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22 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 14 JANUARY 2015 Sport SNOOKER MOTORSPORTS O'Sullivan equals Stephen Hendry century record Ronnie O'Sullivan equalled birthday boy Stephen Hendry's all-time record of 775 century breaks to round off a 6-4 win over Ricky Walden at the Masters Ronnie O'Sullivan THE first-round clash looked all over bar the shouting at 5-1, but the Chesh- ire cueman reeled off three frames - including one in which he needed two snookers - and the reigning champion was looking tense. But he got his opportunity in frame 10 and was well past the winning post when an outlandish fluke on the yellow kept alive his run to a 116 clearance and a moment of history. "You go chasing records and you end up doing it on a fluke!" O'Sullivan told BBC Two. "I'd had a bit of 'run' through the match and thought 'I could fluke this one'." O'Sullivan next plays Hong Kong's Marco Fu - who made a 147 in his first- round win over Stuart Bingham - on Thursday. He led Walden 3-1 at the mid-session interval with the help of a 77 break in frame four and returned with a 91 to extend his lead. He made a round 100 to go 5-1 up - and within one ton of Hendry's record - but Walden responded in kind to pull a frame back. O'Sullivan made 66 in the next to leave his opponent needing two snook- ers to stay in the match, Walden even- tually laying one on an awkward last red. He was rewarded with a free ball to get him back in the frame and a bril- liant clearance of 40 made it 5-3, despite a nervy moment as the pink rattled in the jaws, and he made it back within one with a 73 break after O'Sullivan missed a pink to the left middle and showed his disgust. But O'Sullivan got over the line in some style, with the yellow travelling round the houses before dropping in the left middle and that and every sub- sequent pot including the landmark blue was cheered raucously by the Al- exandra Palace crowd. The five-time champion admitted he struggled at times in the match and at- tributed Walden's comeback to his su- perior match-sharpness. O'Sullivan, also a five-time World and UK champion, plays a limited schedule these days and said: "These guys are playing week in, week out and I'm no- where near where I was 18 months ago, I don't play enough tournaments. "At the moment I'm just scraping though a few victories and you can't keep doing that." His recent fifth UK Championship win in York came despite playing on a broken ankle, an injury suffered while out running, and he admitted he is still feeling the effects. "The foot was bit sore, I didn't have my brace on," he said. "I put it on at the break and I felt a bit more stable." ASMK Trials Championships continue this Sunday ON Sunday 18 January 2015 'Assoc- jazzjoni Sport Muturi u Karozzi' will continue its motorsport events by the Moto Trials riders. This program is the 3rd race in the ASMK Pasta Poi- atti National Championship 2014/15. This event is being held at the Hard Rock Cutting Quarry known as Tal- Maghlaq within the limits of Qrendi. This competition starts at 9: 00 am and is open to non-ASMK members too. Meanwhile a look at the classifica- tion of the Trials section competi- tions we see that Class A rider Damon Bonello on a Gas Gas with 40 points leads this class. Bonello is followed by Robert Caruana on another Gas Gas but with 32 points. Third position is won by Rowen Bonello who is elected to Class A following his champion- ship win in Class B on Beta by 28 points. In Class B we find Joseph Scicluna on Gas Gas with 40 points at the leading place. He is followed by Ber- nard Sammut on a Beta and Manuel Camilleri on a Gas Gas both with 32 points each. 4th place goes to Daniel Caruana on Gas Gas 26 points. Yet on Sunday 11th January 2015 the Association organized another m.sport program. The sixth event of the ASMK Autocross Championship 2014/15 was held at the Sports com- plex at Ta 'Qali on a very well pre- pared track and spectators areas. 28 Autocross cars registered on this to race in the Autocross Modified and Standard Classes. A look at what happened during the day shows that competition was close and nobody won all the three the Heats on the day but Philip Joe Vella on an Opel Corsa won the high- est scores of 24 points and secured his place on the Class A Start Line. The qualifiers for Class A were Vince Farrugia on Volkswagen Polo, Chris- tian Apap on a Ford Fiesta, broth- ers Malcolm and Matthieu Borg on Opel Corsa and Vauxhall Nova cars and Andrew Pisani on his Vauxhall Nova. From the Start of this final Vella took the lead with Farrugia close by. Vella first took the helm of this final followed by Farrugia and Malcolm Borg. The other drivers continued with Apap finding his place in fourth place and followed by Matthew Borg and Pisani all driving with a few inches distance from each other. At the end of this fast race we saw a spectacle of speed but with precise calculation as no one car touched another during the 9 Laps long race yet all defended their place well to the Finish Flag. Vella registered his fourth win during this season. Farru- gia and Malcolm Borg followed close to each other. Apap finished in fourth place followed by Pisani and Matthew Borg, all running extremely close to each other. Class B finalist were Jonathan Camilleri on his Opel Corsa, Noel Zammit on a Fiat Punto, Philip Gri- ma on a Ford Escort, Jason Martin on a Volkswagen Polo, Darren Magro on his Ford Fiesta and Lucas Pace on a Honda Civic. From the Start of this Race final we saw Jason Martin tak- ing the lead ahead of Camilleri and Pace on the Honda. All were alert to take advantage of a mistake taken by a driver agead. Martin held his place to the flag Finish while Camilleri and Pace crossed the Finish close to Mar- tin's back. Grima was in fourth place in competition with Zammit and Ma- gro. Magro added pressure Grima but lated during the second Lap Zammit made contact with Magro who had to retire from the Race and finish in 5th place while Zammit was sus- pended from the race by the referee of the day. This final race ended with Martin defending his seat to the Fin- ish and registering his first win in the class B so far.Martin was followed by Camilleri and Pace in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Fourth and fifth place were won by Grima and Magro. The 'Standard Autocross Class' race line was formed by John Agius on a Peugeot 206, Joseph Vella on his Ford Fiesta, Deane Farrugia on a Citroen AX and Saviour Micallef on Volkswagen Polo. From the Start of this final Agius was seen to take the lead while Micallef and Vella fol- lowed. During this 7 Lap Race Far- rugia delayed his start from the Line and started last. Soon he pushed hard and began advancing his placing. He managed to overtake all on track and took the lead after just 3 Laps. Farru- gia won this final followed by Agius and Micallef. Vella closed the day in fourth place. This class Standard Class being a great attraction to new drivers in the sport. For more information one can visit the website www.asmk.org.mt