I just got home from the Derby, so I’ll file this trip report.
I arrived Thursday night 1/18, and it was the first time I’d ever arrived the night before the Derby, usually arriving on the Friday. There wasn’t much to do that first evening. Although the action room was already going, I opted for an early night to prepare for the onset of the Derby.
Friday 1/19
The banks got underway, and nothing too dramatic happened on day one, possibly save Shannon Murphy’s unexpected loss to Josh Smith. Also, Justin Hall drew tough, falling to Glenn “Piggy Banks” Rogers.
The Bigfoot got rolling, too. Gomez eked out a win over Alcano, and Filler then knocked off Shaw, a minor upset, but Filler, who seemed to be in continual play in the action room, really played well and was the better man. Immonen played well to beat Orcullo and Hatch narrowly missed knocking out SVB in a double hill thriller. The Derby was off and running.
Saturday, 1/20
Banks continued. Chinakhov topped Joey Gray in a surprise and Tim DeRuyter, shockingly, gave Justin Hall his second loss. Jayson Shaw drew Immonen and beat him. Nobody saw Eric Krause’s solid win over Jason Miller coming, and Butch Wolf’s win over former Derby City Banks Champion John Morra was even more startling. Bustmante bested Glenn “Piggy Banks” Rogers, too.
In the Bigfoot, DeLuna bested Juszczyszyn and Gorst was rock solid in dismissing Pagulayan. Morra was too good for Van Cortezza, and Chinakhov came from way behind to best Deuel.
Sunday, 1/21
This was a most unusual day for me. I’m a big football fan and I didn’t want to miss the NFL conference championship games. Then again, I didn’t want to miss the Bigfoot either. I found a way to miss neither. I spent the day in my hotel room, using room service for my meals. I watched the two NFL games on my TV, and I BOUGHT the Accu-Stats stream so that I could simultaneously watch the Bigfoot. The negative was that I didn’t see any bank pool on this day.
In the Bigfoot, Gomez advanced to the semis by topping Filler, whose non-stop action may or may not have slowed him down --- tough to say, but Josh looked tired and played way below his usual speed. In a strange match, Immonen played exceptional pool against SVB up until the late stages of the match and then began to melt down, blowing chances to end it at both 10-7 and at 10-9, but SVB then had a shocking scratch on a routine eight ball and, mercifully, Immonen didn’t have to face a double hill match with Shane to break, so Mika moved on to the semis. Seventeen years old Fedor Gorst demolished DeLuna and Morra was too much for Chinakov, so the semis were set, and everyone left was guaranteed a payout of at least $4,000.
The straight pool event got started, and Orcullo had the only big qualifying run of the day, which I believe was 163, but I didn’t see it.
Monday 1/22
Banks was starting to move into the more significant rounds. Among those getting through Round 7 undefeated, were Brumback, Bergman, Runnels, Woodward, SVB, Jayson Shaw, Troy Jones, Corey Deuel, and two players with whom I was unfamiliar, Sidney Champion and Jalal Yousif.
In the Bigfoot, it was on to the semis in the afternoon. Immonen definitely had his chances against Gomez, but fell short, with Gomez on to the final. Gorst’s brilliant play continued with his drubbing of Morra. In the evening, many, myself included, reckoned that Gorst was a slight favorite against Gomez. The match delivered some great excitement. Though it had some slip ups on both sides, each player did some truly remarkable things along the way and the match reached double hill. At 10-10, Gomez had to bet the match on a very missable thin cut on the seven, and his superb shot ensured him the title. Great final!
In the Straight Pool, something strange happened. An extra $1,000 bonus was available to anyone who beat the previous Derby City Straight Pool high run record of 227, set by Jayson Shaw a couple of years ago. Orcullo stood on 227, with some hangers available, but unaware that he needed just one to win the bonus, he opted for a chancy shot with a jacked-up cue, and HE MISSED IT, failing to win the bonus. Still, it was quite a run.
One pocket had its players meeting and the early rounds began. Form held in the earliest stages of the event.
