Classic 1985
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Classic 1985 Mercantile Credit Classic 1985 
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| Tournament type: | World ranking tournament |
| Venue: | Spectrum Arena , Warrington , England |
| Opening: | 4th January 1985 |
| Endgame: | January 13, 1985
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| Winner: |
 Willie Thorne
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| Finalist: |
 Cliff Thorburn
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| Highest Break: | 137 ( Terry Griffiths )
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← 1984
1986 →
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The 1985 Mercantile Credit Classic was a professional snooker world ranking tournament for the 1984/85 season . It was played from January 4 to 13, 1985 in the Spectrum Arena in Warrington , England . The winner was the Englishman Willie Thorne , who defeated the Canadian Cliff Thorburn in the final, while record and last year's winner Steve Davis was eliminated in the semifinals in the Decider against Thorne. Welshman Terry Griffiths played the highest tournament break .
Prize money
For the first time in three years the sponsor changed, with Mercantile Credit replacing Lada . Mercantile Credit was to remain a sponsor until the tournament was discontinued in 1992. The prize money more than doubled compared to the previous year to 196,000 pounds sterling , of which almost a fifth went to the winner. For the first time, players who were eliminated in the final qualifying round were also rewarded.
| Prize money | |
|---|---|
| winner | £ 40,000 |
| finalist | £ 24,000 |
| Semi-finalist | £ 12,800 |
| Quarter finalist | £ 6,000 |
| Round of 16 | £ 3,750 |
| Last 32 | £ 2,000 |
| Last 48 | £ 1,000 |
| Highest break (qualification / main round) |
£ 400 £ 4000 |
| All in all | £ 196,000 |
Tournament course
As in the previous year, the top 16 of the world rankings were set for the first main round, 16 other players were able to participate in the main round via qualification. Up to the semifinals, the Modous Best of 9 was played, the semifinals in the Best of 17 mode and the final in the Best of 25 mode .
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final
The Englishman Willie Thorne , who was placed 12th in the world rankings , had only won the Pontins Professional 1984 invitation tournament , so he was in a final of a ranking tournament for the first time. He met the Canadian and world number 3 Cliff Thorburn , who in 1980 became the first non-British to win the World Snooker Championship.
After a 1-0 lead by Thorne Thorburn was able to play the game to 1: 2, but he did not achieve a higher lead, because Thorne always followed up to 4: 4. Thorne managed to win two frames in a row for the first time in the final and to take the lead for the second time. With the next frame he was able to extend the lead to 6: 4. Thorburn shortened to 6: 5 and after a renewed expansion of the lead by Thorne to 7: 6. Again Thorne managed to extend the lead, but Thorburn was able to equalize to 8: 8 shortly afterwards. Thorne won the next frame to lead again. He then managed to win the next four frames to win a ranked tournament for the first (and last) time in his career.
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Finale: Best of 25 Frames Spectrum Arena, Warrington , England , January 13, 1985 |
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Willie Thorne
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13 : 8 |
Cliff Thorburn
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82:22 (72); 57: 81 (52; 77); 50: 66 ; 92 : 14 (88); 29: 64 ; 70 : 9; 53: 66 ; 105 : 22 (105); 49:44 ; 62:40 ; 4: 123 (75); 118 : 10 (118); 5: 112 (72); 69:67 (Thorburn 66); 7: 113 (100); 29: 73 ; 75 : 5; 63:33 ; 96:24 ; 69:32 ; 66 : 18 (54) |
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| 118 | Highest break | 100 |
| 2 | Century breaks | 1 |
| 6th | 50+ breaks | 5 |
qualification
The 76 players in the rest of the world rankings competed in five rounds in order to play off the 16 remaining starting positions for the main round.
Round 1
| game | Player 1 | Result | Player 2 |
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| 1 |
(62) Paul Watchorn 
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5 : 0 |
Dennis Hughes (62)
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| 2 |
(62) Dave Chalmers
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1: 5 |
Bernie Mikkelsen (62)
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Rounds 2-5
Century breaks
A total of 13 century breaks were played during the tournament , eleven of them in the main round.
qualification
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Marcel Gauvreau : 129
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Roger Bales : 103
Main round
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Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Ron Florax: 1985 Classic. Cuetracker.net, accessed December 20, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Ron Florax: 1985 Classic - Finishes. Cuetracker.net, accessed December 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Chris Turner: Historical World Rankings. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on June 8, 2012 ; accessed on December 20, 2018 .