Viking Tour Debuts in Texas

Viking cue 9-ball Tour / Richardson, TX
by Rick Davis
The Viking cue 9-ball Tour made its first appearance in Texas April 28-29 when it brought three divisions of play to The billiard Den in Richardson, TX. Fighting their way through the fields, Gordy Van Ver Veer, Lance Sullivan, and Blaine Barcus claimed the open, amateur, and junior divisions, respectively, through an onslaught of very close matches.
In the open division a 40-player field came forward, although it was Van Ver Veer and Robert Clark who bested the winners’ side to reach the hot seat match. Van Ver Veer outplayed Clark, besting him 9-7 to send him back into the mix on the one-loss side. Action on the west side was starting to wind down as Jason Pierce eliminated T.J. Davis and Sammy Downs, 7-4 and 7-6, to reach the quarterfinals. Nearby, Jack Lynch plowed through Clay Renfroe and William Howard, each 7-2, then slipped past Pearce 7-5 to reach the semifinals. With only two matches left Clark knocked out Lynch double-hill and attempted to redeem himself against Van Ver Veer. Clark took the first set 9-8, but after getting the attention of his opponent, Van Ver Veer drilled him 7-0 to claim the event.
The second division offered play for the amateurs, where another group of 40 players threw their hat into the ring. Lance Sullivan and Jim Colling were clearly in control, and after they met in the hot seat match, Sullivan stepped forward by virtue of a 7-5 win to be king of the hill. On the one-loss side Bill Etcheverry ousted Claude Gragg 7-3, while Henry Rocha did the same to Chris Ferguson 7-4. In the quarterfinals it was Colling over Etcheverry double-hill, then Rocha over Etcheverry 7-2. The finals offered some excitement as Rocha took the first set from Sullivan double-hill and then managed to tied the final set at 6-all with a 9 on the break. Sullivan took his last chance and shocked everyone by answering back with a 9 on the snap to claim the set, match, and event.
Finally, 14 players entered the juniors division, which was owned by Blaine Barcus and Mikey Gipe, who clashed in the hot seat match before Barcus shifted into gear, besting Gipe 9-6. On the one-loss side Stephan Brown emerged from the quarterfinals 7-2 over Jason Creel but was then eliminated 7-5 by the incoming Gipe. Back in the finals Gipe tasted revenge as he took the first set 9-4, but again the king of the hill answered back to take the final set 7-4 and claim the event. While the junior division did not receive a cash payout, the top two finishers, Barcus and Gipe, each received an entry in the BEF Nationals, along with a very nice Viking cue.
Open Results:
1st Gordy Van Ver Veen
2nd Robert Clark
3rd Jack Lynch
4th Jason Pearce
5th William Howard
Sammy Downs
7th Clay Renfroe
T.J. Davis
Amateur Results:
1st Lance Sullivan
2nd Henry Rocha
3rd Jim Colling
4th Bill Etcheverry
5th Claude Gragg
Chris Ferguson
Junior Results:
1st Blaine Barcus
2nd Mikey Gipe
3rd Stephan Brown
4th Jason Creel
5th Camron Radford
William Howard

Park Bags Another Blaze billiard Stop

Blaze 9-ball Tour / North Bergen, NJ
by Rick Davis
Out of the top finishers for the past several events, Shin Park appeared with vengeance on the Blaze 9-ball Tour, held April 28-29 at Gotham billiards in North Bergen, NJ, where he bested the field of 34 players to go undefeated.
Shooting like a rocket to the hot seat match, Park faced David Abraham and pounded him into the ground 7-1 to claim the winners’ side. On the one-loss side tour regular Joey Kong made his way past Mark Panpovic, eliminating him 7-4, while Chuck Pendrak did the same, knocking out Billy Kirsher 7-5. From there things began to slow down as Pendrak took his time in ousting Kong 7-4 in the quarterfinals before the brakes were really applied in the semifinals, where Abraham defeated Pendrak double-hill.
With Abraham back to face Park in the finals he was seeking revenge, while Park was eager to return to the plateau of the first-place finish. No one would wonder long who wanted it more, as Park toasted Abraham again 7-1 to claim the event.
Results:
1st Shin Park
2nd David Abraham
3rd Chuck Pendrak
4th Joey Kong
5th Billy Kirshner
Mark Panpovic
7th Bill Duggan
Adam Kielar

Marvelous Run by Mello

Arizona Women’s billiard Tour / Glendale, AZ
by InsidePOOL Staff
The Arizona Women’s billiard Tour afforded its members a chance to warm up for the BCA Nationals in Las Vegas, NV, the weekend of April 28-29. They held an event at Northern Lounge in Glendale, AZ, that attracted 35 ladies, with Susan Mello coming out ahead of them all.
Susan Williams and Susan Mello made it all the way through the winners’-side bracket and met up for the hot seat match. Mello came out victorious and waited patiently as Williams went on to play Michelle Trevino.
After Williams defeated Trevino, she went on to the rematch against Mello. In the true double-elimination format, Williams had to defeat Mello twice to win. An outstanding run of the stripes gave Williams the first game but was overshadowed by Mello, who captured the next four racks in a row to win the first set 4-1.
AWBT would like to thank Northern Lounge for having them. Their next stop, which will be a WPBA qualifier, will be held at On the Snap in Prescott. Dates are June 9-10. Dont’ Forget - the tournament will start at 11a.m. and sign-ups will close at 10:30 a.m. sharp.

