Arizona
PVA 9-Ball Classic
By
Jeff Dolezal
On
May 30 - June 1, 2008 the Arizona PVA Desert Classic
was held at Clicks Billiards in Phoenix , Arizona .
His event was the fourth official event of the second season of
the PVA /NWPA National Wheelchair Billiards Tournament
Series and it was the first NWPA sanctioned event to be
held in Arizona in many years. The field consisted of eighteen
pool players who signed up to compete for awards and prizes. There
were seven players from the Phoenix area and eleven players who
traveled quite a distance. In fact, four players traveled all
the way from the United Kingdom (approximately 10,000 miles round
trip) to compete in this event.
The
staff at Clicks Billiards openly welcomed the NWPA and
its players to Phoenix and they helped us run a tournament which
was essentially free from external interruption. This event would
not be possible without their hard work and support. The NWPA
extends its appreciation to the staff and General Manager, Shane
Stevens. This great place to play billiards is available anytime
one is in the Phoenix area and it is conveniently located within
one mile of Phoenix 's Sky Harbor International Airport .
The
Tournament Director for the event was Shawn Interrante. Shawn
did an excellent job in organizing this event on site, with both
tournament events running very efficiently. Tournament Coordinator
duties leading up to the event were shared between Bob Calderon,
Ken force and myself. Bob and Ken deserve thanks for all their
hard work leading up to the event.
Following
the players meeting, a special feature was added to the Arizona
PVA Desert 9-Ball Classic , which made
for a truly unique experience for an NWPA sanctioned event. Courtesy
of Arizona PVA member, Homer Townsend, bounties were assigned
to five players in the event. Other players could collect these
bounties by defeating one or more of these five players during
the course of tournament play. Each bounty victory was worth $100.00
dollars, with a total of $1,000.00 in bounties up for the taking.
The only way a player could collect their own bounty was to win
the Main event and they would have to go undefeated throughout
the event to collect both their assigned bounties. Prior to the
tournament draw, the bounties were assigned to Aaron Aragon, Bill
Frisby, Bob Calderon, Craig Welsh, and Jeff Dolezal. Once tournament
play began, Danny Luton collected the first bounty by defeating
Jeff Dolezal (7-4) in the first round. Danny would go on to collect
three more bounties by defeating Craig Welsh once (7-4) and Bill
Frisby, twice (7-6) and (7-5). Bill Frisby captured one bounty
on the no-loss side, with a victory over bob Calderon (7-4). Allen
Topel was able to collect three bounties in three very close matches
on the one-loss side of the tournament chart, by defeating Dolezal
(7-5), Welsh (7-6) and Calderon (7-6).
In
the tournament's Main Event, Aaron Aragon, from Lake Elsinore
, California went undefeated to claim the “hot seat” with a (7-5)
win over Danny Luton.
Aragon
was clearly determined to be the only player to collect his own
bounties. On the one-loss side, Bill Frisby spoiled Mick Langley's
tournament day (7-4). Langley finished the event tied for 5/6
th with Allen Topel, who finally fell to Matt Duffy in a closely
fought hill-hill match. Duffy and Frisby faced off to determine
who would finish with 4 th place honors. Duffy claimed the 4 th
place slot after Frisby pushed passed him by winning their match
(7-4). On the tournament's final day, a Frisby/Luton rematch was
played, with Luton once again managing to hold off Frisby's charge
(7-5). Bill Frisby finished the Main Event in 3 rd place.
With
both of Frisby's bounties notched neatly onto his cue stick, Luton
was set for the championship match against Aragon . Unfortunately
for Luton , Aragon was in deadstroke during the final match, playing
nearly perfect. With the score two games to one in his favor,
Aragon managed to run out the rack and then completed three break
and run outs in the same inning. When Luton was finally allowed
to return to the table, he was facing a deficit of 6 games to
1. Aaron Aragon went on to win this game and claim his first PVA
/NWPA Tournament Series title; in addition to his own two bounties.
Danny Luton finished in 2 nd place.
In
the Second Flight Event, Larry Falk, a local player from Tempe
, AZ. Defeated Jeff Dolezal in a tough two-set final match. Dolezal,
who had to defeat Falk twice to claim the title, due to an early
round loss, won the first set (5-2). Falk was determined to be
victorious and fought hard in the second set. With the score 4
games to 2, in Falk's favor, Dolezal committed a ball-in-hand
foul with four balls remaining. Falk pocketed the first three
balls easily and left himself with a long, but very makeable cut
shot on the 9 ball. As he addressed the cue ball, it was obvious
that was nervous and shaking, with the championship just one shot
within his grasp. He managed to fight through his nervousness
and sunk the 9 ball in the corner pocket. This shot gave Falk
the set (5-2) and with it, he claimed the Second Flight Championship.
Larry Falk's first place finish in this event was impressive,
since he was playing in his first sanctioned wheelchair pool tournament.
Jeff Dolezal and Charles Interrante took home 2 nd place and 3
rd place respectively.
The
success of the PVA /NWPA National Wheelchair Billiards
Tournament Series is dependant upon the support of its sponsors
and those of the PVA and NWPA. The NWPA is proud to recognize
Viking Cue Manufacturing Inc., Sports Fan Products, LLC and the
Billiard Congress of America. In addition, special thanks to Homer
Townsend for contributing the bounties for this event, which added
an extra element of excitement.
Main
Event Results
1
st Aaron Aragon (23 Viking Points); 2 nd Danny Luton (20 pts.);
3 rd Bill Frisby (19 pts.); 4 th Matt Duffy (18 pts.); 5/6 th
(16 pts. each); Mick Langley & Allen Topel; 7/8 th (14 pts.
Each) Terry Guess & Craig Welsh; 9-12 th (12 pts. each) Bob
Calderon, Toby Clement, Larry Falk & Charles Interrante; 13-16
th (10 pts. each) Jeff Dolezal, Victor Grimaldi, Dan Koston &
Diego Suazo; 17-18 th (8 pts. each) Jon Bostic & David Miller
Second
Flight Event Results
1
st Larry Falk; 2 nd Jeff Dolezal; 3 rd Charles Interrante; 4 th
Bob Calderon; 5/6 th Toby Clement & Victor Grimaldi; 7/8 th
Jon Bostic & David Miller; 9-10 th Dan Koston & Diego
Suazo
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