Until this past July, it had been a long time since Tim Clark had earned a cash payout, let alone an event victory at a pool tournament; 2008, to be exact. He won a stop on the Garden State Pool Tour in July and this past weekend (Nov. 11-12), he did it again. He chalked up his second victory on the tour with a significant flourish, coming from the loss side to avenge the loss and double-dip the defending champion of the Garden State Pool Tour’s Amateur 9-Ball Championships, Hunter Sullivan. The 2022 $600-added championships drew 58 entrants to Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
Clark and Sullivan both emerged from the event’s upper (A-B) bracket and met for the first time in the (overall) winners’ side quarterfinals. Sullivan took the first (and last) of their three matches 7-5 and advanced to play Kevin Scalzitti in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Sabrina Sherman and Ben Zimmerman squared off in the other one.
Sullivan got into the hot seat match with a 6-5 win over Scalzitti (racing to 7). Sherman joined him after downing Zimmerman, double hill; 5-6 (Zimmerman racing to 7). Sullivan claimed the hot seat, his last win of the event, 8-6 over Sherman.
Clark opened his loss-side campaign with a 5-6 win over Dinko Busanich (Busanich racing to 8) and a 7-1 victory over Julian Tierney, which set him up to face Scalzitti. Zimmerman drew Jorge Capillo, who’d recently eliminated Nicole Adams, double hill, and Giancarlo Delgado 6-1.
From this point on through the first set of the double elimination finals, every match went double hill. Clark over Scalzitti, Zimmerman over Capillo. Clark over Zimmerman in the quarterfinals and Clark again, over Sherman in the semifinals.
If coming back on the loss side to face and defeat the opponent who’d sent you there comes with a certain ‘satisfaction’ badge, facing that opponent in the finals and defeating him twice has a badge marked ‘double satisfaction.’ Doing both of those things and winning your first major tournament has ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ written all over it. Clark and Sullivan battled to double hill in the opening set before Clark finished it.Clark took the second set 7-5 and claimed his first (recorded) event title.
Tour director Dave Fitzpatrick thanked the ownership and staff at Rockaway Billiards for their hospitality, as well as tour sponsors Billiards Engineering, JFlowers cues, John Bender Custom Cues, Pool-a-Holic, Off the Rail Apparel and IntheBx. The next event on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for Dec. 10-11, will be the tour’s by-invitation-only Grand Amateur Championship, to be hosted by Players Billiards in Eatontown, NJ.
Timothy Clark, who, according to our records, had never received any level of cash prize for playing pool before, did so this past weekend (Sun., July 17) on the Garden State Pool Tour. He went through a short field, undefeated, to not only earn himself a cash payout, but to win the event, his first (recorded) anywhere. The same could be said for his opponent in the hot seat match and finals, Giancarlo Delgado, who recorded his first cash payout by being the runner-up. The C/D -Ball event drew 16 entrants to Black Diamond Billiards in Union, NJ.
Clark opened what turned out to be his first winning campaign with two 6-3 victories over Kervin Santamaria and Benjamin Zimmerman to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Jay Pass. Delgado opened up with a 5-2 win over Tom Paylou and followed up with a 6-1 win over John Egeln to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Alex Vangelov.
Clark and Pass battled to double hill, before Clark finished it to advance to the hot seat match. He was joined by Delgado, who’d sent Vangelov west 5-2. Clark claimed his first hot seat with a 5-2 win over Delgado.
On the loss side, Pass picked up Sung Lee, who’d lost his opening match to Zimmerman and was working on a three-match winning streak that had recently eliminated Gary Johnson 6-4 and Nicole Adams 7-1. Vangelov drew Paylou, who’d also lost his opening match (to Delgado) and was working on his own three-match winning streak in which he had given up a total of only three racks over 21 games, including none at all to Luigi Damion and one to Jorge Cappillo.
Pass and Lee battled to double hill before Lee prevailed, advancing to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Vangelov, who’d defeated Paylou 5-3. Vangelov ended Lee’s loss-side run in those quarterfinals 6-3.
The semifinal rematch between Vangelov and Delgado went double hill, before Delgado finished it for a second shot at Clark, waiting for him in the hot seat. The momentum of winning a double hill semifinal didn’t seem to help Delgado much, as that second shot turned in to a second victory for Clark, who gave up one less rack in the final than he had given up battling for the hot seat. He claimed the event title 5-1.
The next stop on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for this weekend, Saturday, July 23, will be an A/B/C/D Women’s Amateur event, hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
The first time that Dinko Busanich won a (recorded) event in the New York City Tri-State area was eight years ago, when he and Frank Sieczka split the top two prizes at a stop on the Tri-State Tour back in December of 2014. As the undefeated occupant of the hot seat at the time, Busanich became the official event winner. The next and last time Busanich won a recorded event was this past weekend, Saturday, July 10, when he went undefeated to win a stop on the Garden State Pool Tour. The $250-added event drew 20 entrants to Side Pocket Billiards in Howell, NJ.
Busanich faced Alex Vangelov twice in this one; hot seat and finals. Busanich was awarded a bye, before downing Rob Wetherhold, double hill and drawing Mike Johnson in a winners’ side semifinal. Vangelov, in the meantime, playing one more match to get to the same place, defeated Luigi Ramos 6-4 and Giancarlo Delgado 6-3 to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Kevin Rushing.
Busanich sent Johnson to the loss side 7-3, as Vangelo was busy doing likewise to Rushing 6-1. Busanich claimed the hot seat 9-5 and waited for Vangelov to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Jay Pass, who’d lost her opening round match, made it all the way to the semifinals to challenge Vangelov. She’d defeated Stephen Persaud 6-4 in the quarterfinals to get to him. Vangelov stopped Pass’s run 6-3 in those semifinals for a second chance shot at Busanich.
In the extended-race-to-11 finals, Busanich could have ended it by winning 9 racks first and at 7-7, that was still possible. Vangelov, though, took the next two racks, which extended the race to 11. Dinko came back to win two, knotting the score at 9-9. Vangelov won rack #19 to reach the hill first, but when he hung the 9-ball in the next game, Busanich took advantage and forced the 21st game of the final. Things went back and forth in that final rack, but in the end, Busanich dropped the event’s last 9-ball to claim his (first ‘no final match’) event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Side Pocket Billiards for their hospitality, as well as Billiards Engineering, Kamui, J-Flowers Custom Cues & Cases, AZBilliards and John Bender Custom Cues. The next stop on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Sunday, July 17), will be a C/D Class 9-Ball event, hosted by Black Diamond Billiards in Union, New Jersey. And it will be a C-D Class 9-Ball event.
