The men’s Bonus Pool went right down to the wire at Loughborough. 24 year old Harry Skinner, who led the leaderboard over the summer, was unable to play the last two events due to a recurring back injury. Whilst Neil Pauffley’s Tier 1 title at Wrexham in September, put him in pole position for the rest of the year. Going into Loughborough, Pauffley who is based in Nottingham had a wafer thin advantage of 84 points after Richard Bloomfield won the previous week in Hull.
With the pair seeded one and two, there could have been a mouth-watering final, with the winner snatching top spot. However, Peter Ashley’s impressive quarter-final defeat of Bloomfield, and Pauffley winning Loughborough, meant the 23 year old ended up with a margin of 1,083 points over his closest rival.
Pauffley who won back to back Tier 1 titles at Warwick and Bolton, as well as Wrexham and Loughborough, said: “I knew going into Loughborough I needed the points, and winning it would mean nobody could catch me. The £1,000.00 [bonus pool] prize money will be a great help with travel for some overseas events in the next few weeks.”
With final positions on the Aegon British Tour leader board now confirmed, the top 32 men and top 32 women have now been sent invites to the season ending Aegon British Tour Masters, which takes place at Nottingham Tennis Centre Thursday 28 November – Sunday 1 December. For further information go to www.lta.org.uk/aegonbritishtour