Fitch and Taylor Tops on Viking Tour

Fitch and Taylor Tops on Viking Tour
Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour / Greensboro, NC

by InsidePOOL Staff
The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour rolled into Greensboro, NC, the weekend of September 29-30. Hosted by Shooter’s Billiards, this stop crowned Shannon Fitch and Richard Taylor tops in the open and amateur divisions, respectively.
Fitch first faced off against Southeast terror BJ Ussery, defeating him in a hill-hill nail-biter. He then bested Jeff Baumgarner 9-2, Randy Hatten 9-0, Sparky Ferrell 9-5, and Robert Ray 9-5 for the hot seat. From the West Coast, Rafael Martinez started off his event with wins over Trevor Jefferson 9-2, Thomas Sansone 9-3, and Larry Cheek 9-1 before being sent to the one-loss side by Ferrell 9-4. Martinez collected himself to best Jeff Pruitt 7-4 and Mike Fuller 7-6 before matching up with Ferrell again, this time in the quarterfinals. After defeating Ferrell 7-4, he went on to the semifinals against Ray, whom he bested 7-3. In the double-elimination final match, Martinez experienced success in the first set, winning 9-3, but Fitch came back in the second set to win the title 7-2.
In the amateur division, Taylor went undefeated through the path to the finals, notching wins over Dee Wylie 6-2, Chris Cubbage 6-1, Arnold Hamlett 6-3, and Mike Preston in the hot seat match 6-2. Hamlett faced down Matt Karbowski 6-2 and Pete Sawyers 6-1 before his loss to Taylor. Hamlett recovered to defeat Anthony Arney 5-3 and Mike Preston in the semifinals but could not overpower Taylor, who bested him 6-2 in the final match.

Open Results:

1st
Shannon Fitch

2nd
Rafael Martinez

3rd
Robert Ray

4th
Sparky Ferrell

5-6th
Harry Florence

Mike Fuller

7-8th
Johnny Walker

Randy Hatten

Amateur Results:

1st
Richard Taylor

2nd
Arnold Hamlett

3rd
Mike Preston

4th
Anthony Arney

5-6th
Chris Cubbage

Kent Lacy

7-8th
John Craig

Pete Sawyers

Sandler Sweeps Southeast Tour

Sandler Sweeps Southeast Tour

J. Pechauer Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour / Vero Beach, FL

by InsidePOOL Staff
Jim Sandler bested a field of 29 billiards players the weekend of September 29-30 to capture first place on the J. Pechauer Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour. This stop was hosted by Cunningham’s Pool and Darts in Vero Beach, FL.
Sandler enjoyed a virtually unchallenged run through the one-loss side, though he barely squeaked by his opponent in the hot seat match, Mike Mallen, to escape with a double-hill victory. Sent to the west side of the chart, Mallen was faced with Mark Coats, who had just ousted Tommy Kennedy in a hill-hill match. Mallen had little trouble disposing of Coats, winning their match 9-5 to earn a rematch with Sandler. However, yet another hill-hill match transpired with the same results as before—Sandler ended up winning 9-8 to take first place.

Open Results:

1st
Jim Sandler

2nd
Mike Mallen

3rd
Mark Coats

4th
Tommy Kennedy

5-6th
Tony O’Donnell

Craig Rogers

Dechaine Outlasts Them All on Joss Tour

Dechaine Outlasts Them All on Joss Tour

Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour / Waterville, ME

by Rick Davis
The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour held their second billiard stop of the season over the September 29-30 weekend at T.J’s Classic Billiards in Waterville, ME, where a strong 32-player field came out to do battle. After the carnage had cleared, past champions, tour regulars, and other favorites all fell to Mike Dechaine, who went undefeated after offering up two days of solid play.
On the winners’ side Dechaine made short work of the chart, clearing it up in the hot seat match where he defeated Bucky Souvanthong 9-6. Then, on the one-loss side, the rest of the top eight were clawing and reaching to advance further.
Top national player and multi-time tour winner Dennis “The Hatchet Man” Hatch was slowly making a comeback from an early loss in day one. Hatch ousted Walter Szydlowski 9-2 then shut out Pete Bowman 9-0 to reach the quarterfinals. Nearby, the winner of the season’s first stop, Marc Vidal, eliminated Bruce Carroll 9-5 to catch up with Hatch in the quarterfinals. Hatch wasted little time and knocked out Vidal 9-3 and then kept up his streak by eliminating Souvanthong 9-5 in the semifinals.
With the finals on hand and the true double-elimination format in effect, a great match unfolded. Hatch took the opening set with a 9-7 squeaker, but in the second set the players hit the brakes and the score kept close. After a 7-all score Dechaine pulled away one rack to get on the hill and then inched over the line, taking the final rack to earn the event win after the 9-7 final set victory.

