Starlets AS impressed with a stunning performance in winning the third ‘Preston Innovations World Club Classic’ qualifying event last weekend 29th /30th September.

The top ten teams from the Angling Trusts Division One National Championships battled it out in a two day event fished to FIPSed international rules.  The winning team will now travel to Italy next year to compete in the World Club Championships.  The River Trent’s famous Newark Dyke was the venue for this prestigious match, with a fantastic £7,000 first prize donated by the sponsors Preston Innovations which will help Starlets AS in their quest to win Gold in Italy.Heavy rain early in the week created a problem for the organisers with the river carrying a lot of extra water, but a slight change in pegging eliminated some of the bad areas. The levels dropped slightly by Saturday and although the pace had lessened a little, 40 gram flat floats were still needed in some sections to present a bait.Normally bloodworm and joker would have been used by all the teams to tempt the Newark Dykes roach and skimmers, but this time big bream and barbel were to play a major part in their plans. The first day small fish were caught close in out of the main flow, but as the match progressed bream and barbel put in an appearance for some of those anglers who fished into the main current using worm as hook bait.Rob Perkins drawn in ‘B’ section put together an impressive catch of skimmers, roach and bream to weigh 9.340 kg which helped his Matrix Dynamite Trentmen team win the first day of the two day competition.

Day One Team Results
1 Matrix Dynamite Trentmen 20 points
2 Starlets AS 24 points
3 Barnsley and District AAS 27 points
4 Maver Image 29.5 points
5 Garbolino RAF 31 points
6 Daiwa Dorking  31.5 points
7 Spro Dorset Raiders 34 points
8 Shakespeare Super Team 37 points
9 Browning Hotrods 41 points
10 Garbolino Blackmore Vale M.G. 55 points

Day One Individual Results
1 Rob Perkins 9.340 kilos
2 Steve Hemingray 7.950 kilos
3 Barry Oliver 5.770 kilos   

The second day saw some improvement on the first days catches as the flow and colour lessened allowing a better bait presentation.  Big fish, especially barbel decided to have a go, and in some areas fish in excess of 4 kilos were landed. This time ‘A’ section which was opposite the weir at Farndon saw Barnsley’s Simon Fields land four big fish to weigh an impressive 13.760 kg on pole fished worm.  In second place Eric Yeomans of Shakespeare landed three fish for 9.490 kg.In the team stakes a second days winning performance by Barnsley and District AAS was not quite enough to take over Starlets AS who held on to their lead by just 1.5 points.

Day Two Team Results
1 Barnsley and District AAS 19 points
2 Starlets AS 20.5 points
3 Team Daiwa Dorking 22 points
4 Shakespeare Super Team 28 points
5 Matrix Dynamite Trentmen 31.5 points
6 Garbolino Blackmore Vale M.G. 35 points
7 Browning Hotrods 38 points
8 Maver Image 39 points
9 Garbolino RAF 42 points
10 Spro Dorset Raiders 55 points

Day Two Individual Results
1 Simon Fields 13.760 kilos
2 Eric Yeomans 9.490 kilos
3 Darren Cox 5.440 kilos

Final Team Result
1 Starlets AS 44.5 points 
2 Barnsley and District AAS 46 points
3 Matrix Dynamite Trentmen 51.5 points
4 Team Daiwa Dorking 53.5 points
5 Shakespeare Super Team 65 points
6 Maver Image 68.5 points
7 Garbolino RAF 73 points
8 Browning Hotrods 79 points
9 Spro Dorset Raiders 89 points
10 Garbolino Blackmore Vale M.G. 90 points

Final Individual Results
1 Ade Whittle Starlets AS                        2 points  7.710 kilos 
2 Will Raison Daiwa Dorking                  4 points  6.160 kilos 
3 Matt Godfrey Barnsley and Dist AAS  4 points  4.710 kilos 
4 Lee Kerry Barnsley and Dist AAS        4 points  4.520 kilos 

Starlets AS not only walked away with the winning team title from the event, but Ade Whittle of Starlets AS was the winning individual with a fantastic 2 points and 7.710kg,  Ade was presented with a £1,000 cheque from the sponsors Preston  Innovations.Starlets AS will now travel to Italy to compete in the FIPSed World Club Championships to try and win Gold for England for the first time since Essex County did in 1982 when the event was known as the Browning CupSarah Phoenix, Managing Director, representing sponsors Preston Innovations presented the winning cheques.  The Angling Trust would like to thank  Preston Innovations for their continued sponsorship of the event.