by InsidePOOL Staff

In a stunning final match in the 9-ball division of the Eleventh Annual Derby City Classic, InsidePOOL‘s 2007 Player of the Year Shane Van Boening bested Lee Van Corteza, winning $16,000 for his efforts.

Twenty-one players were still left in the 9-ball event going into Saturday’s matches, and when the field was whittled down to eight, no player had a buy-back remaining. In the semifinals, Van Boening took a 3-0 lead over defending champ Ralf “The Surgeon” Souquet and missed the 9 ball, allowing Souquet a chance. Soon it was 5-3 Van Boening, with Van Boening winning a safety battle to take the hill and then breaking and running out the final rack for the win.

In the other semifinals, it was a close match at the beginning between Corteza and Adam “GQ” Smith until the Filipino took off running, reaching the hill after a few key errors in Smith’s behalf to make it 6-2. However, Smith’s breaks started working for him, and he won the next rack and then broke and ran two more to make it 6-5. Smith pocketed three balls on his final break and was on his way to the hill but force-followed the 6 ball and rattled it. He collapsed on the table, and Corteza cleaned up to win 7-5.

Corteza held a 3-1 lead, but Van Boening was quick to knot the score at 3-all. Van Boening missed the 8 ball in the seventh game, and Corteza scooped that rack and broke and ran the next to take another two-rack lead. Van Boening countered by winning the next two, tying it again. “The South Dakota Kid” took the next rack to reach the hill 6-5, but Corteza scored a thinly cut 2-9 combo to make it a hill-hill battle. A dry break for Corteza gave the advantage to Van Boening, who got out of line on the 2. Corteza tried to play safe on the 2 and scratched, and Van Boening put the match in the books 7-6.

The All-Around Champion was named tonight after the quarterfinal matches. John Brumback, winner of the 9-ball banks event earlier this week, took first place and the $20,000 check that went with it, and Johnathan Pinegar took second place, earning $5,000. Coming in third and fourth, respectively, were Rodolfo Luat and Scott Frost. Additionally, Barry Behrman just announced that he would be starting a new tradition this year by offering the All-Around Champion a paid entry into the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships.

The Straight Pool Challenge continues. In the semifinal matches, Danny Harriman defeated John Schmidt 100-31 in 6 innings. Darren Appleton defeated Thorsten Hohmann 100-84, in a match in which Hohmann notched an 83-ball run.

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John Brumback discusses his All-Around title win at the 11th Annual Derby City Classic.

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Shane Van Boening captured top honors in the 9-Ball event.

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