Shawn Jackson cut through a 44-entrant field, on-hand for the August 19-20 stop on the Tri-State Tour, and went undefeated to claim the event title. The $1,000-added event was hosted by Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan, NY.
Jackson battled Sal Neljkovic twice; once in the hot seat match and again, in the finals. Following victories over John Stiles, Kapriel Delimelkonoglu, and Bob Toomey, Jackson met up with Suzzie Wong in a winners' side semifinal. Neljkovic, in the meantime, having defeated Raymond Lee, Nancy Chung, Tony Ignomirello and Thomas Schreiber, faced Dave Shlemperis in the other winners' side semifinal. Jackson sent Wong to the loss side 10-6, as Neljkovic downed Shlemperis in a double hill fight. Jackson claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Neljkovic, and waited on his return.
Over on the loss side, Abel Rosario was working on a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. With five of those wins already chalked up, he shut out Bob Toomey, and downed Craig Rempfer 8-5 to draw Shlemperis. Wong, in the meantime, drew Dave Weinstein, who'd defeated Dany Recinos 7-2 and survived a double hill fight against Jaydev Zaveri to reach her.
Weinstein and Rosario advanced to the quarterfinals; Weinstein 9-6 over Wong and Rosario 7-5 over Shlemperis. Rosario then chalked up what would prove to be his last win, allowing Weinstein only a single rack in those quarterfinals. He came within a game of forcing a deciding game in the semifinals against Neljkovic that followed, but Neljkovic edged out in front to win it 7-5.
In spite of the wait, Jackson came out strong in the finals re-match. Neljkovic chalked up only two against Jackson's 7 in those finals, allowing Jackson to complete his undefeated run and claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Amsterdam Billiards, as well as sponsors John Bender Custom Cues, Ozone Billiards, Sterling Billiards, Kamui, Digicue, Billiards Digest, Human Kinetics, Blue Book Publishing, Joe Romer Trophies, and Phil Capelle Publications. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for August 27, will be hosted by Steinway Billiards, in Astoria (Queens), NY.
