Shaun Wilkie
Shaun Wilkie started his November 8-9 weekend on the Action Pool Tour against two women. He did well against the first one, Kia Sidbury, giving up just a single rack in their race to seven. Then he ran into Karen Corr, who, in defeating him 7-5, sent him on a ten-match winning streak that culminated in a finals victory over Chris Futrell. Stop # on the Action Pool Tour drew 59 entrants to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
With Wilkie, the tour's top-ranked player, at work on the loss side, some of the lower-ranked players, with fewer appearances on this year's tour, were able to advance. RJ Carmona (#72), Mike Davis (#140), Chris Futrell (#200) and Karen Corr (#100), for example, who advanced to to play in the winners' side semfinals; Carmona against Davis, Futrell against Corr. Davis defeated Carmona 7-3, while Futrell fought and prevailed in a double hill match over Corr, who hadn't given up more than three racks since defeating Wilkie in the second round. Futrell, no doubt feeling real good, sent Davis to the semifinals 7-4 and sat in the hot seat, waiting on Wilkie.
On the loss side, Wilkie started his nine-match trek to the finals with four wins in which he gave up only six racks (26 games). This put him into the first money round (9/12). He then defeated Joey Mastermaker 5-3 and Nilbert Lim 5-1 to pick up Carmona, coming over from the winners' side semifinal. Corr, in the meantime, was facing Danny Mastermaker, who'd gotten by Larry Kressel 5-2 and Dave Hunt 5-3.
Wilkie eliminated Carmona 5-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced Corr, who'd defeated Mastermaker 5-1. It was not only a re-match with the woman who'd sent him to the loss side, it would also be Wilkie's fifth match, out of 10 total, against a female. He was taking no chances, apparently. He allowed Corr only a single rack and advanced to the semifinals against Davis, who put up more of a fight, a double hill fight, in fact, but to no avail. Wilkie prevailed, and got his shot against Futrell. Futrell put up a fight, too, and came within a game of forcing Wilkie into his second straight double hill match, but Wilkie finished it at 9-7 to claim the event title.
