The Great Southern Billiard Tour held The Mid-Carolina Classic II as their second event of the season at Breakers in Rock Hill, South Carolina, over the weekend of February 16-17, 2008. The $1500 added main event drew a field of thirty-six top players including two juniors and three women rounding out the field. Some of the players found in the brackets were professionals Johnny Archer, Mike Davis, Larry Nevel, Shannon Daulton, Tony Watson, and tour regulars Derek Leonard, and Josh Roberts.
This event saw the field shrink to sixteen players by the end of the day on Saturday. After starting up on Sunday, those sixteen players began knocking each other out of the brackets. The winners side saw Mike Davis (over Josh Roberts 9-7); Johnny Archer (over Norris Brady 9-2); Shannon Daulton (over Tony Watson 9-7); and Larry Nevel (over Derek Leonard) pull ahead. The one-loss side saw advances from Matt Reed (over Jimmy Johnson 9-1); Eddie Little (over Boyd Bouknight 9-6); Peanut (over Kris Bowers 9-3); and Ron Park (over Mike Triplett 9-4).
On the winners side of the brackets, the hot seat match came down to “The Scorpion” Johnny Archer and “The Cannon” Shannon Daulton. Although the match was tight, Archer pulled out the 9-6 win over Daulton. While on the one-loss side, the field diminished down to “The Truth” Larry Nevel and “Iron Mike” Mike Davis. Nevel took the win over Davis 9-4 sending him home in fourth place and propelling himself into the semis against Daulton.
The semi-finals were a face-off of sorts. Player of the Year and a dominating force on the tour, Larry Nevel, ran into Tour Director and fellow competitor, Shannon Daulton. At one point in the match, Daulton held Nevel at 5-2 and then at 7-4. Nevel did not fall back and battled to ensure a double hill thriller. Nevel broke dry in the final rack and offered up a table for Daulton that was a fairly simple run out, but Daulton over cut a three ball and had to come three rails to get on the four ball, ending right on top of the four. Nevel then had an opportunity, but missed the ball. Daulton jumped back to the table and made the four, banked the five, and with a tough rail shot on the six, missed yet again. Nevel played safe on the six, but Daulton was able to hit it – Nevel had a wonderful opportunity at this point as he had straight in shots for the seven and eight, but ended in a difficult spot on the nine. After a safety attempt by Nevel, Daulton banked the nine and ended Nevel's chance at Archer.
The finals appeared to be showing momentum towards Daulton with the first set win of 9-6, but Archer dug in his heels and drilled Daulton in the second set ending the day 9-1.
Additional recognition has to be offered to the three women contenders in the main event as they were vying for female top gun. Ironically, all three ended in a tie as they finished in the same round. To determine a winner, a three-way ring game was played racing to seven. Katie Cowan finished on top and ultimately took home a cash prize of $50 for that win.
Also, on Sunday, the tour held a second chance tournament for those that were no longer in the main event. With a total of $250 added, the field of sixteen dwindled down to Tony Watson, 1st place $220; Ron Park, 2nd place $120; Boyd Bouknight, 3rd place $35; and Jared McGee, 4th place $25.
The tour would like to thank Breakers Sports Bar owners, Jeff and Amy Peele, and their staff for hosting the event, along with catering barbeque and all of the fixings during the weekend. Catch the GSBT's next stop at King Street Billiards in Fayetteville, North Carolina February 23rd and 24th. For more information on this tournament, please contact Shannon Daulton at (865) 850-4572.
