Pastras' effort was almost derailed early, when he faced Brett Fenstermacher in the opening round. He survived a double hill battle in that opening round, and went on to defeat Ed Crespo, and Dave Ascolese, putting him into a winners' side semifinal against Gary Murgia. LaPadula, in the meantime, squared off against Dennis Kennedy. LaPadula defeated Kennedy, double hill, while Pastras got by Murgia 7-4. Pastras moved into his first hot seat with a 7-4 win over LaPadula.

 

On the loss side, Murgia drew Brian Cap, who'd benefited from a forfeit (by Ascolese) and defeated Ed Crespo, double hill. Kennedy got Allison Honeymar, who'd been awarded a loss-side bye and then defeated Frankie Scanlon 6-3. Murgia defeated Cap 7-2, as Kennedy got by Honeymar 6-5.

 

Kennedy took the quarterfinal match 7-3 over Murgia, but ran into something of a buzz saw. LaPadula shut him out in the subsequent semifinals (he'd been responsible for sending Kennedy to the loss side), and got his second crack at the 'new kid on the block,' Pastras.

 

LaPadula established his credentials with two straight racks at the outset of the finals. He and Pastras then traded racks to a 3-1, LaPadula lead, before Pastras evened things up with two racks of his own. It went back forth to a 5-5 tie, before Pastras pulled away with another two in a row to win it 7-5 and claim his first Tri-State title.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Clifton Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Bartron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, January 31 at the Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.

Facing separate opponents in the battle for the hot seat and finals, Geovanni Hosang downed them both to go undefeated on the Saturday, November 16 stop on the Tri-State Tour. The $1,000-added event drew 28 entrants to Clifton Billiards, in Clifton, NJ.

 

Following victories over Brett Fenstermacher, Mike Zimny, and Paul Raval, Hosang faced Max Wantanabe among the winners' side final four. Mike Figueroa, in the meantime, met up with Paul Wilkens. Hosang got into the battle for the hot seat with a 7-2 over Wantanabe, and was joined by Figueroa, who'd sent Wilkens to the loss side 6-3. Hosang hung on to win the hot seat battle, double hill, and waited on what turned out to be the return of Wilkens.

 

On the loss side, Wantanabe drew Mike Zimny, who'd defeated Paul Raval 7-1 and Kyle Bubet 7-4. Wilkens drew Shivam Gupta, who'd eliminated Jaydev Zaveri 6-1 and Mike Strassberg 6-4. Wantanabe and Wilkens ended Zimny and Gupta's loss-side exercises; Wantanabe, double hill over Zimny, and Wilkens, 6-2 over Gupta.

 

Wilkens earned himself a second shot against Figueroa with a 7-3 victory over Wantanabe in the quarterfinals. He then took full advantage, earning himself a shot at Hosang in the hot seat, with a double hill victory over Figueroa in the semifinals. 

 

Early in the finals, Wilkens took two, two-point leads. He got out in front 2-0, and after Hosang tied things up, he jumped ahead 4-2. Hosang tied things up a second time, and then won three more to finish things and claim the event title.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Clifton Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod, Heptig Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next Tri-State stop, scheduled for November 23-24, will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.