Tuesday, 1/23
It was the day of reckoning for the bank pool players, and those rising to the occasion included SVB, Brumback and Deuel, all of whom got through Round 10 undefeated. It certainly looked like one of them would win the banks, but worthy opponents still out there after round 10 included Bustamante, Woodward, Shaw and banks specialist Troy Jones. As it turned out, the last three standing would be Deuel, Brumback and Shaw. Brumback drew the bye, and Deuel’s win over Shaw set up the final, in which Brumback would have to win two sets to earn the title. Deuel, with a performance that had even Nick Varner oohing and aahing, saw to it that just one set was necessary, and Corey was the deserving, not to mention undefeated, bank pool champion.
Round 2 and Round 3 were the main fare in the one pocket event. Form was holding and continued to hold in early Round 4 action. It was hard to get a sense of who the ones to beat were to this point.
Straight Pool qualifying continued and John Schmidt managed 183, with Ruslan Chinakhov running a 182. The cream was rising to the top.
Wednesday 1/23
This was the day when the contenders emerged for the one pocket title. Through Round 9, the undefeated players, were Bergman, Daulton, DeLuna, Kiamco, and Orcullo, but Chohan, Bustamante and Thorpe still lurked.
Nine-ball had its players meeting and got underway. For the most part, the favorites all breezed through Round 1. In Round 2, Chinakhov was too much for Skyler Woodward, but once again, most of the favorites prevailed.
Straight pool qualifying ended. I’m not sure who the eight qualifiers for the single elimination stage were, but I believe they included Orcullo, Shaw, Schmidt, Chinakhov, Van Corteza and Fortunski.
Thursday, 1/24
One pocket was played in the afternoon, but the world came to a full stop for the One Pocket Hall of Fame dinner, and things began to fall further and further behind schedule. The one pocket final rounds, it turned out, had to be postponed until Friday, a decision that was to have unfortunate consequences.
Nine-ball forged ahead into the middle rounds, and the favorites continued to make their statements.
All hell broke loose in the straight pool as the tables needed for the quarterfinals were not made available to those running the event, and after the competitors discussed it, they decided to chop the money eight ways, a sensible but unfortunate decision that denied the fans of the game a chance to watch the top eight matching up against each other for the title.
Friday, 1/26
The afternoon featured the late rounds of one pocket, and Chohan, Daulton, Bergman and Bustamante were the last four standing. Bergman and Bustamante both had high finishes in the banks, so if either were to snap off the one pocket event, they’d become the one to beat for the all-around. In the semis, Bergman eliminated Daulton and Bustamante beat Chohan, a match in which he got very lucky. In rack four, Chohan needed four balls to end the match and Bustamante hung a five ball with several balls near Tony’s pocket, but Bustamante went up the table and back and caromed off Chohan’s balls without leaving a shot. It proved a match-deciding roll. Bustamante would not waste the opportunity it afforded him , beating Bergman in the final. Justin certainly had his chance, leading 1-0 in racks and 7-0 in balls, but a defensive mistake opened the door for Bustamante, who ran eight and out to seize the momentum in the match. Coupled with his fourth-place finish in the banks, the 54 year old Bustamante, by winning the one pocket event, became the man to beat for Master of the Table.
The banks ring game, which had been scheduled to begin at 8:00 PM, didn’t start until after midnight, and it really was a shame. I missed most of it, learning the next morning that Billy Thorpe was the winner.
Saturday, 1/27
The Derby’s final day is simultaneously uplifting and depressing, but it always delivers drama. This year would be no exception, as the nine-ball was to deliver some of the greatest drama ever seen at the Derby.
A critical match in Round 9 featured undefeated Chris Melling and undefeated John Morra, with Melling prevailing to become the last undefeated player. Melling had not been dominating at the Derby City 9-ball event, winning two 9-8 matches and two 9-7 matches through Round 10, but he was grinding away to the late rounds.
Living on the edge match after match always exposes one to a loss, and so it would be when Melling led Donny Mills 8-4 in Round 10. Mills missed in each of the next two racks but was rescued by a roll and, after that, Donny was brilliant to finish off Melling by 9-8, so everybody had a loss going into Round 11, with eight left. Chinakhov, Immonen, Mills and Filler were eliminated and they tied for fifth, leaving Morra, Melling, Orcullo and SVB to vie for the title.
