A tough field of 50 players showed up at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ on Saturday August 3rd for stop #13 of the Predator 9-Ball Tour. Top players included, Jeremy, Sossei, Joey Korsiak, John Alicea, Mike Fingers, Carmen Lombardo, Joey Kong, Victor Nau, Jason Michas, Sean Morgan, Bobby Blackmore, Tony Robles and Shin Park.
Jason Michas had a great start going undefeated the first day with wins over Justin Muller 9-6, Duane Toney 9-3, and 9-7 against #1 ranked Open player Joey Kong, setting up a day 2 match with Tony Robles. Tony Robles had a tough win against the always ready to win Thomas Wan 9-6, and then cruised through the tournament with wins over William Finnegan 9-1, Lionel Rivera 9-1 and Wayne Nicholson 9-1.
At the bottom of the chart, Jeremy Sossei was on a tear, with wins against Victor Restivo 9-0, Laura Lagudi 9-0, and Dave Shlemperis 9-5 before winning a tight match 9-8 against New Jersey's young talent John Alicea. Shin Park also dominated his bracket by winning 9-4 against Mike Wong, Joey Korsiak 9-4, Sean Morgan 9-2 and 9-1 against Steve Lillis to set up a showdown against Jeremy Sossei for day two.
On day two, Michas seemed to lose his day 1 steam. Against Robles, Michas struggling to pocket balls on the break and consistently got out of line allowing Robles to win 9-1.
In his first match on day 2, Shin Park won 9-6 in a very tough match against 2007 Ocean State Champion Jeremy Sossei to set up the hot seat match against Tony Robles. Park was ahead the entire match and at 8-6 with Park on the hill, Park missed a very difficult eight ball leaving Robles a long straight in shot on the 8-ball. With his cue elevated, Robles jacked up, pocketed the 8-ball and drew the cue ball table length to get perfect shape on the 9-ball making it 8-7. Robles then broke and ran out the next rack to make it hill-hill.
Park broke and pocketed 2 balls and had an easy out but surprisingly missed a routine seven ball. Unfortunately for Robles, the cue ball ended up behind the 9-ball, blocking the 7-ball. With the 7-ball in front of the pocket, Tony calmly kicked the cue ball two rails to pocket the seven and get perfect shape on the eight to win the match 9-8.
Meanwhile, Jason Michas was battling it out on the next table against Jeremy Sossei. The long match saw many missed shots and a number of safety battles and at an hour and a half with the scored tied 4-4, the match was put on the clock. This seemed a difficult obstacle for Michas to overcome as Sossei closed the set, 9-6.
This set up a rematch against Shin Park and Jeremy Sossei. Park took a commanding 8-1 lead, but Sossei showed a lot of heart and came back 8-6. Unfortunately a missed a combo by Sossei to make it 8-7 allowed Park to run out the rack for the 9-6 win and a chance for revenge against Robles.
The final was one sided as Shin played perfect until he was up 8-1. Tony fought back to 8-6 but missed his last three shots as Shin closed the show 11-6.
Congratulations to Dave Shlemperis for finishing 9th-12th and to Phil Ozoux who won the top finishing C/D player. Both players played a great throughout this tough open event.
For information on payouts and standings visit:
www.predator9balltour.com
Payouts are as follows:
1st Shin Park
2nd Tony Robles
3rd Jeremy Sossei
4th Jason Michas
5- 6 Carmen Lombardo
Steve Lillis
7- 8 Wayne Nicholson
John Alicea
9- 12 Lionel Rivera
Joey Kong
Dave Shlemperis
Victor Nau
Highest Finishing C/D
Phil Ozoux
