Brain of Britain - Semi Final 1

Brain of Britain - Semi Final 1

After weeks of heats, the Semi Finals of the prestigious Brain of Britain contest on Radio 4 began with a interesting contest.

Contenders

Austin Mcquaid

Dennis Muchmore

Frank Potter

Ray Ward

After relatively similar first round scores this was likely to be a close Semi Final and I really could not pick a winner. I was hoping for a close. high scoring contest and it seemed to start that way as everybody picked up points early on, always good to see in a Semi Final. It continued this way throughout much of the opening rounds and no one was taking a big lead with a lot of points being scored on bonuses. Ray Ward did began to open up a lead and at the half way stage was two ahead with 8 points.

After the usual beat the Brain's the contest continued as it became clear this could go right to the wire. Frank Potter moved up a gear and he and Ray Ward began to move away from the others with the latter leading 10 points to 8. One good run though and anyone could take a place in the final. It did not happen and the bitty scoring continued with Potter vs Ward being the main focus. 

Indeed scoring in the second half did not flow as freely as all and points were hard to come by as Ray Ward only managed 5 to build on his lead in the closing rounds but that was enough and with 13 points moves into the Brain of Britain final. Frank Potter looked dangerous towards the end but just could not put that vital run together and with all due respect Muchmore and Mcquaid never really got going. Either way congratulations to all for making the Semi Final and to Ray Ward for earning his seat in the Grand Final in just a months time.

Final standings

Ray Ward - 13
Frank Potter - 10
Dennis Muchmore - 6
Austin Mcquaid - 5