TWO previous champions, Brian Duncan and Brian Tomlinson, were the latest qualifiers for the last 16 of the Alexander Classic, sponsored by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and Scottish and Newcastle Retail.

On Saturday, Brian Duncan put himself on course for the championship when he won through his rounds in typical confident style.

In his opener against G Trewartha from Todmorden, the champion made a remarkable start to go 15-1 in front which virtually wrapped up the game.

At least Todmorden never gave up and did well to get double figures in the end at 31-13.

Meanwhile, Cliff Johnson from Cannock was involved in a good tussle with Carleton visitor Frank Worthington who played well up to half way, but then fell away in the closing stages.

For 31 ends there was never more than a couple of points between them but from 20-20 Cliff produced a six break that proved vital in the run-in.

Frank reduced the arrears to 26-24, but once again the man from Cannock drew clear to win 31-25.

After such a long 45 end marathon, Cliff took some time to rediscover his momentum in the eliminator as Duncan soon opened up a 13-7 lead. At 16-9 Brian looked on his way to another easy passage, but Cliff stopped the rot and eventually levelled up at 21-21.

When Cliff led the block at 24-22 he saw his opportunity swept away as the Preston star came through to snatch victory 31-25.

On Sunday, local player Brian Tomlinson defeated clubmate Brian Topham to earn his place in the third round.

Both men were simply far too good for first round opponents who provided little resistance as the scores suggest.

But the eliminator had all the ingredients for a close contest and for most of the game the attentive crowd of spectators were not disappointed.

Tomlinson started with a good opening burst to lead 11-3, but Topham was not deterred by the early score against him, and slowly rallied.

However, he never overturned the deficit although at 19-18 there was nothing to choose between them.

But a six break from Tomlinson gave him the advantage and while they shared the points after that, it was enough to seal victory for the ex-champion 31-35.

Results - First round: B Duncan 31, G Trewartha 13; C Johnson 31, F Worthington 25; B Tomlinson 31, N Hopwood 5; B Topham 31, E Doogan 15.

Second round: Duncan 31, Johnson 25; Tomlinson 31, Topham 25.

Matches this weekend - Saturday: P Slinger (Blackburn), T Connell (Blackburn), E Thomas (Preston), J Hanson (Chipping).

Sunday: C Campbell (Blackburn), M Lang (Blackburn), K Bond (Nelson), B Oaks (Rochdale).

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.