2005 Classic

Sutton Park bowler Roman Hrabar made the right decision to invest some of his winnings, won with his other team Myrtle Park and take up one of the last places in the Wetherspoon Devonshire Classic, qualifying for the final day with wins against David Hemsley and Graham Wood, he took his place in the final at Skipton Devon held on Sunday 2nd October 2005.

Hrabar met team mate Mick Upton in the quarter-finals and must count himself very lucky to get through, after a very good game Upton was lying game at 20-19 with a touching bowl, Hrabar's only option was a strong bowl it looked close, but just clipped the jack on the way through moving Upton's touching bowl over three times, leaving Hrabar to score one point and level the match at all but a piece, the final point went Hrabar and a 21-20 win. The other quarter finals saw Hedley Kettlewell(Brighouse Sports) in good form as he beat Gordon Schofield(Accrington) 21-4, David Upton(Sutton Park) always had the better of the game against Craig Lambert(Broughton Road) and won 21-9, Lambert's team mate Sam Kimberley also found it tough going and went down 21-12 to Graham Perry(Crosshills).

The semi-finals saw Roman Hrabar give an exhibition against Hedley Kettlewell, losing 5-3 Hrabar then got in and in ten ends scored six two's and four singles to lead 19-5, Kettlewell reduced the arrears but was never going to win, as Hrabar moved into the final with a 21-10 win scoring eight two's in the match. Graham Perry and David Upton had a much closer game with both players finding it difficult to get the good leads consistently, to put his opponent under pressure, eventually Upton, behind by the odd point, put three good ends together to win the match 21-18.

Hrabar was not going to let his chance of victory slip to team mate Upton and he once again produced some excellent bowling to always lead in the match, David kept pulling out some good bowls but he could never get a run going as he got further behind, where bowlers are happy to get singles, Roman consistently got two's which put him ahead very quickly, six more singles in the final saw him win with ease 21-12. Matthew Gillett of Wetherspoon's presented the £1000 in prizes.

The finalists are pictured below: (l to r: David Upton (runner-up), Matthew Gillett (Manager of the Wetherspoons Devonshire, Skipton) and Roman Hrabar (2005 Devonshire Classic Champion)