Fitch and Taylor Tops on Viking Tour

Fitch and Taylor Tops on Viking Tour
Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour / Greensboro, NC

by InsidePOOL Staff
The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour rolled into Greensboro, NC, the weekend of September 29-30. Hosted by Shooter’s Billiards, this stop crowned Shannon Fitch and Richard Taylor tops in the open and amateur divisions, respectively.
Fitch first faced off against Southeast terror BJ Ussery, defeating him in a hill-hill nail-biter. He then bested Jeff Baumgarner 9-2, Randy Hatten 9-0, Sparky Ferrell 9-5, and Robert Ray 9-5 for the hot seat. From the West Coast, Rafael Martinez started off his event with wins over Trevor Jefferson 9-2, Thomas Sansone 9-3, and Larry Cheek 9-1 before being sent to the one-loss side by Ferrell 9-4. Martinez collected himself to best Jeff Pruitt 7-4 and Mike Fuller 7-6 before matching up with Ferrell again, this time in the quarterfinals. After defeating Ferrell 7-4, he went on to the semifinals against Ray, whom he bested 7-3. In the double-elimination final match, Martinez experienced success in the first set, winning 9-3, but Fitch came back in the second set to win the title 7-2.
In the amateur division, Taylor went undefeated through the path to the finals, notching wins over Dee Wylie 6-2, Chris Cubbage 6-1, Arnold Hamlett 6-3, and Mike Preston in the hot seat match 6-2. Hamlett faced down Matt Karbowski 6-2 and Pete Sawyers 6-1 before his loss to Taylor. Hamlett recovered to defeat Anthony Arney 5-3 and Mike Preston in the semifinals but could not overpower Taylor, who bested him 6-2 in the final match.

Open Results:

1st
Shannon Fitch

2nd
Rafael Martinez

3rd
Robert Ray

4th
Sparky Ferrell

5-6th
Harry Florence

Mike Fuller

7-8th
Johnny Walker

Randy Hatten

Amateur Results:

1st
Richard Taylor

2nd
Arnold Hamlett

3rd
Mike Preston

4th
Anthony Arney

5-6th
Chris Cubbage

Kent Lacy

7-8th
John Craig

Pete Sawyers