Clint Clark
Clark and Tate split top prizes
Rumor has it that there was going to be a cake, though concerns about too many candles in a pool hall put that idea to rest. The PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour reached a significant milestone in its history this past Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2-3). The tour, which began on January 11, 2013, chalked up its 500th tour stop at an appropriately-financed $500-added event that drew 52 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC. In attendance were two competitors who’d been present at the 2013 tour debut (Tim Krzwicki, Travis Guerra) and a pair that were still in grammar school at the time (Joey and Bethany Tate).
It proved to be a very competitive weekend, as eight of the final 14 matches went double hill, including both winners’ side semifinals, the hot seat match, the quarter and semifinals. It might have been nine of the last 14 matches, but at the end, Clint Clark and Joey Tate opted out of playing a final, which awarded the undefeated occupant of the hot seat at the time (Clark) the official event title.
Clark, looking for his second tour win of the year, having chalked up his first in July, advanced through the field to face Mark Bolton in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Joey Tate squared off against Travis Summerlin in the other one.
‘Double hills’ all around. Tate defeated Summerlin 9-4 (Summerlin racing to 5), as Clark, in a straight-up race to 8, sent Bolton to the loss side 8-7. With Tate racing to 9, Clark survived the hot seat match 8-8.
On the loss side, the 9/12 races ended the event’s Saturday and featured both of the competitors who’d been present in 2013. One made it out of those 9/12 matches and advanced to Sunday’s first money-round. Travis Geurra, who’d lost his opening-round match (double hill) to Ulissis Reyes, was playing his 5th loss-side match, downed Joey Tate’s younger sister, Bethany 5-2 (she earned $50 as the event’s top finishing female/junior). Tim Krzwicki was defeated (double-hill) by Jason Rogers.
In the opening money-round on Sunday, David Honeycutt, who’d defeated Jeff Little 5-2 in Saturday’s 9/12 matches, ended Guerra’s loss-side run at six, double-hill. Steve Yarab sent Jason Rogers home 5-6 (Rogers racing to 8). Summerlin dropped in from the winners’ side at that point and downed Yarab 5-3. So did Bolton, who ended Honeycutt’s day, double-hill.
Bolton took the quarterfinal match against Summerlin, double hill. In the last (#8) double-hill match, Bolton, racing to 8, lost to Joey Tate 9-7.
Clark and Tate chose not to compete in a final, negotiated their ‘split’ deal and moved on to what remained of their Labor Day weekend. Tour director Herman Parker, in the meantime, closed the computer running his tournament software at a site for the 500th time and left to enjoy what was left of his weekend.
Before he left, Parker thanked Sundeep Makhani and his Breaktime Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, Bar PoolTables.net, Realty One Group Results, TKO Custom Cues (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel Company (Angela Harlan-Parker), Diamond Brat (Tonya Crosby), Federal Savings Bank/Mortgage division (Alex Narod) and AZBilliards.
The next stop (#501) on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Sept. 9-10), will be a $500-added event, hosted by a new, old room. Formerly known as Billiards & Brews, this weekend’s event will be held under the banner of The Big Orange (recognizing the ‘colors’ of the University of Tennessee) in Knoxville.
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