Francisco Bustamante - Photo courtesy of Dave Thomson (Mediumpool.com)
Derby City Classic XXI, January 25 - February 2nd, 2019
LIVE from the Horseshoe Southern Indiana Casino, Elizabeth IN.
DIAMOND DCC ONE POCKET CHAMPIONSHIP
RACE to 3. $12,000, $6,000, $3300.
410 entrants are now culled to ONE!
In the final moments of the Derby City Classic One-Pocket Championship, Francisco Bustamante, down zero to two to the courageous Corey Deuel, manifested true grit, and sustained stamina as his never-say-die attitude drove the last ball into his pocket.
The 55-year-old veteran, in his 8th day of the Derby City Classic’s brutal dawn to dawn schedule, now sits atop the leader board in his search for back-to-back All-Around Champion titles…and the additional $20,000 bonus money!
Corey Deuel had an extraordinary day. Not only did he defeat Shane Van Boening and Alex Pagulayan, with three players left he, luckily, drew the bye. That left a Pagulayan - Bustamante semifinal.
The day had begun with 7 men, mostly, of equal caliber in search of the title. Pagulayan, still undefeated, had two lives. Van Boening, Bustamante, Deuel, Gomez, Gorst, and Orcollo had one.
First, Alex gutted Gomez. Then, Corey equalized Alex obliterating the first of his lives.
Meanwhile, Orcollo got Gorst, only to run afoul of Francisco. That left 3.
In the, aforementioned, semifinal round draw, Corey scored the bye leaving Bustey to face, and ultimately eliminate, Alex.
In the finals, Bustamante’s performance was sublime, even exhilarating. At 2-zero, Corey’s crafty, creative, aggressive cue ball, finally, derailed and left Francisco an opening. Bustey ran a mesmerizing 8 and out.
At 2-1, it was Corey’s break. It was now Bustey’s turn to get creative. With a blistering bank that, intentionally, kissed off a ball into his pocket, Bustey had the audience in awe as he ran another 8 and out. 2-2.
Game 5, the decider: Bustey’s break. Deuel took a timeout.
Recomposed, he approached the table. His attempt at a safe ran a little too far leaving Francisco the finest of cuts into his pocket.
It wobbled back and forth before falling into his pocket. Fortune didn’t favor the brave. He had nothing.
He played safe…he thought. With the courage and foresight that only Corey would adopt in such a foray, he attacked. Out of nowhere, a ball fell in his hole.
He can’t believe it, with the spheres spread far and wide, he too, is left safe. He pocketed a ball to be repotted while sending whitey, safely, towards his opponent’s hole. It rolled high leaving Bustey a sliver of a shot. The ball fell.
His confidence now in full bore. Failure wasn’t an option. With unwavering focus and calm determination, his indomitable spirit rose to the occasion. All Deuel could do is wonder what could have been as, ball by ball, the title slipped away.
But wait, there’s hope. Needing one ball, Bustey’s bust into the cluster didn’t leave a direct shot to his pocket.
Formerly slumped, Corey now sat erect in his seat.
Francisco scanned his options. The remaining balls were openly available to his opponent’s pocket. One error here, and Deuel was more than capable of running out the rack…and stealing the title.
Bustey espied a bank, a long, slow trickle towards his corner and, if it didn’t fall, Corey would be left safe.
At a snail’s pace, the orb slowly rolled, and rolled, and rolled. Francisco, animate now, talking to it, “Come, come,” coaxing it along until, on its last revolution, it finally dropped.
The arena was a madhouse. Screams, and yells, and a’hollerin’ roar to the rafters. Deuel, devastated, yet graciously accepted Bustey’s high-five.
Thank you Accu-Stats. This one’s a keeper.
After the $12,000 check presentation, Bustey was immediately rushed to a 9-Ball match with Shawn Murphy. No rest for the victorious. That’s the Derby.
DIAMOND DCC 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
407 entrants; Another attendance record broken!
