From July 6th-9th, The Corner Bank in Toronto celebrated Canada’s 150th birthday with a $5,000 added 8-Ball event. The event was dedicated to the late Vince MacIntyre who we lost in 2013. There is no doubt that Vince would have played in this event if he was still with us, he was a warrior on the bar tables.
The talented field of 68 players included some of Canada’s best bar box players including Louis Fazekas, John Morra, Andy Aupin, Adam Monture and Al Porter. Fans in attendance witnessed some excellent pool. On route to the finals, John Morra defeated Rob Hall, Jonathon Lessard, Brad Guthrie before facing the current Canadian 8-Ball Champion Adam Monture. Adam and John traded games right down to the wire before Morra clinched the last rack. John continued his journey with wins over Erik Hjorleifson and Jason Klatt to earn the hot seat.
Jason Klatt had wins over Bruce Hickey, Ben Crawley, Jeet Khandi, Tyler Styer and Andy Aupin before losing to John Morra in the A-Side finals. In the b-side finals, Jason Klatt eliminated the young gun from Wisconsin, Tyler Styer. I’m sure we will be seeing more of this sharpshooter as he has recently been spending some time here in Canada.
Klatt now faced John Morra again in the finals. This was a “true double knock-out” event with Jason needing to win two sets for the title. Klatt wasted no time jumping out to a 5-0 lead before Morra could get a game on the board at 5-1. John missed the 8-Ball in the next rack put Jason in front 6-1. Jason held it together to win the first set 8-2 and the players quickly lagged again to start the last set of the tournament.
Jason Klatt came out of the gate strong once again. This set was played at a slower pace as both players could now see the finish line. Morra stayed within reach eventually tying the score at 5-5. A foul on the 8-Ball in the 11th rack put Jason ahead 6-5. Jason broke dry in the next rack and Morra carefully cleared the stripes to tie the score at 6-6. Now it was Morra’s turn to break dry, Klatt took his time and ran the table to reach the hill 7-6. Jason followed it up in style with a break-and-run to win the event.
Yet another final match with the Touring Pro vs. the Working Joe. Mike Davis vs. Kevin West might have played the best final match we’ve seen yet, certainly the most dramatic with a final score of 138-140.
22 Players across the country as far away as Lee Ladouceur in Vermont to Max Adams in Alaska qualified for 2016 Derby City Finals. Play began one day prior to the 9 Ball Banks event with every player playing four 120 point round robin matches on Thursday to determine our top 8 on Friday.
Shannon Fitch of Gate City Billiards Greensboro NC coming back to the game after more than a 10 year layoff had everyone saying “Who the hell is that guy?” topped Mike Davis & Johnny Archer for the #1 seed with a 4-0 record and point differential of +193, defeating his opponents by the average score of 48 points in a race to 120 points, very impressive.
Jody McLaughlin (Runner up at last year’s Derby Finals) 140-123 over #1 Seed Shannon Fitch
Kevin West (Sponsored by Black Boar Custom Cues) 140-90 over #5 Seed Rob Hall Bumpers AL
Mike Davis 140-108 over Cleiton Rocha (Sponsored by J Pechauer Custom Cues)
Johnny Archer Marietta Billiard Club & Player of TWO Decades 140-106 over another player who had many wondering who the heck he was, #6 Seed Chris McDaniel Denver CO.
Semi Final matches guaranteed that would see a working man vs touring pro finals;
Kevin West Great Slates Billiards MD vs Jody McLaughin Big Dog Billiards IA
Johnny Archer Marietta Billiard Club vs Mike Davis Brass Tap, Bucks & Brown’s NC!
While Kevin and Jody battled back and forth Mike Davis got the jump on Johnny and held it throughout the entire match.
