Spears Steers Away Competition o­n Hampton Ridge Tour

by InsidePOOL Staff

 Dennis Spears turned away the rest of the field at the Hampton Ridge 9-Ball Tour stop, taking top honors at the tour’s ninth stop of the season.  Held May 29, the event was hosted by Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ, o­ne of the friendliest rooms around to regional tours and owned by Bill Haley.  Thirty-one top Northeast players came out to try their luck, including two WPBA players, Tiffany Nelson and Kim Shaw.

Leading the way o­n the winners’ side, Pat McNally held wins over Ryan Duttkin, Jarred Garzon, John Matres, and Lee Holt.  Carmen Lombardo played McNally for the hot seat, but this turned out to be a o­ne-sided match, with McNally taking the win 7-2.

The biggest story turned out to be Dennis Spears, who, after losing his first match to Joey Landi 7-6, went o­n a run with wins over Dinko Basanich, Richard Dotta, William Marulanda, Matt Krah, Gary Barnish, Holt, and Abraham to end up in the semifinals.  With a 7-4 victory over Lombardo, Spears then found himself facing McNally in the finals.

Spears jumped to a 4-0 lead from the get-go, but McNally countered by winning the next three in a row.  Though Spears won the next game, McNally took the lead by winning yet another three in a row.  The two players traded games until the match seesawed to hill-hill, where Spears managed to pull off the win 9-8. 

Results:

1st Dennis Spears
2nd Pat McNally
3rd Carmen Lombardo
4th Eddie Abraham
5th Tiffany Nelson
Lee Holt
7th Kim Shaw