Results:
1st Susan Mello
2nd Susan Williams
3rd Michelle Trevino
4th Margie Stephanik
5th Holly Ryan
Cathy Kelly
7th Mary Moench
Amy Willkom
9th Pamala Barbosa
Sonia Flores
Kristin Haney
Linda McBride-Adams

Jeanette Lee and Semih Sayginer are the King and Queen of Carom billiards

In the finals of the Queen of Carom billiards, USA unexpectedly found itself in the spotlight through Monica Webb against Korean American Jeanette Lee. The event held at the Novotel in Seoul, Korea drew many Korean fans in the country where carom thrives the most with an estimated fifty percent of the population carom billiard and pool players.
Lee won the lag and proceeded to run a 4 points off the bat. That would dictate the match as Webb could only make one point at a time and the two ladies traded points. Webb had looked dominant and strong in her previous matches but Lee seemed deadset to represent her Korean heritage in carom.
I’m going to win one of these events here in Korea…I promise. said a determined Black Widow.

Lee won the match with a controlled 7-4 win to be crowned carom’s first Queen.

In the King of Carom side, red hot Korean 9-ball and 3 Cushion player Shin Young Park was holding his own against Turkey’s Semih Sayginer. Park led the match at 3-0, 4-1, and then 5-4 in the first quarter of the match. Semih seemed to struggle finding his game, as he did in his first two matches he won.

And then lightning struck on Mr. Magic, as he is known in the carom world, and he turned the heat up all the way up. Sayginer made 11 consecutive points coming from 5-4 down to completing the match 15-5 for the win. The Koreans gave Semih a loud ovation on his terrific play.

That guy is unbelievable. Charlie(Williams) , Mika, Danny and myself been watching him in his matches and we always predict on what way he will go to make the point…and we’re always wrong. He just sees things that we don’t. said an awed Rodney Morris.

I finally played a good match. I’m glad to not only have won, but going out in style. said the charismatic Sayginer.

After the match a special TV show program included Yu Ram Cha, Shanelle Loraine, and Semih Sayginer. Sayginer coached the young ladies earlier on some trickshots and they performed them quite well when the TV lights came on. Then the master brought out some of his best shots in his repertoire and Mr. Magic wowed the audiences further. The finale came when Cha and Loraine teamed up against Sayginer in a race to 3 points where the girls could shark Semih and distract his every shot. The lag was won by the ladies afater Cha pulled on his stroke. Next Loraine was seen dangling over the table sharking Semih with her beautiful looks. Before the girls could distract him again Semih ran and fired a one-stroke shot and made a 4 cusion billiard. At 2-2, the ladies got him one more time and Cha made the winning point . It was a great show filled with laughter for the audience and came in as one of the highest rating shows of the day in Korea.

We are thrilled with the ratings for XTM, said CJ Media Vice President Peter Kim. We’ve made some record breaking ratings here and Dragon Promotions has made a fantastic event making 3Cushion highly entertaining for the viewers. XTM is looking forward to the future events they will be producing for our networks.

XTM is a total entertainment network airing movies, comedies, and sports shows in South Korea.

Langston Undefeated in Tampa

KBP 9-ball Tour / Tampa, FL
by Rick Davis
The April 29 stop of the KBP Lucasi Amateur 9-ball Tour pulled into Planet 9-ball in Tampa, FL, where a solid field of 28 players turned out to be sacrificed to Jesse Langston, who went undefeated throughout the event.
After not giving up more than four racks in any of his first four matches, Langston met Alan Morgan in the hot seat match. Morgan had a much rougher road, giving up less than five racks only once. Fighting to advance to the finals, both players fought tooth and nail until, at double-hill, Langston surged forward.
On the one-loss side tour regular Nomar Paula kept ahead of the carnage until John Tatum steamrolled him 5-1. Nearby, Jake Cox eliminated Luther Blades 5-3 to face Tatum in the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals Tatum was untouchable, knocking out Cox 5-2, then improving on his game in the semifinals. Tatum sent Morgan home after a 5-1 thrashing.
The finals offered an extended race to 9, and both players were shooting straight, making it an interesting match. After tipping back and forth Langston shifted up a gear and took a pair of racks to give him the 9-7 win and claim the event undefeated.
Results:
1st Jesse Langston
2nd John Tatum
3rd Alan Morgan
4th Jake Cox
5th Luther Blades
Nomar Paula