(l to r): Tiger Baker, Warren Kiamco, Mike Davis, Jr. & Kris Wylie
Sykes downs Sidbury in finals of Ladies event
The Action Pool Tour has a way of attracting top-notch talent from both the amateur and professional levels of the sport to their regularly-scheduled events throughout the year. Its no-handicap policy is attractive to players from the semi-professional to professional end of the spectrum. Its consequent tournament entrant list proves to be attractive to amateur players, looking to challenge themselves against the best, while, depending on the draw, not running into a constant stream of pros.
The 2018 list of winners on the APT includes Johnny Archer (May), Ruslan Chinakhov (February, with Warren Kiamco as runner-up), Zoren James Aranas (April, with Dennis Orcollo as runner-up), Shaun Wilkie (three times, with Karen Corr as runner-up in July) and Reymart Lim (twice). On the weekend of November 10-11, at the 2018 VA State 8-Ball Championships, hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, Warren Kiamco added his name to the list of 2018 winners with an undefeated run through a field of 37 entrants, that included two victories over Mike Davis, Jr. As these more recognizable names battle it out for the top spots, Steve Fleming maintains his spot at the top of the APT rankings, while other players like Jason Trigo (#2), and Eric Moore (#8), all on the basis of repeated appearances on the tour, maintain their slots, as well.
A concurrently-run Ladies VA State 8-Ball Championships, impacted by a local VNEA league event on the same weekend (with a trip to Las Vegas on the line), saw only five entrants compete. Bethany Sykes earned the 2018 Ladies Championship title with a 7-4 victory over runner-up Kia Sidbury in the finals. Also competing were Gwen Townsend, Kim Whitman and Melissa Mason.
Kiamco and Davis met in both the hot seat and finals of Open event. Kiamco opened his campaign against Reymart Lim, sending him to the loss side 7-3, and then, downing Christopher Wilburn 7-1 and Eric Moore 7-3 to draw Cary Dunn in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Davis, in the meantime, worked his way through Sean Millican 7-1, Larry Kressel 7-2, and Elias Nassif 7-3 to pick up Jason Trigo in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Kiamco moved on to the hot seat match with a 7-1 victory over Dunn. Davis joined him after sending Trigo over 7-2. In their first of two, Kiamco and Davis battled to double hill before Davis prevailed to sit in the hot seat.
On the loss side, Trigo picked up Reymart Lim, who’d come all the way back from his earlier loss against Kiamco; five loss-side wins that included recent victories over Rodney McLamb 7-3 (in the first money round) and Eric Moore 6-2. Dunn drew Chris Bruner, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal against Trigo and then defeated John Newton 6-2 and Elias Nassif 6-1 to reach Dunn.
Lim extended his loss-side streak to six with a 6-1 victory over Trigo. Bruner extended his loss-side streak to three with a 6-4 victory over Dunn. Lim ended Bruner’s streak with a 6-3 victory in the quarterfinals.
By the same 6-3 score, Davis ended Lim’s streak in the semimfinals for a second shot at Kiamco. In a race to 9, Davis chalked up as many racks as he had against Kiamco in the hot seat match. Kiamco added two to his hot seat number and took the 2018 VA State 8-Ball Championship title 9-6.
Tour directors Tiger Baker and Kris Wylie thanked the ownership and staff at Diamond Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Viking Cues, Tiger, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, Kamui Tips and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor). The Action Pool Tour will conclude its 2018 season with a $10,000 Top 64 Invitational Tournament, scheduled for the weekend of December 15-16 at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA (NOTE: The date was changed from its original, Dec. 8-9).
