The final event of the Resdev Senior Tour was the Masters event at the always popular Mansfield Superbowl. This was for the top 24 bowlers who had taken part in at least 3 events and their ranking points based on their finishes had placed them in the top 24, unfortunately 2 bowlers could not take part so bowlers placed next on list were invited and they accepted. Before we started their would be a presentation to the rankings leader Ron Oldfield and a photo of all the 5 stop winners this year. The qualifying would be the usual 6 games over 6 pairs of lanes. Straight out of the blocks with the high game of qualification would be Chesterfield stop winner Gary Christopher with 277 scr.
The pattern used was supplied by the bowl and proved to be very fair and rewarded good shot making. As the games went on the scoring rate got higher with excellent games from Jan Hodge 241 with bonus, Mo Singleton 266 with bonus, Barry Walker 257 scr, Mike Halliwell 272 with bonus and Trevor Green 257 with bonus. Leading after qualification would be Bromborough bowl owner Trevor Green on 1399 with bonus thanks to 247,246 and 247 scr in games 4,5 and 6. Sitting 2nd Mike Halliwell 1361, 3rd Shipley winner Kevin Lamb 1328, 4th Bromborough champ Ron Oldfield 1323, 5th Sundeland’s Barry Walker 1297, 6th Wigan bowler Trevor Lamprell 1281.
The cut for the top 16 progressing to the next round would be Nev Robinson on 1159 inc bonus. As this was the masters and there was some extra cash accumulated through the year, bowlers placed 17 to 24 all received some prize money. The 2nd round would be a further 3 games with scores carried forward from qualification, with bowlers aiming for a top 8 place for round 3. With an excellent 265scr last game would propel Mike Halliwell with 2002 inc bonus to the no 1 seeding for round 3. Shooting up from 10th to 2nd would be Lincoln Winner Gary Barlow with games of 236, 289 and 202 all scr to just miss out on 1st with 1999 inc bonus, Trevor Green with a poor last game would drop to 3rd on 1970, Kevin Lamb recovering from a poor first game in 4th 1907.
Mansfield winner John Strettle 5th 1898, 6th Ron Oldfield 1877, 7th Geoff Brown 1865 and moving up from 13th to snatch the last spot in 8th by a mere 3 pins was Shipley owner Jeff Taylor 1839 just easing past Andy Preece 1836 and Jan Hodge 1829. Round 3 would be a seeded 2 game matchplay based on finishing positions in round 2, 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5. The 4 winners from this round would progress to the final. Unfortunately after game 1 all the losing bowlers were a long way behind Mike H 222 to Jeff 187, Geoff 228 to Gary 189, Trevor 234 to Ron 191 and Kevin 258 to John 203, making a brave bid in game 2 was Jeff with 258 but Mike matched him with 261 and eased to a 483-445 win, also winning Geoff 477-386 Gary, Trevor 431-400 Ron and Kevin 480-423 John.The final would be an elimination of the lowest bowler after each game with scores of those progressing being carried forward.
The first game was to be an amazingly close affair for positions 2, 3 and 4, with Kevin shooting an impressive 269 inc bonus to secure his place, coming through with an excellent finish was Trevor with 212 inc bonus 3rd would be Geoff after a solid 209 inc bonus just edging out Mike on 199 inc bonus. Game 2 and could Trevor and Geoff catch Kevin and the answer would be no as Kevin once again had the best game of 218 inc bonus total 487, Trevor would meet him in final game with 192 inc bonus total 404, going out after game 2 would be Geoff with 172 inc bonus total 381. On to game 3 and Trevor would need a miracle to overhaul Kevin, it was not to be as both had 213 inc bonus, so Kevin with 700 inc bonus comfortably winning from Trevor 617 inc bonus.
