Shaun Wilkie and Brandon Shuff were back at it on the weekend of May 14-15, battling for ranking supremacy on the Action Pool Tour. They, along with Eric Moore (the tour's top three-ranked players), had missed the tour's fourth stop in April, but all were on hand for this latest stop and all finishing among the top four. Wilkie went undefeated, downing Shuff twice - in the hot seat and finals - to claim the title. Reymart Lim kept Eric Moore from a third place finish. The event drew 43 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
In the early rounds (first through third), Wilkie was sending opponents to the loss side by an average score of 7-1 (7-0, 7-1, 7-2). In a winners' side quarterfinal, Reymart Lim chalked up four against him, but Wilkie advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Eric Moore. Shuff, in the meantime, had two relatively easy opening rounds (7-0, 7-1), but ran into a Battling Benji (no last name indicated), who forced a case game, won by Shuff, who advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Greg Sabins.
Shuff sent Sabins to the loss side 7-3, as Wilkie was downing Moore 7-2. In the hot seat match that followed, Shuff, like Lim before him, managed four racks against Wilkie, but moved to the semifinals.
On the loss side, Sabins picked up Lim, who'd gotten by Chris Futrell 6-3 and survived a double hill battle versus RJ Carmona. Moore drew Dave Hunt, who'd eliminated Doug Hornsby, double hill and defeated Kenny Miller 6-3.
Moore and Lim advanced to the quarterfinals, both 6-2, over Hunt and Sabins, respectively. Lim edged Moore out of advancement with a double hill win in those quarterfinals, before himself being eliminated 6-4 by Shuff.
In something of a Virginia-centric Clash of Titans, Wilkie and Shuff went at it again, competing not only for the event title, but for the top spot in the tour rankings, which, at the end of the tour season, could earn the top player roundtrip plane fare, hotel and free entry into all three divisions of the US Bar Table Championships in Las Vegas (the #2-ranked player earns the same, less the roundtrip airfare). Wilkie completed his undefeated run with a 9-6 victory over Shuff. At this midway point in the APT season (five down, five to go), Shuff remains at the top of the rankings list, with Eric Moore (who defeated Shuff in the finals of stop #2) behind him. Wilkie, who's currently among the top 10 competitors in the rankings race for inclusion on the Mosconi Cup's USA team, is in third place in the APT rankings.