The final match was not looking good for our working man who also happens to be a Type 1 Diabetic. Mike started strong taking a 64-16 lead in a race to 140. American Rotation is a very tough game to come back in so we actually started to lose some spectators as they believed Mike would continue on as he did in his earlier match with Johnny. Many would soon return when somehow Kevin came back strong to make the match 90-90 & 102-98. From there both players scored exactly 20 points to make the score 118 Kevin 122 Mike with Kevin’s turn to break. He did what we all hope to do in that position, broke the 15 balls and ran them all perfectly in rotation to score 20 points making the score 138-122 and now Mike’s break. Who would rather be? The player needing just 2 points sitting in the chair or the player needing 18 but has break ball in hand? Mike broke a table that looked very difficult from the 5 ball on out. He ran 1-4 and played position for a preplanned safety on the 5. It worked as Kevin missed an off angle kick that required just the right amount of spin. Even with ball in hand on the 5 Mike still has his work cut out for him. The 6-7 were tucked under the 14 ball and would require Mike to shoot the 5 ball six feet up the left side rail while moving the cue ball forward and across a position zone about 6 inches wide and 5 ft away. The entire room was pressure packed and wondering what he was going to do and would he succeed or not. Iron Mike did no disappoint. After rebridging several times he struck it perfectly and fell on the only spot on the table where the 6 could be pocketed. From there on out we simply held our breath the see if Mike could run the rest of the table to nab the Series 7 title. Iron Mike came through with a 140-138 victory!
All 22 players received travel money for attending and our top 8 earned additional money
$2,500 & Series VII Champion Mike Davis
$1,500 & a Great performance Kevin West
$1,000 each of 3rd 4th Johnny Archer & Jody McLaughlin
$500 each Shannon Fitch, Rob Hall, Cleiton Rocha, Chris McDaniel
Series VII Finals was an awesome experience for all of us. The American Billiard Club helped put $25,000 in the pockets of some aspiring players and some pro players while they attended what is probably the greatest pool show of the year, The Derby City Classic.
We thank all the players there and all the players at home who competed in their local 10 week Series. We thank Diamond Billiards for allowing us to come in one day early, the use of the tables, for making us feel welcome and for putting on such a great event.
We thank BadBoy Billiard Productions for working with us on Friday while juggling our finals with the 9 Ball Banks Tournament, which had a record 385 players.
We thank TVMike for doing a live free stream with picture in picture video allowing fans to watch 2 tables simultaneously. You really do have to watch these last 3 racks of the finals, the best finish to date. Final match is located on our Vimeo page here; Finals Mike Davis Kevin West
Semi Finals Jody McLaughlin vs Shannon Fitch has been speed edited Semi Finals
Semi Finals Johnny Archer Mike Davis coming soon.
As tour coordinator I can tell you, it’s a pretty nice feeling living up to the American Billiard Club’s mission of helping tour pros cover expenses while also helping aspiring players get to national events like Derby City for the very first time! We absolutely love seeing these players who EARNED their way to these events.
The plan for 2016 is to allow just 32 clubs to qualify 2 players each (March-June & Aug-Nov) so we can have a 64 player Series VIII Championship at the 2017 Derby City Classic. Please email Joe Tucker at JTtenball@gmail.com to support a fantastic format and to secure your clubs spot as we are shutting it down to just 32 clubs, some of which will be coming from different countries 😉
Dinsmore went into the event as one of 4 players still in realistic contention for the no.1 spot at the end of the season which not only brings with it its own prestige, but also a lovely Ikon cue from our generous friends at Predator.
We had a good turnout as 20 players entered, making it a fantastic season as 28 players have played at least 1 event so far this season. We welcomed new player Rob Hall to his first event on the tour.
Dinsmore got his campaign off to a good start with a 7-3 win over Craig Welsh, and then had a battle royal with old foe Roy Kimberley and just beat him 7-5.
In the quarter-final he faced Danny Luton, and raced through the match with a 7-2 win and advance to the semi-final.
In the semi-final he faced Tony Southern who had come through 3 matches on the winners side, in a rematch from the 2013 event at the same stage. In a good match the lead changed hands, and Southern took a 6-5 lead, and then Dinsmore took it to hill-hill, Southern then had a glorious chance to win the match but didn’t take it, but left a chance which Dinsmore took to advance to the final.
