Brighton A maintained their 100 percent record with a 4-3 victory at home to West Sussex. The hosts got off to the perfect start with Steve Mariner winning the first leg and Grant Tully taking the important leg against the break in the second by beating Chris Cox. Kevin Charlton pulled a leg back, but Kevin Hall put Brighton on the brink of victory. Barry Holt and Martin Cole levelled the match for West Sussex, but Nigel Senior made no mistake with the break in the decider to keep Brighton A top.
Worthing A kept two points behind by winning away at Brighton B; and setting up a potential title decider in the next series. Despite losing a break Jean Brackenridge won the first for Brighton before Mike Daw levelled for the visitors. Brighton B then took the advantage with Jim Greensted beating the previously unbeaten Martin Smith against the break, however Worthing fought straight back with Kevin Tunstall beating Jack Baden. Wins for Joe Oakley and Gerry Fitzjohn gave Worthing A the win and Marcus Chipman took the last for the hosts to make the scoreline 4-3 to Worthing A.
Tunbridge Wells consolidated third place with a 4-3 away win at Redhill A. Redhill had got off to a good start with Geoff Jukes winning the opening and Tony Cross beating Curt Driver against the break. The away side came back with Pete Sainsbury and Martin Russell winning, but Redhill went back in front with Colin Robbins nicking a low scoring leg after Ian Wright black pegged. That set back for Tunbridge Wells didn’t prove crucial as Bryan Stevens and Paul Sainsbury won the final two legs.
The Division Two table closed up after the bottom two teams beat the top two teams; meaning that if Horsham and Littlehampton win their outstanding games against the Division Three teams then all teams would be level on points.
Bottom side Littlehampton beat leaders Worthing B 4-3 at home. The hosts got off to the perfect start with James Whittle and John Dynes winning the first two. Worthing got a leg back with a win for Pete Hickman, but Littlehampton’s two leg lead was restored with a dominate leg from Chris Lawman. Rick Cunningham kept the match alive for Worthing however Colin Green sealed the win for the hosts. Alan Messer took a third leg for Worthing B in the last.
Third placed Horsham moved one win behind the top two with a 4-3 home win against Redhill B. Horsham got off to a good start with a win for Steve Hopkins, but Redhill B took control by winning the next three legs with Joe Elleson, who opened with enough, Kyle Ingram and Mark Fraser taking the legs. However Horsham finished strongly with Gareth Lloyd and Stuart Carruthers both winning against the break and Iain Tarrant getting a good break late on to take the decider.
Lewes took control of Division Three with a 6-1 win at home to Brighton C. With the visitors a player short and conceding the last leg the match was sealed after leg three with Lewes winning them all though Jan Bithell, Colin Southouse and Dave Knight. Chase Newman and Ric Bithell took the other legs for Lewes while Brian Muggeridge got the consolation for Brighton C.
Hastings moved up to second with a 5-2 home win over Mid Sussex. Hastings took the victory by winning the first four legs with Chris Haynes, Sandy Harmer, Dave Pearce and Jamie Minihane. Ros Appleby and Derek Taylor got Mid Sussex’s two legs before Mick Osborne won the last for the hosts.