Fast Eddie's in Goldsboro, North Carolina hosted the 9th stop on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour April 26-27. A field of 40 players came out for the $1000 guaranteed added Main Event. Michael Fuller defeated Larry Faulk in the final match, earning $1000 for first place. Faulk settled for $500 plus entry into the 2008 Carolina Open, courtesy of Fast Eddie's. Fuller had already qualified for both the one pocket and 9-ball tournaments, so the qualifier went to Faulk. The 2008 Carolina Open is set for October 8-13 at Fast Eddie's.
To kick things off, an Early Bird Tournament was held on Friday night. Cary Dunn defeated Wade Crane 7-6 in the final match. Results for this event were: 1st Cary Dunn $100; 2nd Wade Crane $50; 3rd Michael Fuller $30.
In the Junior Tournament on Sunday, Justin Ward defeated Tiffany Leonard 9-5 in the final match. Junior players score points which accumulate for the first 10 events on the tour. The top point winners in each division will qualify for the 2008 Junior Nationals.
Also on Sunday, a Second Chance Tournament was won by Mike Triplett who defeated Shane Barnwell (5-1) to take the first place prize of $130.
In the Main Event, Fuller drew a bye and made his way to the hotseat by defeating Leroy Bryant (7-4), Ed Killough (7-2), Larry Faulk (7-0), Arnold Hamlet (7-2) and Qi Liu, (7-0).
Meanwhile, Faulk also drew a bye and managed to defeat Joe Hughes(7-5) and Charles McClung (7-5). After a no-show against Michael Fuller (7-0), Faulk went to work on the one-loss side, defeating Mike Frowein (7-3), Sidney Champion (7-6), Younger Chapman (7-3) and Arnold Hamlet (7-2). A final victory over Qi Liu (7-3) set up a rematch with Fuller.
The final match – a single race to 9 – started with errors by both players. Playing with his new Mike Capone, Fuller snookered himself trying to break out a cluster. With ball-in-hand, Faulk made the 5-ball but was unable to convert a 7/9 carom. Fuller finished the rack but missed twice in the next to allow Faulk to even the score at one game each.
After the next four games were split to keep things knotted at 3, Fuller broke and ran out. In the eighth rack Faulk attempted to masse the 1-ball into the side instead of playing safe. He overplayed the curve and, with ball-in-hand, Fuller ran out. Another mistake in the ninth rack netted the same result. Faulk scratched while attempting a 1/9 carom and Fuller ran out to take a 6-3 lead.
Faulk was down but not out. He capitalized on Fuller's misses in the next three games, running out twice and making a 2/9 combination. Having tied the match at 6, Faulk seemed poised to upset the former player of the year on the Jacoby Tour. Fuller had other ideas, however.
The thirteenth rack was a safety battle. As soon as Fuller saw daylight, he was out. Then, a break-and-run in the fourteenth rack put him on the hill. Faulk got to the table one more time after a missed 1/9 carom but was left with a difficult runout. He missed a tough 6/7 combination and Fuller ran out to win the match by the score of 9-6.
Congratulations to Bucky Braxton who was the lucky winner of a Limited Edition $750 cue raffle from Jacoby Custom Cues.
Rock City Promotions wishes to extend special thanks to the staff and ownership of Fast Eddie's and to OB-1 Cues for supporting the Jacoby Tour.
The next stop on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour will be May 17-18 at Sharks-N-Shooters in Rocky Mount, NC. The event will guarantee $1000 added with $1000 for 1st place plus entry into the 2008 Carolina Open, courtesy of Fast Eddie's.
On Friday night (the 16th) a Pro-Am tournament will feature several big names in pool who will play a team 8-ball round robin with the amateurs. Space is limited, so call Rock City Promotions at 252-908-0754 to reserve your spot. The pros will play in the Main Event on Saturday and Sunday, so if you're in the area come on out and catch the action!
Story and photo courtesy of Rock City Promotions.
