Ray Takes First o­n Fury Carolina Stop Tori Hilty

Robert Ray came through another event to take first place this week o­n the Fury Carolina Amateur 9-Ball Tour o­n July 17-18, 2004.  Not having as smooth a ride as he did last week when he arrived in first undefeated at the Fury Tidewater event, Ray had to work his way through the o­ne-loss side after Dale Russell defeated him earlier in the tournament 7-5.

A tough field of 32 showed up at B G McGee’s in Greensboro, NC, to play in this $500-added event.  o­ne of the new faces that showed up was 15-year-old Ricky Maki, who gave tour-points leader Jeff Abernathy a run for his money when he started Abernathy’s run of three hill-hill matches.  Maki did not make it past the hill for the win, but had a great showing.

After being defeated by Russell, Ray faced off against David Brown in the match to determine fourth place.  In a quick face-off, Ray deftly moved ahead by defeating his opponent 5-1. 

In the meantime, Russell and Abernathy were facing off to determine who would land in the hot seat and who would travel to the west side of the chart to play Ray in the quarterfinals.  In the end, it was Russell who would remain undefeated.

In stroke Ray faced Abernathy in the semifinals in a near-repeat performance as he gave in the quarterfinals:  he defeated his opponent 5-1.

Going into the finals facing Russell, Ray apparently was still in the zone.  Ray jumped out to a two-game lead before Russell could get o­n the board.  Russell was o­nly able to get that o­ne rack before Ray took seven straight wins to take the 9-1 victory and first place.

Results:

1st Robert Ray  $430

2nd Dale Russell  $260

3rd Jeff Abernathy  $170

4th David Brown, $100

5th John Carson, Mike Triplett  $50

7th Morris Wood, Bobby Strandbert  $40

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