THE new snooker season can't come quickly enough for Worcester professional Dave Finbow as he prepares for his ninth year on the circuit.

After last season, which saw him rise from number 52 on the world ranking list to 39, Finbow is now aiming to gain a place in the elite top 32.

But to do that he will need to reach the latter stages of some of the eight ranking tournaments this season -- ultimately he has his sights set on the world's top 16.

He has just sold the Warwick Club, in Worcester, so he can now concentrate on improving his game.

Because of his ranking, Finbow, who lives in Leigh, can skip the first two qualifying rounds of each event.

But the snooker ace still faces a busy few days battling to reach the latter stages of a string of competitions.

He begins his season at Newport today against Jason Prince in the British Open. Tomorrow he switches his attentions to the Grand Prix, and a match with Adrian Gunnell, while Monday sees him up against David McDonnell in the China Open.

Finbow rounds off qualifying on Tuesday with a match with Bjorn Haneveer in the Regal Welsh Open. Haneveer is the only unbeaten player of the 64 hopefuls who started out in the four qualifying tournaments.

And Finbow is ready for the challenge. "My technique's as good as anyone. I could do some damage this year. I really believe that."

Despite progressing to the televised stages of the Grand Prix in Preston last October before losing 5-1 to 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty, Finbow wasn't happy with the way he played all season and wants to put that behind him.

His top 40 ranking is mainly down to his performances the year before, due to the ranking points system.

The 32-year-old also had to endure a narrow 5-4 defeat at the hands of Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Regal Scottish in Aberdeen in March.

Finbow missed out on this year's World Championship at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in April when he lost 10-7 in the qualifying rounds to Hong Kong's Marco Fu. And he lost at the same stage the year before, going down 10-2 to Scotland's Chris Small.

So he's closing in on snooker's greatest stage.

Finbow said: "I shall get there this year." But he admits: "I'd settle for a top 16 place over the Crucible."

As we talk in his soon-to-be-completed snooker room, Finbow appears focused while his coach, Alan Bell, prepares the table for him.

His practice routines vary and last for four or five hours a day, but are obviously the key to his success.

"The more times you do it, the more you get used to it," Finbow added.

Motivating yourself to practice on your own is difficult so Finbow also likes to test himself against fellow professionals and already has a few practice matches booked up against the likes of world number 31 Joe Perry.

Bell, who also has Willie Thorne on his books, has been coaching Finbow since the beginning of last season and feels he is making progress.

He said: "He's a good all round player, but his powers of concentration need to improve. It's about consistency."

And with the standard in the modern game getting higher all the time as well as all the travelling that's involved, he added: "He feels good about himself physically."

Finbow has 55 maximum 147 breaks to his name at present, which is one of the highest totals on the circuit, although he hasn't made one in tournament play.

Some of his more memorable matches include his victory over John Parrott a couple of years ago in the Grand Prix. John was on a high after winning the previous event and went 2-0 up before Finbow won 5-2.

"I never missed a ball for five frames," Finbow said.

He has also beaten James Wattana 5-4 in Thailand, Wattana's home ground, in front of 300 million television viewers.

Finbow is also on the coaching committee at the World Snooker Association and thinks it is good to see the young players coming through.

"The more youngsters, the better," he said.

Finbow believes he has at least five more years to offer the game.

But the important thing is he is still "enjoying it", and still has the motivation and desire to compete.