Tony Robles and Jeremy Sossei
On June 5-6, 2010, The Ozone Billiards Predator Tour held its 9th stop of the season at Master Billiards in Sunnyside, Queens, NY. Sixty-six of the strongest players in the NY tri-state area headed to Sunnyside, Queens for the $1,000 added event to show they have the grit to fight through the tough field.
In the amateur event, players such as Wali Muhammed, Phil Davis, Noel Bensurto, John Alicea, Thomas Wan, Mike Wong, Lionel Rivera, Stewart Warnock, and Jerry Tarantola highlighted the tough field.
The field also featured some standout women's players including WPBA board member Cristina De La Garza, "The Other" Alison Fischer, Borana Andoni, and "Snooky" Diana Rojas.
Dinko Busanich showed a lot of heart in this event, going through several gritty matches as he fought through the winner's bracket to earn a spot in the finals. Dinko went through Carl Yusef Khan (7-3), Mike Panzarella (7-6), Jerry Tarantola (7-6), Daniel Dagotdot (7-5), Thomas Wan (7-4), and Mike Hertz (7-5).
On the one-loss side, there were a lot of warriors battling for the chance to come from behind to make a statement. While there were stand-out performances by Raphael Dabreo, John Hacsi, Dave Shlemperis, Arturo Reyes, Lionel Rivera, Michael Hertz, and Daniel Dagotdot… there would be only one player who reached the finals unscathed.
Long-time tour player Thomas Wan was impressive by defeating Mike Wong (7-3), Lionel Rivera (7-5), Stewart Warnock (7-6), Lionel Rivera again (7-5), Dave Shlemperis, and Michael Hertz (7-4) to get a shot at Dinko Busanich in the finals.
In the final match, Thomas was dominant by putting up a solid 9-5 score over Dinko Busanich to capture his first Ozone Billiards Predator Tour win. Congratulations to Tom Wan on this breakthrough performance!
Final Results:
1st: Thomas Wan - $900
2nd: Dinko Busanich - $600
3rd: Michael Hertz - $400
4th: Dave Shlemperis - $300
5/6th: Lionel Rivera, Chuck Giallorenzo - $200
7th/8th: Raphael DaBreo, Arturo Reyes - $150
9th-12th: Daniel Dagotdot, Asif Mustafa, Stewart Warnock, John Hasci - $90
Open Pro:
In the Open/Pro 10-ball event, the headlining players were Mika Immonen, Zion Zvi, Mhet Vergara, "Ginky" George SanSouci, Jeremy Sossei, Mike Miller, Frankie Hernandez, Tony Robles, Swiss pro player Marco Tschudi, and Marc "Spain" Vidal.
Early on in this event, Master house pro and NY legend, George "Ginky" SanSouci made a big statement by playing near-flawless pool in a dominant 8-2 victory over reigning US Open champion Mika "The Iceman" Immonen. Mika won his next match 8-6 against a very game Arturo Reyes before getting bumped out of the event by Marc “Spain” Vidal.
Up-and-coming phenom Jeremy Sossei then defeated Ginky (8-4), to win his first three matches, looking to be the favorite to win, the way he was playing.
On the lower half of the bracket Tony Robles was silently taking down his competition going through Ron Mason, Zion Zvi, and Marc Vidal... then was impressive with a 8-4 win over Jeremy to get to the hot seat.
Jeremy bounced back from the loss to Tony by defeating visiting player Marco Tschudi of Switzerland (8-3) to set up a rematch with Tony. Marco was turning heads with his fast-paced game with wins over Mike Miller (8-4), Zion Zvi 8-5, Ginky 8-3 and Marc Vidal 8-6 before losing to Jeremy.
In the finals, Ozone Billiards Predator Tour founder and battle-tested veteran Tony Robles defeated Jeremy Sossei 8-4 for his second win of the season.
1st: Tony Robles - $850
2nd: Jeremy Sossei - $500
3rd: Marco Tschudi - $335
4th: Marc "Spain" Vidal - $200
Tony Robles and the Predator Tour would like to thank their sponsors: Predator Cues, Poison Cues, Ozone Billiards, Delta-13 Racks, The Seminole Tribe of Florida, The Seminole Pro Tour, Poolonthenet.com, AZBilliards.com, Digital Ink Printing, Billiards Press, Cuetable.com, Master Chalk, RJH Custom Cues, Webb Custom Cues, Jim Murnak Cue Cases, Go4Pool.net, NYCgrind.com, Billiards Digest, Inside Pool Magazine, Pool & Billiards Magazine, Maxim Billiards & The Tournament Guide.
For more information on the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour, please log on to: www.predator9balltour.com
The next stop on the tour's schedule will be held at Raxx Pool Room, Bar & Grill on June 26-27.
