Shaun Wilkie
Tour director Ozzy Reynolds noted that Shaun Wilkie's four straight wins on his Action Pool Tour would be a record that would be hard to break. Imagine his surprise when Wilkie upped the ante on the weekend of January 17-18 by going undefeated to win his fifth straight stop on the tour. The event drew 52 entrants to Magic 8 Cue Club in Cockeysville, MD.
It was not a random-draw easy path for Wilkie, either. After a bye, he had to contend with Brett Stottlemeyer, Paul Oh, and Karen Corr to move among the winners' side final four and a match against Dominic Noe. Alan Duty and Steve Fleming squared off in the other winners' side semifinal. Wilkie moved into the hot seat match 7-3 over Noe, and was joined by Duty, who'd survived a double hill battle versus Fleming. Wilkie claimed the hot seat 7-5 and waited on the return of what turned out to be Fleming.
Fleming's three-match, loss-side streak, started out the same way Wilkie's win-side streak had begun; against Brett Stottlemeyer, who, following his earlier defeat at the hands of Wilkie, won six in a row, including back-to-back shutouts over Tom Zippler and Shawn Jackson to draw Fleming. Noe picked up Garrett Waechter, who'd survived his first loss-side match (double hill win over David Stanley) and given up only four racks since, including one each to Will Stem and Allan Cannington, which set him (Waechter) up to face Noe.
Noe and Fleming advanced to the quarterfinal, defeating Waechter and Stottlemeyer, both matches ending in 5-1 scores. Duty put up a fight in the semifinals, but Fleming prevailed 5-4 for a second chance against Wilkie. For all the good it did him. Wilkie downed Fleming 9-5 to complete his "unprecedented" fifth straight win on the tour.
