Ailstock wins first Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop in five years

Jonathan Ailstock

Jonathan Ailstock’s recorded cash earnings on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (19 events) date back to a third-place finish in 2015 and have been updated to include his most recent of four wins on the tour, the last of which (prior to this past weekend; March 12-13) occurred in June, 2017. He and Cameron Lawhorne battled twice at this most recent event, which drew 33 entrants to Still Cluckin’ Billiards in Providence, NC. 

Ailstock and Lawhorne met up for the first time in the hot seat match. Ailstock had advanced to face Scott Roberts in one of the winners’ side semifinals as Lawhorne and Orlando Marcus squared off in the other one. Lawhorne/Marcus went double hill (8-5, with Marcus racing to 6) before Lawhorne advanced to face Ailstock, who’d sent Roberts west 7-3. 

The first of their two matches went double hill. With Lawhorne racing to 8, Ailstock snared the hot seat 7-7, sending Lawhorne off to the semifinals.

On the loss side, Roberts moved over to pick up Jesse Cortner, who’d defeated Tyson Pey 5-2 and the previous stop’s winner, DJ Brads 5-4. Brads, coming off that earlier win, had his handicap raised to ‘6,’ instead of the ‘5’ it was during the last event. Last week, 5-4 would have meant ‘double hill,’ but ire ad tempus (time marches on). Marcus drew Justin Knuckles, who,  with his opponent Collin Hall, racing to 7, had eliminated him 6-5. Hall was runner-up in Ailstock’s last tour win in 2017. Knuckles went on to defeat Dakota Ash 6-3 for his meetup with Marcus.

Roberts made short work of Cortner 8-1, and advanced to the quarterfinals. In a straight-up race to 6, Knuckles survived a double hill fight against Marcus to join him.

With Roberts racing to 8, Knuckles advanced to the semifinal 6-6, only to be eliminated by Lawhorne 8-2. In their second matchup, Ailstock prevailed 7-5 to claim the event title.

Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Still Cluckin’ for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Break Time Billiards of Winston-Salem, NC, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, the West Virginia State 9-Ball Championships, a $1,000-added Open (no handicap) event, scheduled for this weekend (March 19-20), will be hosted by Sonny’s Billiards in Princeton, WV.

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