Solid Week of Play for Richko

By J.A. Barnes

For the second straight week o­n the Fury Central Florida 9-Ball Tour, Jason Richko played strong, but his efforts finally paid off, as he took the victory at Planet 9-Ball in Tampa, FL.  Just a week earlier, Richko earned a second-place finish but came throught early o­n Monday, March 7 to capture the title over Adam Wheeler in the finals.

The venue provided 27 tables, which were in use all day o­n March 6 and into the early morning for the finals, as 82 players gathered for the event.  As the day wore o­n, though, the field dwindled down to its last few players in Richko, Wheeler, Jose Del Rio, and Justin Hall. 

Richko and Del Rio met in the hot seat, and the match went back and forth until the ninth rack.  Early o­n, Del Rio jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but Richko battled back to tie it up at 4-all, followed by three straight wins to take the match 7-4.

In the o­ne-loss side, Wheeler was the force that no o­ne wanted to reckon with.  After falling in his opening-round match to Nomar Paula, Wheeler strung together ten straight wins to reach the quarterfinals against Hall.  The two traded games back and forth until it went to hill-hill, where Wheeler captured his eleventh win. 

In the semifinals, Del Rio was hoping to stop Wheeler's winning streak but could o­nly keep the match close for so long.  With the score tied at 2-all, Wheeler took three of the last four games to win 5-3.

The final match between Richko and Wheeler commenced at 1 o' clock o­n Monday morning, making it o­ne long day for both players.  This was Richko's seventh match of the day, while Wheeler was trying to win his thirteenth straight.    In the first game, Wheeler got ball-in-hand and ran out for the 1-0 lead, but Richko broke-and-ran the next rack to tie it up.  Two more solid racks gave Richko a 3-1 lead, but Wheeler bounced right back to get within o­ne game.  In the sixth rack, Wheeler had a chance to tie up the score but missed the 8-ball, and Richko ran out for the 4-2 lead.

Down 5-2 Wheeler changed his tactics and began playing safe, which gave him an opportunity to get back in the match.  After three straight wins, the score was even at 5 apiece, but Richko made the most of each chance he had in the next two racks with a run out and a break-and-run to extend his lead to 8-6.  With Richko o­n the hill, Wheeler needed something to spark a comeback, and he got it by snapping in the 9 off the break.  But, down 8-7, Wheeler scratched o­n 5 ball, and Richko ran out for the 9-7 victory.

Results:

1st Jason Richko $780

2nd Adam Wheeler $440

3rd Jose DelRio $300

4th Justin Hall $200

5th Tim Daniel, Julio Delpozo $140

7th Glen Lynch, Louis Altes $110

9th Cory Lydle, Billy Schmidt, Bret Frazier, Brett Lykens $80

13th Will Trip, Danny Sheldon, Will McGuire, Brian Davalos $60

Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news ifrom the Fury Central Florida Amateur 9-Ball Tour.