A total of 68 players signed on to compete in the last regular season event of the New England 9-Ball Series (Stop #29), prior to the season-ending Tour Championships, scheduled for September 8-9. The numbers impacted the results in that when it came time for the semifinals, the three players left opted out of further play and split the top three prizes. As the hot seat occupant at the time, Matt Eline was awarded the official event title. Jon Leandro, who’d been sent to the semifinals by Eline in that hot seat match, took the official second place slot, while Ryan Hemingway, who’d won the last loss-side match that was played (the quarterfinals), took third. The event, which was held on Sunday, August 12, was hosted by Snooker’s in Providence, RI.
Coming out of the upper bracket, Leandro advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Jim Prather. From the lower bracket, Eline and Hemingway battled in the other winners’ side semifinal. Leandro (a B player) sent Prather (an A) to the loss side 5-2 (Prather racing to 7), while Eline (C+) defeated Hemingway (C) 6-3. With Leandro racing to 6 for possession of the hot seat, Eline claimed it 5-2, in what proved to be the final match for both of them.
On the loss side, Prather picked up Lukas Fracasso-Verner, who’d defeated Keith Platt, double hill and Open player Joe Dupuis 6-4 to reach him (Dupuis racing to 8). Hemingway drew Bill Phillips, who’d recently eliminated Leo Chenard 5-2 and Gary Quaranta, double hill.
Fracasso-Verner (A+) and Prather (A) fought to double hill, but it was the lower-ranked Prather, racing to 6 who prevailed 6-6 to move in to what proved to be the last match of the night (or early morning, as it happened). Hemingway & Phillips, who, like Fracasso-Verner and Prather, may have seen the ‘end of the night’ writing on the wall, played seven games, with Hemingway prevailing 3-4 (Prather racing to 7).
The three-way split was negotiated and the NE 9-Ball Series began its preparations for the qualified-players-only Tour Championships next month. Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Snooker’s, 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.
As noted, the upcoming $10,000-added Tour Championships, scheduled for September 8-9 at Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI will be for previously qualified players only. Entrants must pre-pay.
Thanks, in part, to the absence of a number of B (and above) players who opted to compete in Turning Stone XXIX, scheduled on the same weekend, Jodie Thompson (C+) began the 12th Annual Robert Dionne Memorial Tournament by competing in the upper bracket, normally reserved for the B (and above) players. He was one of six C/C+ players among the 22 to compete in the upper bracket. None of the B or above competitors made it as far as the winners’ side semifinals, while on the loss side, only two B/B+ players made it to the money rounds. Thompson worked his way, undefeated, through the field of 43, on-hand for the $1,500-added Dionne Memorial, held under the auspices of the New England 9-Ball Series and hosted by Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH on the weekend of January 6-7.
Victories over one fellow C+ player, a B and a B+ player put Thompson into the winners’ side semifinal against another C+ player, Buddy Oldham. Tom Schroeder (C), in the meantime, squared off against D+ player, Richard Comeau. Thompson got into the hot seat match with a 5-2 win over Oldham. He was joined by Schroeder, who’d downed Comeau in a double hill match. Thompson claimed the hot seat 6-2 over Schroeder and waited on the return of what turned out to be the last B player, Eric Lim.
Having been sent to the loss side by Xavier Libby in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Lim was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the finals. He’d defeated Tyler Campbell 6-1 to move into the money rounds, and then shut out Thomas Hood to draw Oldham. Comeau picked up Dan Martis, who’d defeated Ambriory Minyety 5-2 and Matt Eline 5-1 to reach him.
Lim advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1 victory over Oldham. He was joined by Comeau, who’d eliminated Martis 4-2 (Martis, as a C+, was racing to 6). As the last D+ representative in the event, Comeau put up a double hill fight, but it wasn’t enough. Lim advanced to the semifinals, where a 7-2 win over Schroeder gave him a shot at Thompson in the hot seat.
Lim had to win one extra game in the finals that followed (a 6-5 race) and he almost made it. They battled to 5-4, before Thompson closed out his undefeated run to win it 5-5 and claim the 12th Annual Robert Dionne Memorial title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest for their hospitality, along with 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 (#12) on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for January 13, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Legends Sports Bar in Auburn, ME.
