Carl Yusuf Khan, known in the Tri-State area as "The Warrior," lived up to his billing by stopping Roberto Mendoza in the finals of the June 1-2 Amateur segment of the Predator Tour stop. Mendoza had been defeated in the opening round of play in the $750-added, A-D handicapped event that drew 51 entrants to Raxx Billiards, Sports Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, NY, and won nine on the loss side to face Khan in those finals.
With Mendoza already at work on the loss side after an opening round defeat at the hands of Gail Glazebrook, Khan advanced among the winners' side final four and a matchup against Romeo Singh. Bogie Uzdejczyk, in the meantime, faced Tommy Hagen. Khan and Uzdejczyk defeated Singh and Hagen, both 7-3, and met in the battle for the hot seat. Khan prevailed there 7-4 and waited on Mendoza.
With four down and five to go, Mendoza defeated Junior Sanchez 7-4, and Adrian Daniel 9-7 to pick up Hagen. Singh drew Dave Shlemperis, who'd gotten by Chris Lazovitch and Shawn Sookhai, both 7-5. Mendoza and Shlemperis handed Hagen and Singh their second straight defeat; Mendoza 7-5 over Hagen and Shlemperis 7-1 versus Hagen.
Mendoza prevailed over Shlemperis in the quarterfinals 8-4, and completed his loss-side trip with a 7-3 victory over Uzdejczyk in the semifinals. The ninth, loss-side victory was one shy of a tour record for loss-side victories, held by Bill Finnegan. Khan, though, took the final match 7-4 over Mendoza to claim the event title.
