 Sparky Ferrell |
The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour started their new season this weekend with a field of 51 players competing at Randolph's Billiards in Hickory, NC. With very little time to put together an event on this weekend, the owners of Randolph's stepped up big for the tour and added $1000 to this event.
The winners side was dominated by two players as Liel Gay made his way to the match for the hot-seat without allowing an opponent to win more than five games against him in the "race to 9" format. Gay's opponent in the finals, Sparky Ferrell win his first match of the day 9-6 and then went on to win his next four by a combined score of 36-5. As expected, the hot-seat match was a highly contested close match. Sparky Ferrell took an early 6-2 lead, but broke dry in the ninth rack and paid the price for it. Gay ran that rack and then went on to break and run the next four racks to take the lead 7-6. A scratch on the 4-ball in the next rack by Gay ended his streak of games wins and turned out to also end his streak of match wins as Ferrell ran out the set from there for the 9-7 win.
Gay's next match on the one loss side was a complete contrast from the previous match. The match went to hill-hill with neither Gay or his opponent Shannon Daulton able to run a rack. In the end, it was Gay who would win the final game to earn another shot at Ferrell in the finals.
The final match saw Gay take an early lead but Ferrell make a late charge to tie the match at 7-7. With the score at 7-7, the same four ball that did Gay in during the hot-seat match got the better of him again. A miss on the four was the final shot for Gay as Ferrell ran out the set for the 9-7 match and tournament win.
The Viking Tour was proud to announce the signing of new sponsor Break N Run Sportswear at this event. Break N Run had all of their product at the event and it was a big hit with the fans in attendance.
Complete Results:
1st Sparky Ferrell $1450
2nd Liel Gay $1050
3rd Shannon Daulton $700
4th Brian White $450
5th/6th Eddie Little, Tony Watson $275
7th/8th Mike Bumgarner, Jeff Abernathy $140
9th/12th Chuck Ritchie, William Cloud, Jeff Pruitt, Matt Andrews $50
