Chad Weachter
Based on what we know, Chad Weachter took home more money winning this past weekend’s stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (Sat., Oct. 16), than he’d earned in his last (and only) two cash finishes on the tour since 2017. In the meantime, the event’s runner-up, Justin Knuckles, with (now) four cash finishes on the tour this year (three times as runner-up and once, finishing third), won seven matches on the loss side for the right to meet Weachter in the finals. The event drew 28 entrants to Buck’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
Weachter and Knuckles met first in the second round of play and locked up in a double hill fight for advancement. Weachter won their first battle and advanced through the field for a winners’ side semifinal matchup against Paul Johnson. Robert Perez faced Jason Rogers in the other one.
Weachter got into the hot seat match with a 6-2 win over Johnson, as Perez downed Rogers 6-5 (Rogers racing to 8). Weachter claimed the hot seat, double hill, over Perez.
On the loss side, it was Johnson who drew Justin Knuckles, five matches into his seven-match loss-side run. Knuckles had just shutout Billie Spatafora and sent Logan Mook packing 6-2. Rogers picked up Delton Howard, who’d eliminated Jan Bailey 7-1 and Dale Lloyd, double hill, to reach him.
Knuckles chalked up loss-side win #5, 6-2, over Johnson, as Rogers was busy dropping Howard 8-4. Win #6 for Knuckles was a double hill win in the quarterfinals over Rogers. Knuckles completed his loss-side run with a shutout over Robert Perez in the semifinals.
Two competitors, each looking for their first win on the tour, squared off in a true double elimination final. It required only a single set. Weachter defeated Knuckles a second time, 6-4, to claim his first tour title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Buck’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Diamond Brat, Federal Savings Bank’s Mortgage Division and AZBilliards. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Oct. 23-24), will be a handicapped, Scotch Doubles tournament, hosted by Corner Pocket in Fayetteville, NC.