Open Results:

1st
Mike Dechaine

2nd
Dennis Hatch

3rd
Bucky Souvanthong

4th
Marc Vidal

5-6th
Bruce Carroll

Pete Bowman

7-8th
Chance Chin

Walter Szydlowski

Chameleon Rack to Sponsor U.S. Open 9-Ball

Chameleon Rack to Sponsor U.S. Open 9-Ball

The U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship has a new equipment sponsor, the Chameleon Rack. The Chameleon Rack, the first rack for all pool games, will be the official rack of the 2007 U. S. Open 9-Ball Championship at the event and on all TV programs distributed nationally and internationally by Billiard Club Network, including the live Internet broadcast.

“The Chameleon Rack will add a great new component to the U.S. Open 9-Ball,” says Barry Behrman, founder and promoter of the event. “It’s unique design and tightening features will ensure a tight rack every time.”

As part of the sponsorship deal, the Chameleon Rack will also sponsor the ever-popular Rack Girls that have become a mainstay in the Chalk-Off TV Arena at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship. The Chameleon Rack Girls will keep the crowd involved and informed with their display of which rack in the match is up next.

“We’re excited to be part of professional pool’s most prestigious event,” says Robert Tertel, creator and president of RST2 International, the parent company of the Chameleon Rack. “We’ll be at the event all week to answer any questions the players might have and make the racks available for sale.”

Two of pool’s world-class personalities and talented professionals are very supportive of the Chameleon Rack, Johnny Archer and Allen Hopkins.

It’s great to have a rack which has the ability to accommodate the varying ball sizes in a specific set of pool balls,” commented Johnny Archer, the 1999 U.S. Open Champion.

Allen Hopkins, a two-time U.S. Open Champion (1977 and 1981) and ESPN commentator echoed the sentiment, “Finally, there’s a rack that freezes the balls without using your fingers or tapping them in place. The Chameleon Rack is definitely the best rack for all games

The Chameleon is the only product that adapts to rack all your favorite games including 3-Ball, 6-Ball, 7-Ball, 8-Ball, 9-Ball 10-Ball. The Chameleon is incredibly easy to store. It hangs easily on a wall-mounted hook and fits in almost any slotted pool table. The Chameleon will not damage the felt on your table or the surface of your balls. For more information, visit www.ChameleonRack.com (http://www.chameleonrack.com/) or call toll free 1-866-777-1430.

About RST2 International: RST2 is a company that was developed to give pool players worldwide a new look at how the game can be, and should be played. Each of our products stems from the successes and failures of existing billiard accessories, by correcting the flaws and enhancing the features of the products that have come before them. RST2 will continue to listen to pool players in an effort to provide the most practical, durable and affordable billiard accessories on the market, as we have done since our company was founded.

NYCGrind.com LLC Inks Deal with Inside POOL Magazine

NYCGrind.com LLC Inks Deal with Inside POOL Magazine
NYCGrind.com LLC and Inside POOL Magazine have announced an agreement to create and publish programming for the Billiards Podcast by Inside POOL Magazine. Programming created by NYCGrind.com is currently being broadcast on the podcast, and this deal will extend the relationship into mid-2008. The deal will commit exclusive publishing of NYCGrind.com LLC programming on InsidePOOLmag.com .
NYCGrind.com specializes in producing billiards programming and has committed to weekly delivery of programming on the Billiards Podcast by Inside POOL Magazine. The episodes will feature a variety professional-quality billiards content video.
“Teaming up with Inside Pool Magazine is a true milestone for us. It is clear that they are an industry leader, and there is no question that they are committed to providing what’s cool from a pool player’s perspective,” said Jerry Tarantola, president of NYCGrind.com LLC.
View the podcast at iTunes (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=263687352)
View the Billiards Podcast by Inside POOL Magazine list (/pool-and-billiard-podcasts/pool-podcasts-and-videos.html)

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