Redding cleanly pass Bridewell to move second but Brookes held off his teammate to close the gap for the