Kirkwood Snaps Off Joss Tour Event

Kirkwood Snaps Off Joss Tour Event
Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour / West Hempstead, NY
by Skip Maloney
Jason “The Dark Horse” Kirkwood came back from an early loss on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour to defeat hot seat occupant Bob Blackmore in a true double-elimination match-up. The tour stopped in West Hempstead, NY, the weekend of April 5-6 and drew in a total of 35 players.
Early Sunday on the winners’ side of the bracket, Blackmore and tour director Mike Zuglan had moved past Tony Robles and Andonis Brastos, respectively. Blackmore scored a 9-4 win, while Zuglan shut out Brastos 9-0 before falling to Blackmore 9-3 in the winners’-side finals.
On the one-loss side of the bracket, Kirkwood had stayed alive to reach a Sunday morning match against Chuck Altomare, who’d sent him to the one-loss bracket on Saturday in the first place with a 9-5 defeat. Tom Walter, in the meantime, defeated Ariel Rivera by the same score.
Kirkwood and Walter then faced recent arrivals from the winners’ side, Robles and Brastos, defeating them by identical 9-5 scores. They then squared off against each other, with Kirkwood winning 9-4 and moving on to face Zuglan in the semifinals. Zuglan fell to Kirkwood by the same score that had eliminated him in the hot seat match 9-3, setting up the double-elimination final between Kirkwood and Blackmore.
Kirkwood took the first match handily 9-3, and though he jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the second match, Blackmore flexed a little muscle to struggle back within two at 6-4. Kirkwood surged to reach the hill at 8-4, and despite Blackmore taking the next three racks, Kirkwood sealed the deal with a 9-7 victory.
Results:
1st Jason Kirkwood
2nd Bob Blackmore
3rd Mike Zuglan
4th Tom Walter
5th Tony Robles
Andonis Brastos
7th Ariel Rivera
Chuck Altomare