Overall, Kenny Daughtrey won 17 of the 11 games he played against Frank Owens during the July 23 stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour. Five of the 17 came in a double hill, 5-5 loss (Daughtrey racing to 6) in the opening set of the true double elimination final. Dead even on games at that point, Daughtrey lost, one game shy of his handicapped goal, forcing a second set. As he'd done before, Daughtrey kept Owen one game 'off the hill' in that second set, and claimed the title. The event drew 20 entrants to Brian's Billiards in Roanoke Rapids, NC.
Daughtrey won three out of his final four matches 6-3. He sent Chad Weachter to the loss side by that score to get into the hot seat match. Owens, in the meantime, was busy surviving a double hill fight against Randy Hodges. Daughtrey claimed the hot seat 6-3 and sent Owens to the semifinals.
On the loss side, Daughtrey's father, Ken, Sr., was on site, rooting for his namesake, and competing in the tournament, with at least one eye on a potential father/son final. Thomas Williams, in the midst of a five-game, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the semifinals, ended that potential party 5-1, and then defeated Justin Blackman by the same score to draw Weachter, who'd sent him to the loss side in the first place. Hodges picked up the tail end of another father/son saga - Terry Ringgold - who'd defeated his son, J.T., 4-5 (J.T. racing to 9) and then eliminated Junior Avery, double hill.
Hodges thwarted the elder Ringgold's plans with a 5-2 victory, as Williams was chalking up his fourth loss-side win 5-3 over Weachter. Williams' final victory was a shutout over Hodges in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, fired-up-with-a-shutout-win Williams faced itching-for-another-shot-at-Daughtrey Owens. Owens took the straight-up, race to 5, semifinal match 5-2, and got his shot. In the opening set, he battled to double hill and won it. In the second set, Daughtrey opted for a repeat of the hot seat win and won the set 6-3 to claim the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Brian's Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, and Delta-13 Racks. The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 30-31, will be hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Wilmington, NC.
