Shane Thompson extended his lead at the top of the Ultimate Pool Professional Series rankings following his Event 6 victory last weekend.

The Safecracker now leads the way on 20,000 points and is in a strong position to finish the year as the circuit’s number one, with only four players who could mathematically overtake him after the season-concluding Events 7 & 8 take place in December.

Event 5 winner Shaun Storry moves up 13 places into second place on 12,500. Autopilot is tied on points with Event 1 winner Declan Brennan, but claims outright second due to countback.

Chris Melling – who had two early exits last weekend – is in fourth, whilst Event 5 finalist Carl Morris is fifth.

Five different nations are represented inside the top 10 – England, Northern Ireland, Australia, Malta and the Republic of Ireland.

The Race for the Top 16

With the Professional Series in 2022 expanding to 48 players, the top 16 at the end of this year will go straight into the last 32 of all Professional Series events in 2022. The remaining players outside of the top 16 will all need to play in the preliminary round.

Craig Lakin currently holds that important 16th position, but only by virtue of countback as he is tied with three other players on the same number of points.

However, with the final two events still to come between the 3rd-5th December, all players can make their way into the 16 with a good run.

Ultimate Pool Professional Rankings (after Events 5 & 6)

For information on how the Ultimate Pool Professional Series rankings work – including what happens when players are tied – please visit here.