DEFENDING champion Clay Crawford is hoping to take over at the top of the Aegon British Tour leaderboard next week by winning the tier two event at Ilkley.

The 20-year-old Leeds teenager, who beat the host club's performance coach Kyle Brassington 6-2, 6-4 in last year's final, is in second place in the tour standings on 13,460 points, which is only 101 behind Hertfordshire's Sam Price, who isn't playing at Ilkley.

Crawford has already won three tier-two events this season on the tour – at Bolton, Newcastle and Sheffield – but Cookridge's Peter Ashley, a semi-finalist last year, is also in the field, as are Ilkley's Steven Hunt and Adam De Vries.

Leading the women's field is 2014 Ilkley runner-up Aimee Gibson (Essex), who is fifth on their leaderboard with 14,820 points after triumphing at Loughborough.

However, local interest will centre on Bradford's Serena Nash, who is seventh with 8,961 points.

Qualifying for the men and women, which includes host club members James Ickringill and Zoe Judkowski, starts on Monday and Tuesday respectively.

The finals are next Saturday, with the women at noon and the men at 2pm. Play in the Investec Ilkley Open, which also includes junior and handicap events, begins today.