Shane Van Boening (Photo courtesy of Dave Thomson - Mediumpool.com)
In the most dominant performance in Derby City Classic history, Shane Van Boening played in the finals of all three divisions and won two of those divisions.
In order to get to the finals, Van Boening had to get by Mike Dechaine in round twelve of the 9-ball division. Dechaine has one of the best tournament records of anyone against Van Boening, but this was not to be another entry in Dechaine's resume as Van Boening took advantage of careless mistakes by Dechaine and added four table runs to win the match 7-0.
With only three players going into that round of play, it was Stevie Moore who caught the bye and had the easy route to the finals. Moore came out early in the final match against Van Boening and proved that he belonged in the finals when he rode a 1-9 combo and a break & run to a 2-1 lead. The lead would be short lived for Moore as Van Boening kicked a two ball in and ran out to tie the match at 2-2. A poore safety by Moore in the fifth rack led to a 3-2 lead for Van Boening and then a very careless safety attempt by Moore in rack six gave ball in hand to Van Boening and he jumped on the opportunity. Van Boening ran that rack and the next two for a 6-2 lead. Moore would add one more bead to his side of the scoreline after winning a safety battle in rack nine, but a dry break in rack ten was Moore's last time at the table as Van Boening ran out for the 9-ball division win and $16,000 in prize money.
As far as the Master of the Table competition, that race was decided very early in the 9-ball division as Shane only had to get out of the third round to lock up the title for the second straight year. John Morra took second in the all around competition and Brandon Shuff finished in third.
The Fatboy 10-Ball event finals, as well as the 14.1 finals, are yet to be played. Both of those matches will still take place on Saturday night after the awards ceremony for the main events.
