Burt Balancad (Photo courtesy of Rick Schmitz)
In the seven year history of the Desert Classic Tour, a “B Player” has never won an open event. It was thought by a handful of players that a “B Player” could never win an open event. It took Burt Balancad to correct that misconception.
Twenty nine players made their way to Stingers on November 1st and 2nd to play 9-Ball on the 7’ Diamond tables, and Balancad was almost unstoppable.
As is always the case, day one contained more than it’s fair share of upsets and surprising results. Brett Huth went “two and out” with losses to last month’s winner Oscar Avila & Paul Grande. Ben Sutherland was another “two and out” victim on Saturday. Tres Kane looked to be in danger of the same fate after losing in the first round to Robin Clark, but Kane would correct his path and plow through the one loss side to make Sunday play.
The two players who set themselves ahead of the pack on Saturday were Balancad and “The Mailman” Chuck Evans. Balancad had day one wins over Jerry Stuckart, John Ritonya, Jude Espinoza and Pete Lhotka. Evans stayed with Burt - win for win - all day with wins over Jack Ritonya, Junior Jiron, Brian Reich and Oscar Avila.
Sunday dawned with six players still shooting for the win. Things weren’t looking good for Balancad early in the hot-seat match, as Evans led the 8-7 race 5-2. Balancad then took control and won five of the next six games for the 7-6 win.
On the one loss side, Tres Kane eliminated Oscar Avila 8-5 and Reich sent Pete Lhotka to the seats to join Avila in 5th place.
Reich then beat Kane 8-4 for fourth place.
The semi-final match saw Evans take an early 3-0 lead and force Reich to try to mount a comeback win. The match went back and forth with Evans regaining a three rack lead at 7-4. That was when Reich shifted into a different gear and won four straight games for the 8-7 win.
The first set of the double elimination finals saw each player go on a run. Reich started things off with a three game run, taking a 3-0 lead. Balancad quickly tied things at 3-3, only to watch Reich then win five games in a row for the 8-3 victory, forcing a second set.
The second set was Balancad’s turn to come out and take an early lead. He won the first three games for a 3-0 tally. Reich would then win two games, but Balancad would not allow him to catch up. Balancad pushed his lead back to three games at 5-2 and then traded racks with Reich and won the case game for the 7-4 win.
The Desert Classic Tour will hold their season finale on December 6th and 7th at Bullshooters for a $2000 added 10-Ball event on the 9’ tables.