Orcullo drew Melling and this proved to be one of the greatest matches ever played at the Derby. Trailing 7-6, after a brilliant lock-up safety by Orcullo, Melling faced a difficult two rail kick, and many of us felt that to even hit it would be a solid shot, but Chris wanted more. After lining it up (and you could see that he was lining up the kick-in) for what seemed an eternity, he confidently kicked it in and ran out. It is among the finest shots ever played at the Derby and the crowd went nuts. Following a break and run, Melling led 8-7. The next rack featured a long safety battle and Melling earned ball in hand. With the balls tied up in knots, Chris attempted a tricky combo on the nine but wasn’t up to it, so the safety battle continued. Dennis ultimately hit one of the best shots of the entire event, caroming the two in off the three to develop the three, but he failed to complete the runout, and Chris advanced to the final. Breathtaking!
SVB drew Morra and it was back and forth early, with SVB earning a 5-3 lead. On the verge of a runout to go up 6-3, Shane hung the seven. Arriving at the table down 5-3, Morra walked away from it with a 7-5 lead, as he had three straight break and run racks after capitalizing on the unexpected SVB error. Shane had one more chance, but his next miss closed the deal, and Morra advanced to the final where he would play Melling. Two amazing semifinals. Was there any way that the final could measure up to these two fine matches? As it turns out, the answer would be yes.
In the final, it was eerily simiilar to the SVB/Morra semifinal. Melling was about to take a 4-2 lead when he had a careless scratch on a seven ball. This time Morra, coming to the table trailing 3-2, would complete that rack and run five more, earning an 8-3 lead. Melling looked dead and buried. He kicked in the four and ran out in Rack 12 but still trailed 8-4. At 8-6, Morra appeared to be in command but went wrong on a very simple safety and Chris punished him. Melling’s double hill win at 3:30 AM ended the Derby and completed an electrifying evening of nine ball.
That’s all folks. Gomez wins 10-ball, Melling wins 9-ball, Bustamante wins 1-pocket, Deuel wins banks, Thorpe wins the bank pool ring game, and Bustamante is the Master of the Table. Sadly, there is no straight pool champion this year.
The Takeaways
The play was exciting, the experience was memorable, but in some ways, this was the worst Derby City Classic because of the extremely poor schedule management. The straight pool event fell apart, the one pocket finals were delayed by a full day, the bank pool ring game was played so late that few saw it, and the nine ball, as a result of all of this, went until 3:30AM on Saturday
There are a lot of kinks to work out for next year.
Socially
I caught up with a lot of friends and made some new ones, and if I saw you, it was a pleasure. If I missed you, I regret it. Hoping to do it again a year from now.
I arrived Thursday night 1/18, and it was the first time I’d ever arrived the night before the Derby, usually arriving on the Friday. There wasn’t much to do that first evening. Although the action room was already going, I opted for an early night to prepare for the onset of the Derby.
Friday 1/19
The banks got underway, and nothing too dramatic happened on day one, possibly save Shannon Murphy’s unexpected loss to Josh Smith. Also, Justin Hall drew tough, falling to Glenn “Piggy Banks” Rogers.
The Bigfoot got rolling, too. Gomez eked out a win over Alcano, and Filler then knocked off Shaw, a minor upset, but Filler, who seemed to be in continual play in the action room, really played well and was the better man. Immonen played well to beat Orcullo and Hatch narrowly missed knocking out SVB in a double hill thriller. The Derby was off and running.
Saturday, 1/20
Banks continued. Chinakhov topped Joey Gray in a surprise and Tim DeRuyter, shockingly, gave Justin Hall his second loss. Jayson Shaw drew Immonen and beat him. Nobody saw Eric Krause’s solid win over Jason Miller coming, and Butch Wolf’s win over former Derby City Banks Champion John Morra was even more startling. Bustmante bested Glenn “Piggy Banks” Rogers, too.
In the Bigfoot, DeLuna bested Juszczyszyn and Gorst was rock solid in dismissing Pagulayan. Morra was too good for Van Cortezza, and Chinakhov came from way behind to best Deuel.
