While it was cold outside at Cuesport Cafe in Abington, Massachusetts the races were tight and hot at this past weekends J. Pechauer New England 9 Ball Series. Tour regular Dave Fernandez battled close matches to the hot seat and ultimately to win the event. It was not a breeze however with such New England notables as; Louis Rious, Walter Brykska, Garry Abood, Joey Dupuis, Randy Labonte, Mike Dechaine, and Bristol Bob. With a total field of 25 excellent players, Fernandez kept steady through a tough horse race match against Joey Dupuis for the hot seat. Each player traded games till in the 11Th game, Dupuis made an error that was the pivot point that opened the window for Fernandez to take the lead 6-5. A break and run sent Dupuis packing his horse and buggy to the losers bracket.
In the finals of the one-loss side between Dupuis and Randy Labonte, Dupuis jumped out of the gate quickly with a 4-0 lead. A oh no you don't response came from Labonte who fired his own 3-pack to narrow Dupuis lead to 4-3. Then the next three games was an execution of foil and perry with each men trading games and ending in a 5-4 score in Dupuis favor. A woops on the 6-ball in the 10th game by Labonte allowed Dupuis to get ahead further 6-4. Labonte woke up after that slip on the six and won the next two games to tie the match 6-6. The hill game was a slug battle with Dupuis the victor and heading for a rematch with Fernandez.
The finals seemed like deja-vu in more ways than one with again a neck to neck horse race occurring till the 10Th game. With the match tied 5-5 Dupuis made an error that Fernandez, all rested and ready to rumble, capitalized on to take a narrow 6-5 lead. Now the flood gate was open and Fernandez took the next two to widen his berth to 8-5. Dupuis made a last hurrah to win game 14 and make the score 8-6. However, the wind in Dupuis sails hit a dead calm and Fernandez took the last two games to win 10-6 and secure a 4Th victory for the year.
The next event will be held April 9th at Rhode Island Billiards in N. Providence, RI for a $500 Added event.
Payout / Calcutta
1st Dave Fernandez $600
2nd Joey Dupuis $350
3rd Randy Labonte $220
4th Luis Rios $100
5th/6th Garry Abood, Garry Sanision $80
