Guimond Battles Back to Win Amateur Championship
Ozone Billiards Predator 9-Ball Tour / West Hempstead, NY

by Jerry Tarantola, NYCGrind.com

Kevin Guimond won the inaugural Empire State Amateur Championship event, the first-ever amateur 9-ball title in New York, over Duane “Wu-Tang” Toney the weekend of March 6-7. Hosted by Raxx Pool Room, Bar and Grill in West Hempstead, NY, this $2,500-added tournament was put on by the Ozone Billiards Predator 9-Ball Tour and brought in a full 128-player field.

Guimond’s road to the finals included wins over Dinko Busanich 7-2, Mike Panzarella 7-2, John Trobiano 7-2, Peter Ziemak 7-2, Tom Seminaro 7-6, Thomas Wan 7-6, and Toney 7-4 in the hot seat match. 

Toney’s road to the finals included wins over Rob Slayback 7-6, Arturo Reyes 7-5, Brian Russell 7-6, Albert Estevez 7-5, Niko Berdzenishvili, and Bob Schlott before his meeting with Guimond. On the one-loss side, Toney overcame the hot Schlott, who just came off of a huge 7-5 win over the favored Justin Muller, earning Toney a shot in the finals. 

The final match was between the strongest “A” and “C” players of the day, resulting in a two-game handicap, which Toney took advantage of out of the gate. Toney captured the first two games and took control of the set early on. But once Toney reached a 5-0 lead, Guimond caught a gear. Guimond battled back to even the score at 7-all and had the break in the final game. He broke and ran out, claiming the first-ever Empire State Amateur Championship.

Results:
1st Kevin Guimond $2,000
2nd Duane Toney $1,400
3rd Bobby Schlott $1,000
4th Justin Muller $600
5th Thomas Wan $400
Raj Vannala
7th Eddie Crespo $275
Tom Seminaro Jr.
9th John Hasci $200
Niko Berdzenishvili
Yesid Geribello
John Trobiano
13th Albert Estevez $150
Naldo Troncoso
Stew Warnock
Junior Sanchez
17th Clive Rose $100
Raphael Dabreo
Chulo Sastro
Troy Deucharranm
Peter Ziemak
Daniel Smith
Scott Simonetti
Eric Toledo

photo courtesy of NYCGrind.com

Tags: Amateur Championship, billiards, Brian Russell, Crespo, Dinko, Empire State, Final Game, Final Match, Game Handicap, Hot Seat, ozone, Panzarella, Pool Room, Raj, Schlott, State Amateur, Tarantola, Two Games, West Hempstead Ny, Wu Tang

This entry was posted on March 9, 2010 at 9:42 am and is filed under Billiard News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.