Scott Simonetti and William Shorty
The final points event for the 2010 Ozone Billiards Predator Tour took place on December 4-5 at Eastside Billiards in NYC. This event was the 1st Annual Eastside Billiards Manhattan Classic and was a last chance for players to make their mark in the point's rankings for the 2010 Predator Tour season, and featured $1,500 in added prize money. Many thanks to Eastside Billiards owner Jerry Shipman & his wonderful staff for hosting this event.
Standout players who made it out included Carl Yusef Khan, Scott Simonetti, ChristIan Smith, Brian Hunter, Derek Schwager,Noel Bensurto, William Shorty, and Mark Pantovic. While the field was littered with up and coming players, and solid veterans… a few players definitely made a statement at Eastside.
In the winner's bracket, Andrew Kane went on a run against Luis Novas 7-6, Diana Rojas 7-6, Bob Severance 7-5, and Rene Villalobos 7-2 to earn a spot in the hot seat match against William Shorty. William was also impressive with wins over Mark Pantovic 7-3, Mike Yednak 7-2, Neslihan Gurel 7-3, and Scott Simonetti 7-6. In the match between Andrew Kane and William Shorty, William clutched out a close 7-5 win to earn a spot in the finals.
On the one-loss side, Borana Andoni bounced back from a first round 7-6 loss to Ray Feliciano to win seven matches in a row. Borana defeated Yomaylin Feliz 7-4, Luis Novas 7-4, Matthew Harricharan 7-5, Teddy Cook 7-5, Bob Severence 7-4, Diana Rojas 7-5, and Rene Villalobos 7-5 before losing to Scott Simonetti 7-3, finishing in fourth place. Borana, who is a member of "Kiss of Death", has been showing herself to be one of the most prominent and hard-working female players in the region, and this fourth place finish secured her position as the Predator Tour's 2010 Female Player of the Year. Borana had also recently finished 3rd place at the tour stop at Mr. Cue Billiards, and is consistently working to improve her game, and is definitely one of the top players to watch.
Scott Simonetti has also had an impressive season while he continues to take his game to the higher levels. Scott had a nice run through the winner's side with wins over RiKKi Ragoonanan 7-6, Carl Yusef Khan 7-6, Lidio Rasta 7-0, Raj Vannala 7-2, before losing to William Shorty 7-5. Scott bounced back with the 7-3 win over Borana Andoni and 7-5 win over Andrew Kane in the semifinal to earn a rematch against William Shorty in the final. Although William Shorty went undefeated into the final, Scott persevered in the final match to win ---- and avenge his earlier loss to Shorty.
Final Results: ?
1st: Scott Simonetti $1,000?
2nd: William Shorty $700
3rd: Andrew Kane $500?
4th: Borana Andoni $400?
5th/6th: Rene Villalobos, Raj Vannala $200?
7th/8th: Diana Rojas, Noel Bensurto $150?
9th/12th: Dinko Busanich, Neslihan Gurel, Ramilo Tanglao, Bob Severance $100
The Open/Pro Division which included top guns Zion Zvi, George “Ginky” Sansouci, Tony Robles, Oscar Bonilla, Manny Chau, Jeremy Sossei, & Frankie Hernandez saw George “Ginky” Sansouci defeat Jeremy Sossei in the finals 9-8.
1st: George “Ginky” Sansouci $700
2nd: Jeremy Sossei $400
3rd: Manny Chau $100
Tony Robles & The Predator Tour would like to thank all the players who came out to compete in this stop and for participating in the 2010 season. The Predator Tour would also like to thank their sponsors: Predator Cues, Poison Cues, Ozone Billiards, Delta-13 Racks, The Seminole Tribe of Florida, The Seminole Pro Tour, PoolontheNet.com, AZBilliards.com, www.pool.bz, Jim Murnak Cue Cases, Go4Pool.net, NYCgrind.com, Billiards Digest, Inside PoolMagazine, Pool & Billiards Magazine, Maxim Billiards & The Tournament Guide.
