BRITISH Rail made a convincing start to the defence of their Oxford & District League title with a 9-1 victory away to Forum C in Division 1.

Darren Jones and Ian Mead both recorded maximums for BR, while Guy Plowman earned Forum C’s only success.

Jason Tustain’s treble helped Bicester A pull off an 8-2 win over Vikings A.

Forum A’s Karl Bushell and Elson Costa won all their singles and then joined forces to take the doubles and beat Rutherford 7-3.

In Division 2, Forum E beat Vikings D 9-1 thanks to maximums for Farshad and Kiarash Shaddel.

Jamie Felton’s full house inspired Bicester B to a 6-4 victory over Gladiators A.

Paul Guest led Holton A to a 7-3 victory over Forum J in Division 3 by winning three close matches.

He beat Scott Campbell 15-13 in the decider, then edged past Eddie Carter 12-10 in the third.

OXFORD & DISTRICT LEAGUE RESULTS

Div 1: Forum C 1, British Rail 9 (D Jones 3, I Mead 3); Vikings A 2, Bicester A 8 (J Tustain 3); Forum A 7 (K Bushell 3, E Costa 3), RAL 3.

Div 2: Forum E 9 (F Shaddel 3, K Shaddel 3), Vikings D 1; Gladiators B 1, Vikings B 9 (P Borrowdale 3, R Cleese 3); Begbroke 6 ( P Humphrey 3), Forum F 4; Bicester B 6 (J Felton 3), Gladiators A 4; Vikings C 10 (J Speedy 3, S Tabuni 3, A Taevere 3), Forum G 0.

Div 3: Bicester E 2, Forum H 8 (M Chambers 3); Holton A 7 (P Guest 3), Forum J 3; Bicester D 5, Vikings E 5 (B Muller 3); Bicester C 4, Holton C 6 (J Rolls 3); Forum I 8 (J Smith 3), Holton B 2.