In a weekend (Aug. 19-20), crowded with pool tournaments, the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour made a stop in Princeton, WV, which was impacted by competing events throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Southern region. Hosting a small field of 16 entrants, the event was not without its drama and evidence of competitive matches. Of the final 14 matches, five went double hill, including three of the last five. Josh Ball, looking for his first (recorded) payout and event victory went undefeated to the hot seat and lost the opening set of a true double-elimination final to Mike Clevinger, a frequent competitor and winner on the tour. They opted out of a second set and split the top two cash prizes. The event was hosted by Big Backs Burgers & Grill in Princeton, WV.
Ball and Clevinger met in the first of their two in a winners’ side semifinal, as Michael Robertson and Andrew Farley squared off in the other one. Ball advanced to the hot seat 5-4 (Clevinger racing to 7). Robertson joined him after sending Farley to the loss side 6-3. Ball and Robertson battled to double hill, before Ball prevailed to claim his first (known) hot seat.
On the loss side, upon the arrival of Clevinger and Farley, both of the matches for advancement to the quarterfinals went double hill. Clevinger had picked up Dustin Coe, who’d shut out Michael Howell and survived a double-hill match versus room owner John Brockman to reach him. Farley drew Danny Clay, who’d recently eliminated Wayne Long 5-3 and Dwain Barberie 5-2.
In a straight-up race to 7, Clevinger had the last word in his double-hill battle against Coe. So did Clay in his race-to-5 match against Farley. Clevinger advanced into the first money round with a 7-3 victory over Clay in those quarterfinals.
In the last double-hill match of the day, Clevinger downed Robertson in the semifinals 7-5 (Robertson racing to 6). He went on to win what proved to be the final match of the day, defeating Ball in the opening set of the true double-elimination final. They opted out of the second match, splitting the top two cash prizes and leaving Ball as the event’s official, declared winner.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked John and Ashley Brockman and their Big Backs Burgers & Grill staff, along with 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 on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend, August 26-27, will be a $500-added event, hosted by a new venue for the tour, Dot’s Cue Club in Rocky Mount, NC.
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