Ron Mason, last seen in a Predator Tour winners' circle back in March of 2012, when he came from the loss to side to chalk up the victory, wound his way through a field of 26 to go undefeated on a Predator Tour Amateur stop on the weekend of September 27-28. The $500-added event drew the 26 to Mr. Cues, in Lindenhurst, NY. A concurrently-run Open/Pro event drew a short field of eight entrants, and was won by Jeremy Sossei.
Mason's win came in spite of being tightly challenged by Roger Lakotko in the hot seat match and then, in the finals, by Jerry Tarantola, who'd won five on the loss side for the right to face him. Mason drew Dan Faraguna in a winners' side semifinal, while Lakotko squared off against John Schott, who'd just sent Tarantola to the losers' bracket. Lakotko defeated Schott 7-3, as Mason was busy downing Faraguna 7-4. Lakotko battled Mason to double hill before giving way and moving to a semifinal match against Tarantola, from which he would not return.
Tarantola began his five-match, loss-side march to the finals with a 7-2 win over Asa Shaw, and then hung on to win a double hill fight over Victor Nau, which set Tarantola up for a re-match against Schott. Kevin Falco, in the meantime, defeated Lionell Swanston 7-4 and Joe Wilson Torres 7-3, to pick up Faraguna.
Tarantola survived his second straight double hill match, successfully wreaking his vengeance on Schott, as Faraguna was busy eliminating Falco 7-3. Tarantola took the quarterfinal match against Faraguna 8-6, and the semifinal match against Lakotko 7-5. Mason, though, was not to be denied. He took the final match 8-5 to claim the Amateur event title.
The Open/Pro event consisted of 14 matches, the first four of which created the winners' side semifinals; Jeremy Sossei defeated Scott Murphy 8-2, Frankie Hernandez downed Tour Director Tony Robles 8-6, Joey Korsiak survived a double hill match versus Warren Kiamco and Hunter Lombardo got by Joe Davis 8-4. Sossei and Lombardo then downed Hernandez and Korsiak, both 8-6, and faced each other in the hot seat match. Lombardo took that, double hill, and sat in the hot seat, awaiting Sossei's return.
On the loss side, Murphy eliminated Robles 8-6 to face Korsiak, as Kiamco defeated Davis 8-2 to pick up Hernandez. It was Hernandez and Korsiak advancing to the quarterfinals; Hernandez 8-5 over Kiamco, and Korsiak over Murphy 8-3. It was Hernandez who advanced to a semifinal re-match against Sossei with an 8-4 win over Korsiak.
Sossei defeated Hernandez 8-4 and then took full advantage of his second opportunity against Lombardo, defeating him 11-8 in the finals to claim the event title.
The Predator Tour, which spends a lot of its time in the Tri-State New York area, paid a visit to Rhode Island on the weekend of September 14-15, and (no surprise) was treated to a host of the New England area's top players. As the Red Sox were busy completing their sweep of the Yankees at Fenway Park, Ranulf Tamba, who's spent the past few years plying his trade primarily on the New England-based Rack 'Em Up, and J. Pechauer Ride the 9 Tours went to work in the Amateur division of the Predator stop, and came from the loss side to defeat the Tri-State New York area-based Stewart Warnock. In the Open division, another New England-based regular, Nelson Oliviera, was runner-up to Tony Robles, who he challenged in the hot seat and finals. The $1,000-added Amateur event drew 30 entrants to Snookers, in Providence, RI, while the $1,000-added Open event drew a short field of 12.
In the Amateur event, Tamba was sent to the loss side from among the winners' side final eight 7-1 by Abel Barriento, who advanced to face Warnock in one of the winners' side semifinals. Gail Glazebrook squared off against Irvin Simkins in the other. Warnock got into the hot seat match with a 9-6 win over Barriento, and was met there by Simkins, who'd sent Glazebrook west 7-5. Warnock and Simkins battled to double hill before Warnock prevailed to sit in the hot seat, unaware as he waited for Tamba, that he'd won his final match.