Race to 9. 3 balls, minus those pocketed, must make the kitchen on the break.
$16,000, $8,000, $3950.
The Accu-Rack is in use.
47 exhausted combatants are left. 10 have buybacks: Lee Vann Corteza, Chris Melling, Maksim Dudanets, James Aranas, Josh Roberts, Sky Woodward, Danny Olsen, Kevin Cheng, Tim De Ruyter, and Dennis Orcollo.
With his One-Pocket win, Bustamante leapt into the lead. Billy Thorpe, Omar Al Shaheen, Deuel, Orcollo, and Woodward are hot on the trail.
Earlier in the event, Francisco, had been beaten by Mika. To maintain his Master of the Table points, at all costs, Bustey must protect that life. One ball at a time, one ball at a time.
Johnny Archer, after feeding Fedor Gorst to the buyback booth, fell afoul of the Nederland’s Marc Bijsterbosch. He was later eliminated by Billy Thorpe.
The-19-year old, Fedor Gorst had a 6-0 intimidating lead over Banks Champ Billy Thorpe. Billy adopting full combat mode, battled back to tie. But, to no avail. Fedor advanced.
Jung-Lin Chang ran into Neils Feijen in fine form, too fine a form. Then, the jousting Josh Roberts put the BIG Foot 10-Ball Champ out of his misery.
Bobby Hunter had an interesting encounter with Tony Chohan. Fresh from One Pocket, Tony hadn’t quite found his 9-Ball stroke and was missing makeable balls.
Bobby put a 3 pack on him. Tony, despondent, disinterested, unscrewed his shaft and muttering that he had better things to do, places to go, people to see, left the arena. Bobby moved on.
Mike Dechaine put Alex Pagulayan in the one loss division.
Jayson Shaw, still strong, faced Joshua Filler. Down 4-6, Shaw broke and ran out the set. Shaw’s onslaught continued through Marek Kudlik and Alex Olinger.
Poland’s best, Konrad Juszczyszyn, down 5-7, showed Shane he’s no slouch. When ahead 8-7, and breaking, Shane didn’t get out.
Konrad, manifesting the pattern skills that had won him the 2017 American Straight Pool Championship, was fazed as they fought for control of the cue-ball.
Shane, not quite as sharp as usual–it’s day 8 remember–gave Konrad opportunity. Maintaining the poise of a champion Konrad had SVB fedexed to the buyback booth.
You can be sure of one thing, Shane will get some sleep tonight. Like all true professional athletes, he is driven to win.
Much more to come.
View the remaining matches at accu-stats.com
THE DCC Friday Night BANKS RING GAME
The most boisterous Bank Pool Party on earth attracted Billy Thorpe, Skyler Woodward, Shane Van Boening, Jayson Shaw, Neal Jacobs and Mike Delawder in the winner-take-all funfest.
Warming up at 50 bucks a ball, not so surprisingly, Delawder then Jacobs were the soon to falter. Surprisingly, SVB was next to go bust.
Skyler strung enough to leave Shaw, ALL IN, with a lonely c-note. Sky bounced a few more, and bye, bye Jayson.
He and Billy had garnered $6k apiece. Skyler, still in revenge mode from their Banks encounter, with extraordinary skill, in one inning, ran out the balls ’til Thorpe ran out of cash. All Billy could do was smile.
Sky, on cloud 9, walked away with that wry grin, and the 12 large.
THE DIAMOND STRAIGHT POOL CHALLENGE
The final Draw:
Neils Feijen 125, Joshua Filler 56
Immonen 125, Schmidt 26
Melling vs. Van Boening
Orcollo vs. Corteza
The 6 remaining contenders are finding time between their 9-Ball schedule to finish the 14.1 tournament.
Accu-Stats thanks its Arena Sponsors: Diamond Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Cyclop Balls, Cuetec Cues, Lucasi Custom, MEZZ Cues, McDermott Cues, National Billiard Academy, and Samsara Cues.
