Fedor Gorst
From February 2nd – 4th, Aiken, SC was the site of some world class rotation!!! Owner Michael Newsome welcomed the players and fans to his Rack & Grill III for the Ten Ball Champions Challenge.
Sponsored by Diamond Billiard Products, Simonis Cloth, Aramith and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore, the event was to be played over the course of three days on a nine foot Diamond using a wooden triangle rack with the winner of each game breaking.
Fresh off his Derby City Classic Nine Ball Banks and One Pocket championships, newly crowned Master of the Table Fedor Gorst faced BCA and One Pocket Hall of Famer Alex Pagulayan in what was originally to be a race to 75 with $50,000 on the line – race to 25 each day.
So, on Thursday evening, the Lion roared out to an early lead but the Viking fought back to tie it up at six games each. From there, Gorst forged ahead – winning over two games to one over Pagulayan – to take Day One with a score 25-15.
Then, the match appeared to be over as the players had a disagreement over the use of the wooden rack. The dispute was resolved by Alex agreeing to pay off the ten game difference in their scores ($6,000) and to play a fresh match to fifty games using a template to rack the balls – $30,000 in the middle.
The following day with the new set, the players traded games with Alex maintaining a small lead until the last third of the match. However, like the night before, Fedor pulled away to end the day with a 25-20 score.
The final day began with a new twist – Gorst was up five games but Pagulayan caught up. Fedor pulled a few games ahead several times but again and again, Alex evened the match.
Nearing the end of the match, Fedor tightened the screws and surged ahead a few games. Having lost to Alex twice previously and inching toward the finish line, it looked like the third time was going to be the charm – and it was. Gorst closed out the match 50-45.
PoolActionTV.com would like to again thank owner Michael Newsome, his General Manager Tiffany Smith and their staff for rolling out the red carpet for the players and fans.
We’d like to thank our commentators Jeremy Jones, Scott Rabon and Ray Hansen for another fine job.
And, we’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors! Our sponsors include JB Cases, Lomax Custom Cues, StraightPoolEye, Durbin Custom Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Diamond Billiard Products, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next event is the 7th Annual Texas Open 10 Ball Championships held at Skinny Bob’s in Round Rock, TX. Dates are February 16th-21st – hope to see you there!!!
