Week seven of the West Cumbria Snooker League summer campaign saw Seaton’s Kevin Basnett reclaim the pole position in Division One.

The Veterans Club cueist now sits five points clear of nearest rival Mike Park from Maryport, with a game in hand to boot.

In the key battle of the top flight, Basnett produced a break of 40 to take an opening frame advantage over Park.

In the second, an all-important 43 break soon gave Basnett a 2-0 lead with Basnett securing the win bonus with a comfortable third.

A 55 break in the fourth secured the frame and Basnett recorded a 5-0 victory to place a comfortable gap between himself and his nearest rival.

It was static positions in the second tier as both the top two were provided with stiff opposition last week.

Front-runner Paul Smith came unstuck for the first time this season against Workington’s Dave Chapman.

In a match that was more important for Chapman to win, the United Club potter battled back from behind twice to take the match to the decider.

In a closely-fought match throughout that included three black-ball frames, Chapman was able to pull through the 3-2 victor on the final black ball.

Second-placed Clive Lister was given a scare from Workington’s Geoff Smith as the opening two frames were closely contested, despite Lister gaining a 2-0 lead.

The most comfortable frame of the evening also went to Lister to secure an unassailable lead. Smith was not done, however, claiming two very tight final frames for a respectable 3-2 reversal. Lister remains second by a single point.

In the remaining second round-robin tie of the Gray’s Luxury Ice Cream Trophy, Chapman completed a bitter-sweet week as he went down by three frames to one against Flimby’s Kevin Kirkham.

This means that Chapman, Brain Kendall and Geoff Banton cannot progress in the competition while Paul Smith is the only assured semi-final candidate to date.

All remaining semi-final places will not be known until final ties are played next week.