On the weekend of July 13-14, sitting atop the leader board on the Action Pool Tour, Brett Stottlemyer was looking to solidify that position with his second victory on the (thus far) 11-stop season, dating back to October. Though there are others on the tour who've won more events (Mike Davis and Brandon Shuff, for example), Stottlemyer has participated in all 11 events, and it's his 'Participation Points' and relatively high finishes in each of those stops that has him at the top of the rankings, just ahead of tour director, Ozzy Reynolds, who has, for obvious reasons, also been in attendance at all 11 stops. Stottlemyer's search for a second victory was derailed by Chris Bruner, who entered the tournament at # 36 in the tour rankings, on the basis of attendance at five of the events. Bruner took two out of three matches against Stottlemyer to claim title to Event # 11, which drew 60 entrants to Breakers Sky Lounge, in Herndon, VA.
They met first among the winners' side final eight. Bruner sent Stottlemyer west 7-4 and advanced among the winners' side final four for a match against Rafael Reyes. Danny Mastermaker, in the meantime, who'd won Stop # 8 in April and from his # 11 spot, was looking to step inside the Top 10 in rankings, met up with Dan Madden. Mastermaker dominated his match against Madden, winning 7-1 and advancing to the hot seat match against Bruner, who'd downed Reyes 7-4. Bruner then survived a double hill match against Mastermaker to claim the hot seat.
Stottlemyer, in the meantime, began his work on the loss side with a 6-1 victory over Danny Mastermaker's brother, Joey, and then defeated the #2-ranked Ozzie Reynolds 6-2, to meet up with Madden. Reyes drew Shaun Wilkie, who'd gotten by Daniel Jarquin 6-1 and #3-ranked Dominic Noe. It was Stottlemyer and Wilkie, advancing to the quarterfinals; Stottlemyer 6-2 over Madden and Wilkie 6-3 over Reyes.
Stottlemyer and Wilkie battled to double hill in those quarterfinals, with Stottlemyer prevailing to pick up Danny Mastermaker. Stottlemyer earned a second shot against Bruner with a 6-3 victory over Mastermaker in the semifinals, and then, took the opening set of the finals 7-3. Bruner, though, rallied to take the second set 6-4 and claim the event title. Though denied the event victory, Stottlemyer's second place finish did, in fact, solidify his top spot in the tour rankings, still ahead of Reynolds and Noe.
