Ashbolt sacrifices Friday nights out

SOUTHAMPTON’S Lee Ashbolt has sacrificed his Friday nights out in a bid to clinch a first Chandler’s Ford SC £1,000 Under-21 Roll-Up title.

Champion-elect Lee Ashbolt

Ashbolt, known as The Lightning, who was 21 in December, insists he has to bow out of Hampshire’s premier junior competition on a high after missing out a year ago by just three matches.

“I’m not going out on Friday nights,” he said: “I’ve got my priorities right. I’m staying in and practising instead of going out. I don’t want to be getting drunk on Friday nights and coming here on a Saturday. I’m so determined every week to get as many points as I can.”

Ashbolt, who won three out of four finals when he joined the Roll-Up at the beginning of 2006, leads the 20-week series-12.

“It’s nice to be looking down on people and not up,” he said. “I need to keep winning because this is the one. I don’t think anybody wants to win more than I do. I hate losing. I think I hate losing more than anyone else in the world. People think I’m arrogant but it’s just my determination to win. I need to play like that to keep my concentration and to win. That’s the way I am. I’m not bothered what people think about me. That’s why I keep my head down.”

Picture: Kevin Legg