Mika "The Iceman" Immonen and Tony "Silent Assassin" Robles met in the finals of the March 2-3 Open stop on the Predator Tour. Immonen was in the hot seat, and Robles had come all the way back from an opening-round loss to meet him in the finals. Mika prevailed to complete an undefeated run through a short field of 11 competitors on hand for the $500-added Open event.
On the $500-added amateur side, Steve Wright, with a much longer, and winding road got through a field of 50 to finish undefeated, as well. The Open and A-D handicapped events were hosted by The Cue Bar in Bayside, Brooklyn.
In one of the Open event's winners' side semifinals, Immonen faced the man who'd sent Robles west in the opening round, Liam Monk, as Daniel Kandi was squaring off against Vikram Desdasari. Monk battled The Iceman to double hill before Immonen prevailed to meet Kandi, who'd downed Desdasari 7-2. Mika sent Kandi to meet Robles with a 7-5 win and waited in the hot seat.
Following a victory over Jerry Tarantola 7-1, and a double hill win over Greg McAndrews, Robles got himself a re-match versus Monk. Desdasari drew Raphael DaBreo, who'd gotten by Mike Esposito 7-3 and shut out Mark Perel. Robles wreaked his vengeance on Monk 7-2 and met up with DaBreo, who'd squeaked by Desdasari 7-6. Robles gave up only a single rack in the quarterfinals against DaBreo, and three against Kandi in the semifinals.
Robles described the finals best - "I was up 2-0 and lost nine in a row." The Iceman claimed the title.
Wright, in the Amateur event, faced Carim Mounen twice; once in the hot seat and again in the finals. Wright had sent Archie Wong west 7-3 to get into the hot seat match. Mounen had defeated Bryan Toolsee 7-2. In their first of two, Wright got into the hot seat with a 9-5 win.
On the loss side, Romeo Singh was making some noise that got him by Mike Panzarella 8-6 and Annie Flores, double hill, to pick up Wong. Toolsee drew Joe Torres, who'd gotten by Ray Feliciano, double hill and Roy Lim 7-2. Singh handed Wong his second straight loss in a double hill match and in the quarterfinals, faced Toolsee, who'd ended Torres' run 7-3.
Singh's loss-side streak was concluded with a 7-3 win over Toolsee. Mounen ended Singh's winning streak with a 7-5 win in the semifinals. Wright, though, downed Mounen a second time in the finals, 9-7, to complete his undefeated run and claim the Amateur title.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at The Cue Bar, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, The National Amateur Pool League, Delta-13 racks, NYCGrind, and PoolOnTheNet.com. The next stop on the Predator Tour, scheduled for March 16-17, will be a $1,000-added, A-D (Saturday)/Open (Sunday) event, to be hosted by Mr. Cue in Lindenhurst, NY.
OPEN
1st Mika Immonen $600
2nd Tony Robles $350
3rd Daniel Kandi $150
AMATEUR
1st Steve Wright $1,000
2nd Carim Mounen $650
3rd Romeo Singh $450
4th Bryan Toolsee $300
5th Joe Torres $175
Archie Wong
7th Roy Lim $125
Rhio Anne Flores
9th Bob Toomey $75
Ray Feliciano
Mike Panzarella
