Partnering with Clive Everton, Bales won the national pairs snooker championship in 1977.

[1] In the 1985/1986 season, Bales reached the last 32 in a ranking event for the first time at the 1986 British Open; there, he beat Maurice Parkin 5–1 and Taylor, now the incumbent World Champion, 5–4, to set up a meeting with the veteran Rex Williams.

[3] Although he began the following season inside the top 64 of the rankings, at 57th, Bales earned only £1,695 in prize money during 1986–87, due to a sole last-32 finish which came at the International Open; he had beaten Fred Davis 5–4 and Kirk Stevens 5–3 to qualify, but was eliminated 1–5 by Wilson.

Bales entered ten tournaments during the 1992/1993 season, but won only one match - in the sixth round of qualifying for the International Open.

He lost 3–5 to Mark O'Sullivan in the seventh qualifying round for the 1993 World Championship, and did not play competitive snooker thereafter.