Tamba, in the meantime, went right back to work on the loss side, defeating Brooke Meyer 7-1 and James Stevens 7-5, to pick up Glazebrook. Justin Muller won a double hill match against Billy Santiago and downed Kevin Falco 8-4 to pick up Barriento. Barriento advanced 8-6 over Muller, but Tamba handed Glazebrook her second straight loss 7-4.
Tamba then defeated both Barriento in the quarterfinals and Simkins in the semifinals 7-5. He and Warnock fought tooth and nail to double hill in the finals, but Tamba sunk the final ball to claim the title.
Robles got into the hot seat match in the Open event after downing Tom D'Alfonso 8-4. Oliviera had defeated Justin Muller (tied for 5th in the Amateur event) 8-3 to meet him. Robles took the first of their two 8-4 and waited in the hot seat for the second.
Neither Muller, nor D'Alfonso made it out of their first loss-side match. Phil Davis, who'd gotten by Dan Cintron 8-5 and Clayton Rocha 8-4, beat Muller in a double hill match. D'Alfonso was defeated 8-5 by Ray McNamara, who'd eliminated Jay McCaughey 8-3 and won a double hill battle against Joey Dupuis.
Davis took the quarterfinal match over McNamara 8-4, but was downed 8-5 by Oliviera in the semifinals. Oliviera took Robles right to the brink, but Robles completed his undefeated run through the short field of 12 to claim the event title.
Kevin Falco recovered from a defeat among the winners’ side final four and returned to challenge and defeat hot seat occupant, Elvis Rodriguez, in the A-D handicapped portion of the May 5-6 Predator Tour Stop. The $500-added amateur event drew 64 entrants to Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
It was Vincent Morris who sent Falco west 7-5 in the winners’ side semifinals, as Rodriguez was busy sending Joe Palone over, 7-4. Rodriguez moved into the hot seat with a 7-4 victory, and waited on Falco.
Falco went on to win two straight double hill matches; over Palone in the quarterfinals and his re-match versus Morris in the semifinals. He completed his tournament bid with a 12-5 victory over Rodriguez in the finals.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Gotham City Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, The National Amateur Pool League, Delta-13 racks, Poison Cues, PoolOnTheNet.com, and NYCGrind.
Alex Osipov, who plays on both the Predator and Tri-State Tours, won his first of either on the weekend of March 3-4. He went undefeated through a field of 39 entrants, on hand for the $500-added, A-D handicapped event of the Predator Tour, hosted by Mr. Cue in Lindenhurst, NY.
From among the winners’ side final four, Osipov won two straight double hill matches to get into the hot seat. He sent Rich Turner west and then faced Naldo Troncoso, who’d defeated Billy Santiago 7-5. His second double hill win left him in the hot seat and sent Troncoso to the semifinals, where he met up with Roberto Mendoza, who was in the midst of a seven game, loss-side winning streak.
Mendoza, who’d been sent west by Tony Liang, defeated Juan Guzman and Frank Rapisarda to move into the money rounds. He then downed Victor Nau, double hill, and Steve Wright 7-2 for the right to face Santiago. Turner moved over from the winners’ side final four to face Rich Lang, who’d defeated Boris Manzhelky 7-4 and Kevin Falco 7-5.
It was Mendoza and Turner advancing to the quarterfinals; Mendoza with a 7-5 victory over Santiago and Turner ending Lang’s day 7-3. Mendoza went on to win his final match of the day, defeating Turner 10-7 in the quarterfinals, and advancing to the semifinals, where Troncoso prevailed 7-3. Osipov completed his undefeated run with a 10-8 victory over Troncoso in a single, extended-race match in the finals.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the owners and staff of Mr. Cue, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, The National Amateur Pool League, Delta-13 racks, Poison Cues, PoolOnTheNet.com, and NYCGrind.
