Fedor Gorst and Mike Zuglan
The Turning Stone Classic has seen its fair share of multiple event winners. Jayson Shaw has nine career Turning Stone Classic titles. Shane Van Boening and Johnny Archer both have six. Mika Immonen and Francisco Bustamante both have two career Turning Stone Classic titles, and they are now joined by Fedor Gorst, after a dominating 13-5 win over Jayson Shaw in the finals of the Turning Stone Classic XXXVIII, held on January 4th – 7th at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY.
Gorst and Shaw both came into Sunday play undefeated, along with BCA Hall of Famer Rodney “The Rocket” Morris and Canadian “Big Red” Erik Hjorleifson. Shaw made quick work of Morris in a 9-5 match that really wasn’t as close as the scoreline would indicate, and Gorst made even quicker work of Hjorleifson 9-2.
The hot-seat match looked like it was going to be a lopsided win for Gorst, as he led Shaw by the score of 4-0, right out of the gate. Just as quickly as Gorst raced to that 4-0 lead though, Shaw quickly knotted things at 4-4 and then pulled ahead at 6-5. Shaw kept control of things and got to the hill at 8-5. Gorst clawed back one rack to 8-6 but a dry break by Gorst led to a safety battle that was won by Shaw as he ran out for the 9-6 win.
Gorst went out to another early 4-0 lead in the semi-final against Erik Hjorleifson, but this time he didn’t stop. Gorst was on the hill at 8-0 before Hjorleifson could win a rack, and all Hjorleifson could do was get back to 8-2 before Gorst finished off the match at 9-2.
Fans at the Turning Stone Casino are familiar with the dominance of Jayson Shaw in the finals, but this time, it appeared to be a much less comfortable Shaw in the finals. He led the race to 13 extended final match at 2-1 early, but uncharacteristic misses combined with Gorst’s stellar play, led to an early 8-2 lead for Gorst. Gorst extended that lead to seven racks at 11-4. Both players were making balls on the break with ease and coming back from a seven rack deficit was too much, even for Jayson Shaw. Shaw got the score back to 12-5, but that would be his last surge with Gorst finishing off the match 13-5 for his second straight Turning Stone Classic title.
0 comments