Mike Davis
Mike Davis followed his win in the Open portion of the George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament on Labor Day weekend by traveling four hours south to Herndon, VA and winning the season finale of the Action Pool Tour. In so doing, Davis stopped an eight-match, loss-side winning streak by Danny Green, who faced him in the finals. The event drew 64 entrants to Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
Davis started strong, winning his first four matches by an aggregate score of 28-6. He shut out Steve Luskey and Doug Grams, while giving up three racks each to Jimmy Varias and Dan Madden. This set him up to face Chris Bruner in one winners' side semifinal, as Larry Kressel and Jimmy Endara squared off in the other. Davis was tested by Bruner and had to win a deciding 13th game to advance to the hot seat match, where he was met by Endara, who'd sent Kressel west 7-2. Davis then prevailed 7-4 over Endara and sat in the hot seat, waiting on Green.
Meanwhile, on the loss side, Green, who'd won his opening match and then fell to Brandon Shuff 7-4 in the second round, was chalking up the wins. He was tested by Sean Sporleder in his opening, loss-side match, but survived a double hill battle to move on and shut out Rocky Guell. He followed up with victories over Kim Whitman, Matt Kravitz, Dave Hunt and Brian Dietzenbach to pick up Bruner, coming over from the winners' side semifinal. Kressel came over and met up with Dan Madden, who, following his loss to Davis, had defeated Dominic Noe 5-3 and just did get by Brandon Shuff, double hill.
Madden won a second straight double hill match, defeating Kressel, as Green was busy getting by Bruner 5-2. Green took the quarterfinal match 5-3, and then got a shot at Davis with a 5-2 win over Endara in the semifinals. Davis, though, stopped the streak with a 7-4 win in the finals that, in effect, ended the regular season of the Action Pool Tour.
Brett Stottlemyer, who finished in this event in the tie for 13th place, finished the season at the top of the Action Pool Tour rankings, and as a result, earned free entry to next month's US Open 9-Ball Championship. Dan Madden's fourth place finish in this event moved him up to second place. Tour director Ozzy Reynolds and Dominic Noe entered the tournament in second and third place, respectively, and finished with their positions reversed; Noe in third, and Reynolds in fourth, as Noe finished in the 9/12 slots, and Reynolds in the tie for 17th place.
Though this was the last point-earning stop on the tour, there is one more event left on the tour calendar - the Lambros Cue Round Robin tournament, scheduled for September 28-29 at First Break Cafe in Sterling, VA. The tour's top 10 players will participate in a series of round robin matches, and this year (unlike in the past), the top four finishers in the round robin will square off in a single elimination event, leading to a winner, who'll receive a $2,000 Lambros Cue. Prizes will be awarded at the event to the top players of the season, as well as awards for Best Sportsman, overall participation, top female performer, best sponsor and best room.
