Josh Roberts
By their very nature, the regularly-scheduled events of the Rack Race held in three different Rack & Grill locations (two in the Metro Augusta, GA area and one in Aiken, SC) lends itself to repeat customers. Though Josh Roberts won six of the 15 events on the inaugural Rack Race events in 2023, he didn’t win the bonus MVP prize at the end of that first year. That honor, with its $1,000 cash prize, went to Mike Wise, who’d attended all 15 of the events and though he failed to win any of them, he finished with enough overall points in each to be the series’ first MVP. Second place ($500) went to Todd Blackwell, who, like Wise and likewise, competed in all of them, earning enough points in each to end up ahead of Roberts in the MVP point standings.
Thus, it’s no surprise that among the cash-prize winners at the third stop on the 2024 Rack Race are quite a few of the competitors who were on-hand for the first two. Nine of the 12 competitors who finished ‘in the money’ this past weekend (Feb. 17-18) at Stop #3, hosted by Rack & Grill III in Aiken, SC, were among the 12 who cashed in Stop #2.
Josh Roberts and Johnny Archer have finished as winner and runner-up at the last two Rack Race events (Roberts has won all three), though it remains to be seen whether they’ll be in attendance at the remaining 12 events on the schedule. Last year’s MVP, Mike Wise has appeared and cashed in all three, while MVP runner-up, Todd Blackwell has appeared in all three, but to this point, has only cashed in the first.
This weekend was the first of three Rack Race events which feature extra-added-money. There was $4,000 added to this event, which drew 66 entrants to Rack & Grill III in Aiken, SC. Subsequent events in May and August (all at Rack & Grill III) will feature $6,000 and $8,000-added, respectively. Yet another ‘draw’ that is bringing players to the Rack Race events.
Once again, as happened earlier this month at Stop #2, Archer moved to the loss side early. He moved over in the third round of Stop #2 and after a winners’ side quarterfinal (4th round) of Stop #3. This time, though, it wasn’t Roberts who sent him to the loss side. It was Dave Cook. In races to 7, Archer had opened with wins over Greg Dix (2), Eddie Wahdan (5) and Tyler Hess (1) before running into Cook and being sent to the loss side 7-5.
Roberts got by his first four opponents by an aggregate score of 28-4, giving up three to Freddie Clark and one to Kyle Mahon in the middle and shut out Josh Sanders and William Aguilar at the beginning and end of his first four rounds. He drew BJ Hucks in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Gregorio Sanchez, who’d won the TOP (The Open Players) Tour two weeks ago, started out on shaky ground with a double-hill win over Steven Ellis, while subsequent opponents kept the pressure on him in battles he went on to win; Robbie Shelly, Larry Broughton (both 4), Calvin Le (3) and Jim Jennings (4) to draw Cook in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Hucks put up a bit of a fight in his battle versus Roberts. He chalked up more racks against him than any other competitor Roberts faced. Roberts, though, edged out in front to win it 7-5 and advance to the hot seat match. Sanchez downed Cook 7-3 and joined him.
In the middle of the hot seat match, down 2-6 (Roberts on the hill), Sanchez missed a kick shot, giving Roberts ball-in-hand. Sanchez conceded the game and the match, leaving Roberts in the hot seat with a 7-2 win.
Over on the loss side, The Scorpion (Archer) was in the midst of stinging his way through five straight opponents for a crack at Roberts in the hot seat waiting for him. He gave up only two racks, one each to Britt Carson and Jim Jennings to draw Hucks. Cook had drawn Tracy Pre, who was working on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated William Aguilar, double hill and Larry Jackson 5-2.
Perhaps thinking alike, Archer and Cook mirrored each other’s efforts to bring about their rematch. They downed Hucks and Pre 5-2 and advanced to that quarterfinal rematch. There is nothing, historically, quite like Johnny Archer when he picks up the scent of an event’s finish line. He downed Cook 5-2 and then, in the semifinals, Sanchez 5-2 to reach the last few yards separating him from that finish line.
For all the good it did him. The couple of hours that Roberts had to wait did nothing to slow him down. He gave up just a single rack to Archer and claimed the event title by winning eight out of every 10 games he played in the tournament (49-12; 80%).
Room owner and tour director Mike Newsome, along with his wife, Avery gave a shout out to their Rack & Grill III staff, as well as sponsors Newsome Distributing, Salazar, Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions, Predator, JTs Automotive Group, Pepsi, CSRA Machine Fab, DigitalPool, National Billiard Academy, Simonis Cloth and (for streaming services) NO-BS Tournaments on YouTube.
The next stop on the Rack Race (#4), scheduled for the weekend of March 2-3, will be a $1,000-added event and will be hosted by Rack & Grill II in Augusta, GA.
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