Tim Orange, Shannon Daulton, & John Maikke
Tim Orange survived two double hill battles against John Maikee to go undefeated on the Great Southern Billiard Tour's stop on the weekend of February 20-21. The $1,000-added handicapped event drew 54 entrants to The POOL Room in Duluth, GA, finishing up just ahead of dawn on Monday morning.
Orange got into the hot seat match versus Maikee with an 11-2 win over Bob Lea from among the winners' side final four. Maikee joined him with a 9-5 win over Paul Mullins. Orange and Maikee then tangled in their first of two double hill matches, with Orange gaining the hot seat and Maikee heading to the semifinals.
Lea and Mullins moved to the one-loss side, where they were greeted by Richard Andrews and Mike Laney. Laney had defeated Billy Young 11-6 and Robert South 9-6 (a double hill finish), as Andrews was busy eliminating Jeremy Sane 7-2 and Jason Caldwell 7-6. Laney moved into the quarterfinals with an 11-5 win over Mullins. Lee joined him with a 7-3 win over Andrews. With Laney needing to reach 11, Lea moved into the semifinals with a 7-10 win over Laney and then dropped into third place on the heels of a 9-4 win by Maikee.
As they had done in the hot seat match, Orange and Maikee battled back and forth in the first set of the true double elimination finals. Orange made the second set unnecessary, winning the first set with his second straight double hill match (11-8), and capturing the first place prize.