So there it is our Masters champion for 2018 is KEVIN LAMB, following up his Shipley triumph. Congratulations Kevin from the Resdev Tour. Now for all the thank yous. Firstly I must thank NICK WRIGHT of RESDEV for all the sponsorship and support throughout the year, also to Mark Smith for all the help at the stops with scoring, running around for me, it is so much appreciated. My thanks to the management and staff at Mansfield for the masters event and to all the Centres we have stopped at for the superb way they treat myself and the bowlers when we are there.
Next season all dates are on BTBA calendar. If anyone is interested in playing please contact me on either jgs833@outlook.com or 07905 163353. On behalf of myself I would like to thank all the bowlers this year for participating and I hope you had an enjoyable experience. I would like to wish you all a merry xmas and happy new year and hopefully see you again at one or more of the stops next year. At this moment there are negotiations in place for a 6th stop, further details will be given if this happens.
Yours in bowling Jack G Smith.
Final
| POS | NAME | BONUS | 1+BONUS | 2+BONUS | 3+BONUS | TOTAL | |
| MIKE HALLIWELL | 5 | 199 | 199 | 4TH | |||
| GEOFF BROWN | 5 | 209 | 381 | 381 | 3RD | ||
| TREVOR GREEN | 10 | 212 | 404 | 617 | 617 | 2ND | |
| KEVIN LAMB | 10 | 269 | 487 | 700 | 700 | 1ST |
Round 3
| POS | NAME | 1 | 2 | SCR | BONUS X 2 | TOTAL |
| 1 | MIKE HALLIWELL | 217 | 256 | 473 | 10 | 483 |
| 8 | JEFF TAYLOR | 182 | 253 | 435 | 10 | 445 |
| 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2 | GARY BARLOW | 184 | 192 | 376 | 10 | 386 |
| 7 | GEOFF BROWN | 223 | 244 | 467 | 10 | 477 |
| 0 | 0 | |||||
| 3 | TREVOR GREEN | 224 | 187 | 411 | 20 | 431 |
| 6 | RON OLDFIELD | 181 | 199 | 380 | 20 | 400 |
| 0 | 0 | |||||
| 4 | KEVIN LAMB | 248 | 212 | 460 | 20 | 480 |
| 5 | JOHN STRETTLE | 188 | 205 | 393 | 30 | 423 |
Round 2
| NAME | C/FWD | BONUS | 1 | 2 | 3 | SCR | BONUS X 3 | TOTAL | |
| 1 | MIKE HALLIWELL | 1361 | 5 | 168 | 193 | 265 | 1987 | 15 | 2002 |
| 2 | GARY BARLOW | 1257 | 5 | 236 | 289 | 202 | 1984 | 15 | 1999 |
| 3 | TREVOR GREEN | 1399 | 10 | 195 | 195 | 151 | 1940 | 30 | 1970 |
| 4 | KEVIN LAMB | 1328 | 10 | 153 | 203 | 193 | 1877 | 30 | 1907 |
| 5 | JOHN STRETTLE | 1263 | 15 | 192 | 209 | 189 | 1853 | 45 | 1898 |
| 6 | RON OLDFIELD | 1323 | 10 | 155 | 185 | 184 | 1847 | 30 | 1877 |
| 7 | GEOFF BROWN | 1275 | 5 | 225 | 167 | 183 | 1850 | 15 | 1865 |
| 8 | JEFF TAYLOR | 1209 | 5 | 201 | 217 | 197 | 1824 | 15 | 1839 |
| 9 | TREVOR LAMPRELL | 1281 | 15 | 151 | 179 | 180 | 1791 | 45 | 1836 |
