Unlike Kyle Pepin, already having recorded his best earnings year to date (with two months to go), and looking to chalk up his second 2019 event victory (he won a stop on the Joss Tour in March), Carlton Gagnon joined the 5th stop of the New England 9-Ball Series on Saturday, Oct. 26, looking for his second cash finish anywhere (he finished 9th at a NE 9-Ball Series stop in January). They met in the finals of the event and it was Gagnon who emerged with not only his second cash finish anywhere, but his first regional tour victory anywhere. The $500-added event drew 32 entrants to Legends Billiards in Lewiston, ME.

 

Working in the lower bracket, in straight-up races to 5, Gagnon got by Laura Krech 5-1, survived a double hill fight against Justin Myers, and downed Dan Small 5-1 to draw Mark Pulsifer in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Pepin, in the meantime, advanced as far as the winners’ side quarterfinal, before being defeated by Michael Leavitt 5-3 (Pepin racing to 7). Leavitt advanced to face Ross Webster in the other winners’ side semifinal.

 

Gagnon got into the hot seat match with a 5-3 victory over Pulsifer and was joined by Leavitt, who’d defeated Webster 5-2. Separated by 135 FargoRate points, Gagnon (441) and Leavitt (576) battled to double hill before Gagnon prevailed 4-7 (Leavitt racing to 8) to claim the hot seat.

 

On the loss side, Pepin opened his five-match campaign to the finals with a straight-up race to 5, double hill win over Derrick Burnham and then eliminated George Morgan 6-1 to draw Webster. Pulsifer drew a rematch versus Tyler Dunbar, whom he’d sent to the loss side in the opening round and who was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals. Dunbar, like Pepin, was looking for his second 2019 win, having previously won the NE 9-Ball Series’ Bangor Bash just over a month ago. Like Gagnon, Dunbar has recorded his first cash payout finishes in 2019.

 

Pepin and Dunbar handed Webster and Pulsifer their second straight loss; Pepin, 5-1 over Webster and Dunbar, 4-1 over Pulsifer. Pepin then spoiled Dunbar’s hope for a second NE 9-Ball Series victory with a 7-2 win in the quarterfinals.

 

Pepin leapfrogged over the semifinals, avoiding a rematch against Leavitt, who’d sent him to the loss side, when Levitt forfeited. With Pepin racing to 9 in the finals, Gagnon completed his undefeated run with a 4-1 victory in that final match.

 

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Legends, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, BCAPL, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell with Lease Fundings, Master Billiards and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series (#6), scheduled for Sunday, November 3, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI.

As the upper and lower brackets, detailing the progress of Stop #23 on the NE 9-Ball Series, began to join near the end of the tour stop on Saturday, April 21, Derrick Burnham got edged out of the winners’ side of the upper bracket by Bobby Hilton. He moved to the loss side, won five straight to get into the finals against former junior champion Lukas Fracasso-Verner, and double-dipped him to claim the event title. The $500-added event drew 46 entrants to Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.

Following his victory over Burnham, Hilton drew Fracasso-Verner in one of the (overall) winners’ side semifinals, while Steve Romann and Kelly Hodder met up in the other one. Fracasso-Verner moved into the hot seat match with a 7-3 win over Hilton and was joined by Romann, who’d sent Hodder to the loss side 6-2. Fracasso-Verner claimed the hot seat 8-5 over Romann and waited for Burnham to complete his loss-side run.

Burnham opened his loss-side campaign with a double hill win over Sal Midolo, and followed it with a shutout over Ryan Urso, to draw a re-match against Hilton. Hodder picked up Shiek Ahmed, who’d won two straight double hill battles, against Phil Medeiros and Mike Marzik, to reach him.

Burnham allowed Hilton only a single rack in their re-match, as Hodder was busy downing Ahmed 5-4 (Ahmed racing to 6). Burnham then gave up only single racks to both Hodder in the quarterfinals (8-1) and Romann in the semifinals (7-1) to finish his loss side run with an aggregate score of 33-7 (his earlier three-match run on the winners’ side featured an aggregate score of 17-8).

In the double elimination final that followed, Burnham gave up more racks in two matches than he’d given up to either his winners’ side or loss-side opponents, combined, over eight matches. But with Fracasso-Verner racing to 7, Burnham won two straight matches, double hill (6-6) to claim the event title.

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Yale Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series tour, (#24) scheduled for Saturday, April 28, will be hosted by Maxamillian’s Billiards in Tyngsboro, MA.

He almost caught him. Steve Smith, a B+ player on the New England 9-Ball Series Tour, was more or less cruising along during the Saturday, January 13 stop on the tour, and after three matches, had made it to the hot seat. Josh Rupard, in the meantime, an A+ player, who’d been defeated in the second round of upper-bracket play, worked his way through seven matches on the loss side to eventually challenge Smith in the finals. Rupard took the opening set of the true double elimination final, but Smith came back in the second set to win it and claim the event title. The $500-added event drew 27 entrants to Legends Sports Bar and Grill in Auburn, ME.

 

Smith and Rupard might have met up in the third round of upper-bracket play had it not been for Derrick Burnham, who sent Rupard to the loss side, and advanced to a winners’ side quarterfinal against Smith. Smith sent Burnham to the loss side and faced Martin Flagg in a winners’ side semifinal. Two C players, Eric Newell and Steve Downs, squared off in the other one.

 

Smith survived a double hill fight against Flagg, while Newell defeated Downs 5-3. Smith claimed the hot seat with an 8-3 win over Newell, and waited for Rupard to complete his loss-side run.

 

It was Flagg who had the misfortune to draw the final-bound Rupard on the loss side. Rupard had chalked up wins #3 and #4 against Kyle Pepin (forfeit) and Sam Khiev (8-4) to reach Flagg in the first of the event’s money rounds. Downs picked up Lindsey Monto, who’d eliminated Randy Gilbert 6-2 and George Morgan 5-2 to reach him.

 

Rupard, obviously picking up some speed, shut Flagg out to advance to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Monto, who’d defeated Downs 6-1. Monto put up a fight against Rupard in that quarterfinal matchup, chalking up three of the five racks she needed to defeat the racing-to-9 Rupard.

 

Rupard followed that quarterfinal win with a second shutout; this time against Newell (racing to 5) in the semifinals. Rupard would carry that momentum into the finals, but Smith, in spite of his wait in the hot seat, wasn’t giving in easily. Smith came within a game of forcing a deciding game in the opening set of the true double elimination final (8-4, with Smith racing to 6). In the second set, Smith kicked it up a notch, edging ahead of Rupard when the score was tied at 5-5 (Smith on the hill). Smith chalked up the necessary sixth rack to win the second set and claim the event title.

 

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Legends Sports Bar and Grill, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop (#13) on the New England 9-Ball Series tour, scheduled for Saturday, January 20, will be a B+ and below, non-handicap tournament, with an upper bracket (B+ and B) racing to 6, and a lower bracket (C+ and below) racing to 5. The brackets will combine in the quarterfinals, with races to 5 for the rest of the tournament.