Seventy players in two divisions converged in the beautiful piney woods of East Texas in Beaumont to face off on the level green on March 12-13. The battle for point leader of the year is heating up!
Top picks were Jeremy Jones, Al Mason, Robert Newkirk, Jason Pearce, Javier Franco and James Davis Jr.
Finishing in the 9-12th spots were Lewis Jones of San Antonio, Ted Dean of Brenham, Shane Evans of Corpus Christi and Raymond Nichols of Beaumont.
Grabbing the 7-8 placements were Jason Pearce of Houston and Derek Fontenot of Lake Charles. Solid performance, gentlemen!
Jumping into the 5-6th positions were Robert 'The Scrapper' Newkirk of Weatherford and Shonn Ballew of Houston.
We've been waiting for this young man to make his move into the upper ranks. James 'Junior' Bastrop Jr. vaulted into the 4th place position. Junior started his assault with victories over Matt Devance, Gary Orafice, Shane Evans before being flipped to the brutal bracket by Shonn Ballew. Once there, he had a heated battle with Robert Newkirk in a hill-hill match, which went his way. Then, he succumbed to Javier Franco in another hill-hill confrontation with Javier coming out victorious. We will be hearing more from this young man in the future!
Javier Franco of Houston, the Tour's current point leader, started his run with a triumph over Dale Briones, only to run into Al Mason who sent Javier east to the one loss side. Javier went to work with wins over Roye Pelletier, Travis Meier, Noberto Solano, Billy Sharp, Raymond Nichols, Derek Fontenot, Shonn Ballew and James Davis Jr. before losing to Jeremy Jones in the finals of the one loss side for a great 3rd place finish.
Jeremy Jones, the 2003 U. S. Open Champion, previous Tour Season Finale Champion and holder of many other titles, started with wins over Charlie Brown, Billy Sharp, Lewis Jones, and Shonn Ballew to reach the finals of the winner's bracket against Al Mason. During the match with Al leading 8-7 and Al away from the table, Jeremy was on a easy run out to tie the score at 8-8, when Jeremy accidentally touched the cue ball with his stick while lining up on the 8 ball. Without hesitation, Jeremy called the foul on himself and conceded the match to Al. Our sport could use many more individuals of Jeremy's caliber with this show of personal integrity.
After Jeremy defeated Javier in the finals of the one loss side, this again rematched Al and Jeremy for the final match. Jeremy won the first set in a close race of 9-7. In the second set, with the score tied at 3-3, Jeremy won six straight games to claim the victory.
Congratulations to Charlie Brown in winning the Second Chance tournament.
Thanks to Todd (General Mgr) and his staff for hosting a great event.
A big thanks to Olhausen Billiards and Schuler Legacy Cues for your generosity and support. Also, our humble thanks to Teodora's Mini-Tacos, The Custom Cue Connection, Mystick Cues, AO Custom Cues and Cue Sales & Service. Tino, Ron, Jack, Bubba and Schoney, you add prestige to the Tour.
Finally, a special thanks to all players, spectators and supporters for making this the largest event in San Antonio yet. We look forward to seeing you all March 12-13 in Beaumont, TX.
Complete Results:
1st Jeremy Jones $1140
2nd Al Mason $750
3rd Javier Franco $580
4th James Davis Jr. $420
5-6th Shonn Ballew, Robert Newkirk $300
7-8th Derek Fontenot, Jason Pearce $180
9-12th Lewis Jones, Ted Dean, Shane Evans, Raymond Nichols $100