| 10 | JAN HODGE | 1224 | 25 | 155 | 187 | 188 | 1754 | 75 | 1829 |
| 11 | BARRY WALKER | 1297 | 0 | 150 | 176 | 182 | 1805 | 0 | 1805 |
| 12 | BRIAN SEMPERS | 1227 | 10 | 155 | 179 | 209 | 1770 | 30 | 1800 |
| 13 | NEV ROBINSON | 1159 | 10 | 236 | 164 | 191 | 1750 | 30 | 1780 |
| 14 | CAROLE ORANGE | 1171 | 20 | 178 | 145 | 213 | 1707 | 60 | 1767 |
| 15 | GARY CHRISTOPHER | 1263 | 0 | 141 | 158 | 180 | 1742 | 0 | 1742 |
| 16 | DAVE BIRDSALL | 1185 | 15 | 174 | 138 | 183 | 1680 | 45 | 1725 |
Qualifying
| NAME | BONUS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | SCR | BONUS X 6 | TOTAL | |
| 1 | TREVOR GREEN | 10 | 196 | 193 | 210 | 247 | 246 | 247 | 1339 | 60 | 1399 |
| 2 | MIKE HALLIWELL | 5 | 226 | 177 | 236 | 201 | 267 | 224 | 1331 | 30 | 1361 |
| 3 | KEVIN LAMB | 10 | 194 | 218 | 192 | 226 | 257 | 181 | 1268 | 60 | 1328 |
| 4 | RON OLDFIELD | 10 | 203 | 213 | 209 | 225 | 222 | 191 | 1263 | 60 | 1323 |
| 5 | BARRY WALKER | 0 | 209 | 197 | 238 | 257 | 171 | 225 | 1297 | 0 | 1297 |
| 6 | TREVOR LAMPRELL | 15 | 204 | 201 | 193 | 211 | 172 | 210 | 1191 | 90 | 1281 |
| 7 | GEOFF BROWN | 5 | 183 | 190 | 244 | 219 | 202 | 207 | 1245 | 30 | 1275 |
| 8 | GARY CHRISTOPHER | 0 | 277 | 161 | 183 | 194 | 214 | 234 | 1263 | 0 | 1263 |
| 9 | JOHN STRETTLE | 15 | 197 | 171 | 190 | 183 | 217 | 215 | 1173 | 90 | 1263 |
| 10 | GARY BARLOW | 5 | 183 | 215 | 248 | 186 | 188 | 207 | 1227 | 30 | 1257 |
| 11 | BRIAN SEMPERS | 10 | 235 | 165 | 201 | 206 | 177 | 183 | 1167 | 60 | 1227 |
| 12 | JAN HODGE | 25 | 183 | 221 | 182 | 155 | 170 | 163 | 1074 | 150 | 1224 |
| 13 | JEFF TAYLOR | 5 | 232 | 226 | 161 | 180 | 206 | 174 | 1179 | 30 | 1209 |
| 14 | DAVE BIRDSALL | 15 | 193 | 190 | 174 | 193 | 189 | 156 | 1095 | 90 | 1185 |
| 15 | CAROLE ORANGE | 20 | 170 | 162 | 158 | 170 | 202 | 189 | 1051 | 120 | 1171 |
| 16 | NEV ROBINSON | 10 | 213 | 155 | 176 | 148 | 198 | 209 | 1099 | 60 | 1159 |
| 17 | ANDY PREECE | 10 | 190 | 169 | 170 | 198 | 198 | 170 | 1095 | 60 | 1155 |
| 18 | LES GRANT | 15 | 218 | 173 | 199 | 155 | 139 | 179 | 1063 | 90 | 1153 |
| 19 | MO SINGLETON | 10 | 166 | 122 | 256 | 188 | 156 | 198 | 1086 | 60 | 1146 |
| 20 | AL TURNER | 15 | 166 | 149 | 167 | 181 | 166 | 214 | 1043 | 90 | 1133 |
| 21 | MARK FULLBROOK | 5 | 176 | 217 | 162 | 197 | 191 | 149 | 1092 | 30 | 1122 |
| 22 | FRANK LINDSAY | 10 | 204 | 161 | 189 | 173 | 161 | 155 | 1043 | 60 | 1103 |
| 23 | IAN KENNEDY | 15 | 140 | 165 | 151 | 182 | 134 | 134 | 906 | 90 | 996 |
| 24 | DAVE RAWDING | 10 | 174 | 200 | 158 | 105 | 163 | 115 | 915 | 60 | 975 |
