Fedor Gorst
In what has become now an annual Quest for Mosconi Cup points at World Nineball Tour (WNT) qualifying events, a predominantly American field took to the tables at the On Cue Sports Bar & Grill in Front Royal, VA where the $3,000-added Rally in the Shenandoah Valley drew 61 competitors this past (long) weekend (May 16-19). Fedor Gorst, representing the US, currently at #2 in the ongoing WNT rankings and a week removed from his 9th/16th place finish in the UK Open Pool Championships (May 7-12), went undefeated to claim the title. Gorst downed the Philippines’ Roberto Gomez in the final.
While only seven of the 61 competitors represented foreign countries in this event, five of them were among the event’s final 16 that benefited from the $25,100 prize package. Gomez, of course, along with New Zealand’s Sullivan Clark (3rd/4th), Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura (5th/9th), Phillipines’ Jeffrey DeLuna and Denmark’s Mickey Krause (9th/16th). Canada’s Bryzen Ace Manipula (33rd/48th) and India’s Yash Ajmera (49th/61st) rounded out the field of foreign competitors.
The 61 competitors began their quest for the title and Mosconi Cup points in a Stage 1, double-elimination bracket that when whittled down to 16, eight from each side of that bracket, advanced to the Phase 2, single-elimination bracket. Gorst, Sky Woodward and Tyler Styer were the three competitors who were awarded opening round byes in Stage 1.
Gorst only had to win two Stage 1 matches for advancement to Stage 2. He gave up only a single rack to junior competitor Brent Worth before defeating Alex Bausch 9-6 to accomplish that. He was joined for advancement from the winners’ side of the Stage 1 bracket by Patsura, BJ Ussery, Mickey Krause, Michael Miller, De Luna, Styer and Gomez.
Four of the eight competitors who advanced from the loss side, did so following a single win on the loss side, having been defeated in the final qualifying round on the winners’ side. Shaun Wilkie, who’d lost a double-hill, winners’ side match that advanced Mickey Krause, downed Sam Henderson 9-6 on the loss side to advance. Brandon Shuff, who’d lost 9-6 to Ussery, advanced from the loss side with a double-hill win over Matt Krah. Luka Fracasso-Verner, who’d lost to Gomez 9-5, advanced with a 9-7 win over Eddie Vondereau, and Sullivan Clark, who’d lost to Styer 9-6, eliminated Rodney Morris by the same score.
Joining them from the loss side to advance were Jonathan Pinegar (who’d won four on the loss side), Nathan Childress (three on the loss side), Eric Roberts (four), and Danny Olson (five).
They accomplished Stage 2 of the event in about 12 hours. It got underway at about 11 a.m. on Sunday morning and concluded when Gorst won just ahead of 11 p.m.
Gorst opened his Stage 2 trek to the winners’ circle with an 11-7 win over Childress and followed it with an 11-8 victory over Patsura. This set Gorst up to face Ussery, who’d defeated Pinegar (9) and Fracasso-Verner (6) to join him in the semifinals. Gomez, in the meantime, eliminated Shuff (4), and Styer (9) and in the other semifinal, drew Clark, who’d defeated Michael Miller (double hill), and Roberts (7).
Gorst, who entered the event at #2 on the WNT rankings list (1st among American competitors) and Ussery, who began at #45 (7th among American competitors) fought an epic, double-hill battle for advancement to the finals. Though Gorst is a ‘known’ quantity, internationally, Ussery has been making noise over the past two years, up to and including his semifinal finish at the Super Billiards Expo’s Diamond Open 9-Ball Championships last month and this most recent semifinal finish. Gorst dropped the last 9-ball in their 13-12 semifinal.
The Gomez/Clark semifinal played out with considerably less drama. Gomez got out in front and stayed there. He won it 13-5 to join Gorst in the finals.
With Gomez in the role of ‘underdog’ for this final, he surprised pretty much everybody by coming out and winning the first four racks. Gorst came right back, interrupting the ‘underdog’ party, with five straight to take a lead that Gomez erased in rack #10 to knot the score at 5-5 for what turned out to be the last time.
Gorst then took a lead that he’d never relinquish, jumping ahead by three, before Gomez was able to respond and reduce it to two at 8-6. Gorst ran it back up to three and Gomez responded with two that pulled him within one at 9-8. They traded racks to 10-9, before Gorst won two straight to get ahead by three again at 12-9.
Gomez took rack #22 to pull within two at 12-10, but that was all she wrote. Gorst took the next three. He started the final rack with two jump shots in a row, made both the 1-ball and the 2-ball that way and cleared the table to claim the Cue Club’s Rally in the Shenandoah Valley title.
Tour directors Chris Wilburn and Tony Balsimo thanked Cole and Danielle Haase and their On Cue’s staff for their hospitality, along with sponsors George Hammerbacher, Bull Carbon, Andy Cloth HQ, Perimeter Billiard Lights, S & T Billiards, Baltimore City Cues, HOW, Amanda Keeler Slate, Haley Chevrolet, Warren-Lee Construction, Appleton Energy, Outsville, Inc., Rebeca Lamas (Coldwell Banker Realty), Wolf’s Den Billiards and Integrity Billiard Service.
They also thanked the staff of referees – Rick Thompson, Joey Lumsden, Josh Buskey, Tivon Li, Arie Gruner, Jay Beckett and Tiffany Lear – and the team of Upstate AL, Zach Goldsmith and Digital Pool Tournaments for their “stream and amazing brackets,” with a commentating crew that included Michael Yednak, Raymond Linares and George Hammerbacher.
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