It was the second time in as many attempts on the Action Pool Tour this season, that Shorty Davis ended up in the hot seat. He'd been there in the season opener in October, only to be double-dipped by Shaun Wilkie in the finals. On the weekend of January 12-13, he got there and stayed there, stopping a finals challenge from R.J. Carmona. The event drew 77 entrants to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
Having only participated in one of the tour's three events prior to this one, Davis came in at # 23 on the tour rankings. His finals opponent, Carmona, wasn't even on the list, nor, for that matter were Alan Duty, or John Newton, who finished third and fourth, respectively. Sharing fifth place were Brian Deska and Brett Stottlemeyer, who came in ranked at # 1 and # 3. Dominic Noe, # 2, finished in the tie for ninth place. Mike Davis, # 4, finished up in the tie for 13th place. Thanks to a point system that factors in the number of players in any given tournament, Shorty Davis added 1,540 performance points to his tour points total, which is 480 points more than Wilkie had earned for defeating him back in October (that event drew only 53). Neither Wilkie (# 9), nor Brandon Shuff (# 22), both competing at Turning Stone XX, competed on this stop.
Davis drew a bye in the opening round, and then got by Will Moon, and Cheryl Sporleder. He then survived two straight double hill matches, against John Newton and Pooky Rasmeloungon, to move among the winners' side final four and a match against Deska, who had just sent Stottlemeyer west. Carmona, who'd defeated tour director Ozzy Reynolds in their opening round (both had received first round byes), and then got by Alex Travino, Richard Thomas and Chris Futrell, squared off against Duty in the other winners' side semifinal. Davis defeated Deska 8-5, and was joined in the hot seat match by Duty, who'd sent Carmona to the loss side 8-4. Davis gained the hot seat with an 8-6 win over Duty and waited on the return of Carmona.
Carmona moved over to pick up Stottlemeyer, who, following his defeat at the hands of Deska, had taken out Dave Hunt 6-3, and survived a double hill battle versus Rasmeloungon. Deska came over to draw Newton, who'd defeated Futrell 6-2 and Danny Mastermaker 6-4. The tour's # 1 and # 3 went down, as Carmona eliminated Stottlemeyer 6-4, and was joined in the quarterfinal match by Newton, who'd shut out Deska.
Carmona took the quarterfinal match 6-3 over Newton and got a second chance against Duty, who'd sent him west from among the winners' side final four. He wreaked his vengeance on Duty 6-3 in the semifinals for a crack at Davis in the hot seat.
Davis, though, no doubt with memories of his last hot seat experience on his mind, held off the challenge from Carmona. He took the first set of what might have been two (8-5) to claim the event title.