In the other half of the draw, Abubaker won his first two matches to advance to the quarter-finals, where he would meet Arnie Chan, appearing in the prize money stages of an event for the first time, and Abubaker’s experience told as won 7-1.
In semi-final he faced Dave Beaumont in his 2nd semi-final in his first 2 events, Beaumont lost 7-1 but can take solace in a great start to his BWPPA career.
It looked like it would be a one sided final, as Dinsmore roared into 6-1 lead, but in a weekend of hill-hill games, Dinsmore missed a simple chance to take the match, and Abubaker demonstrated the qualities that have helped him to the top of the rankings as dragged himself back into it, reeling off 5 racks in succession. Abubaker then had a great chance in the last rack but over hit his position early in the rack, snookering himself. He then missed the escape. Dinsmore took ball in hand, and calmly cleared the remaining balls to win the match
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After the final Dinsmore said of his win “I would like to thank George Vetters and all the staff at the Escape Pool Bar, we are always made welcome, and I’m delighted to be winning events and putting myself in contention for the no.1 position.
The Challenge Cup final was won by Phil Hendrickson who beat Shaun Madin 5-4.
A video of the main event final is available here. Pictures of the event are here in the BWPPA gallery.
The next event is the Predator British 9-ball Championships, which will be held at the BWSCA/BWPPA Pool Academy, on the weekend of 15th/16th November 2014.
Abubaker, Dinsmore and Southern are now the only players who can claim top spot, if any of those 3 players wins the event they take the crown, but another winner would really stir things up at the top.
The BWPPA are always looking for new members no matter what disability you have, or your level of ability in the sport. To become part of Europe’s largest wheelchair American pool tour please visit www.bwppa.com, and if you are reading this and know of any players who may be interested please pass this onto them.
We also are always looking to expand the sponsorship side of the tour, so if you or your company would like to become one of our sponsors, please visit: Contact BWPPA
All of the BWPPA would like to extend our gratitude to all of our current sponsors The Gentlemen’s Night Out, Simonis Cloths, Predator/Poison Cues, Talisman Billiards, Kamui tips, Magic Racks, Escape Pool Bar, AB Wallace Trophies, and Riley’s snooker & pool clubs.
Sport 9 Ladies tour stop #2 was held at Bumpers Billiards this past weekend, April 12th, 2014 drawing 16 players in both the women’s and the men’s events. Players from all over the southeast came to compete for points and prize money in the 9 ball events.
The ladies event began Saturday at noon and was played on eight 9' Diamond tables. The format was double elimination race to 7 on the winner’s side and race to 5 on the loser’s side. The comradery was boosted as well the level of competition as Sport 9 welcomed 3 new players. Many of the matches were very close going to the hill, however out of sixteen total players it was guest player Dana Aft who went undefeated and claimed tournament champion. Newcomers Ashley Nandresy, Kim Housman, and Betty Sessions came in second through fourth respectively. Several of the matches were recorded are can be viewed on Ustream.tv (Bumpers TV).
The men’s 9 ball bar table mini event was held in conjunction with the ladies event also producing some great matches and 16 talented players. The format was race to seven, alternate break double elimination. Rob Hall, owner of Bumpers Billiards, went undefeated after defeating 2nd place finisher, James Baraks for the hot seat and again in the finals. Robb Saez took 3rd place and Clifton Frederick took fourth after an amazing win over Justin Bergman.
Sport 9 would like to thank Robert Hall, owner of Bumpers Billiards @ Huntsville for hosting the event and providing such a wonderful opportunity for both events. Sport 9 would also like to thank Ozone Billiards, IngenPool, Professor-Q-Ball, AZBilliards, GoPlayPool, Pool-Trax, Kamui Tips, and Focus Gear for their continued support and contributions.
Be sure to plan for the next event, tour stop #3, at 6 Pockets Billiards in Decatur, AL May 17th weekend. Event is listed in the events page on the tour website.
