Viking Tour Offers Event Trio
Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour / Columbus, OH
by Rick Davis
Taking place at Cornfed Reds Billiard Café in Columbus, OH, Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour’s June 2-3 weekend offering brought out two junior divisions and an amateur division. Going undefeated in the juniors’ fields were Nate Wallace and Billy Thorpe, while Ed Hancock followed suit to go undefeated in the amateur field.
In the 14-and-under division Thorpe drilled Andrew Lawson 4-0 in the hot seat match, while Lukas Kason did nearly as well, eliminating Bethany Branson 4-1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals Lawson ousted Kason 4-2 but hit the same brick wall in the finals as Thorpe drilled him again, this time 4-1 to take the top spot.
In the 15- through 19-year-old division Nate Wallace slipped past Shane Roebuck double-hill in the hot seat match, while Kyle French bested Tyler Reed by the same margin the quarterfinals. In the semifinals Roebuck eliminated French 4-2 and quickly took the opening set against Wallace 4-0 in the finals. Wallace then turned up the heat and made his way through the last set, taking it at the last rack to win 4-3.
The final division of the weekend—the amateurs—had a strong 27-player field, of which Ed Hancock and Steve Lavey met in the hot seat match. Hancock bested Lavey 6-3 then waited for the rest of the event to produce his next and last opponent. On the one-loss side Luc Hawkins was making his mark, eliminating Fred Lane 6-1 then slipping past Brian Alfredo in the quarterfinals and Lavey in the semifinals, both matches going double-hill. With the last match of the weekend set, Hawkins came out strong, taking the first set 6-4. Playing every ball and rack they could get, the final set ended just shy of midnight, and after two long days of action Hancock took the last set 6-3, earning the title and the first-place finish.
14-and-Under Junior Results:
1st Billy Thorpe
2nd Andrew Lawson
3rd Lukas Kason
4th Bethany Branson
15-19 Junior Results:
1st Nate Wallace
2nd Shane Roebuck
3rd Kyle French
4th Tyler Reed
Amateur Results:
1st Ed Hancock
2nd Luc Hawkins
3rd Steve Lavey
4th Brain Alfredo
5th Ellis Elliot
Fred Lane