Sunday, 1/21
This was a most unusual day for me. I’m a big football fan and I didn’t want to miss the NFL conference championship games. Then again, I didn’t want to miss the Bigfoot either. I found a way to miss neither. I spent the day in my hotel room, using room service for my meals. I watched the two NFL games on my TV, and I BOUGHT the Accu-Stats stream so that I could simultaneously watch the Bigfoot. The negative was that I didn’t see any bank pool on this day.
In the Bigfoot, Gomez advanced to the semis by topping Filler, whose non-stop action may or may not have slowed him down --- tough to say, but Josh looked tired and played way below his usual speed. In a strange match, Immonen played exceptional pool against SVB up until the late stages of the match and then began to melt down, blowing chances to end it at both 10-7 and at 10-9, but SVB then had a shocking scratch on a routine eight ball and, mercifully, Immonen didn’t have to face a double hill match with Shane to break, so Mika moved on to the semis. Seventeen years old Fedor Gorst demolished DeLuna and Morra was too much for Chinakov, so the semis were set, and everyone left was guaranteed a payout of at least $4,000.
The straight pool event got started, and Orcullo had the only big qualifying run of the day, which I believe was 163, but I didn’t see it.
Monday 1/22
Banks was starting to move into the more significant rounds. Among those getting through Round 7 undefeated, were Brumback, Bergman, Runnels, Woodward, SVB, Jayson Shaw, Troy Jones, Corey Deuel, and two players with whom I was unfamiliar, Sidney Champion and Jalal Yousif.
In the Bigfoot, it was on to the semis in the afternoon. Immonen definitely had his chances against Gomez, but fell short, with Gomez on to the final. Gorst’s brilliant play continued with his drubbing of Morra. In the evening, many, myself included, reckoned that Gorst was a slight favorite against Gomez. The match delivered some great excitement. Though it had some slip ups on both sides, each player did some truly remarkable things along the way and the match reached double hill. At 10-10, Gomez had to bet the match on a very missable thin cut on the seven, and his superb shot ensured him the title. Great final!
In the Straight Pool, something strange happened. An extra $1,000 bonus was available to anyone who beat the previous Derby City Straight Pool high run record of 227, set by Jayson Shaw a couple of years ago. Orcullo stood on 227, with some hangers available, but unaware that he needed just one to win the bonus, he opted for a chancy shot with a jacked-up cue, and HE MISSED IT, failing to win the bonus. Still, it was quite a run.
One pocket had its players meeting and the early rounds began. Form held in the earliest stages of the event.
Tuesday, 1/23
It was the day of reckoning for the bank pool players, and those rising to the occasion included SVB, Brumback and Deuel, all of whom got through Round 10 undefeated. It certainly looked like one of them would win the banks, but worthy opponents still out there after round 10 included Bustamante, Woodward, Shaw and banks specialist Troy Jones. As it turned out, the last three standing would be Deuel, Brumback and Shaw. Brumback drew the bye, and Deuel’s win over Shaw set up the final, in which Brumback would have to win two sets to earn the title. Deuel, with a performance that had even Nick Varner oohing and aahing, saw to it that just one set was necessary, and Corey was the deserving, not to mention undefeated, bank pool champion.
Round 2 and Round 3 were the main fare in the one pocket event. Form was holding and continued to hold in early Round 4 action. It was hard to get a sense of who the ones to beat were to this point.
Straight Pool qualifying continued and John Schmidt managed 183, with Ruslan Chinakhov running a 182. The cream was rising to the top.
Wednesday 1/23
This was the day when the contenders emerged for the one pocket title. Through Round 9, the undefeated players, were Bergman, Daulton, DeLuna, Kiamco, and Orcullo, but Chohan, Bustamante and Thorpe still lurked.
Nine-ball had its players meeting and got underway. For the most part, the favorites all breezed through Round 1. In Round 2, Chinakhov was too much for Skyler Woodward, but once again, most of the favorites prevailed.
Straight pool qualifying ended. I’m not sure who the eight qualifiers for the single elimination stage were, but I believe they included Orcullo, Shaw, Schmidt, Chinakhov, Van Corteza and Fortunski.
Thursday, 1/24
One pocket was played in the afternoon, but the world came to a full stop for the One Pocket Hall of Fame dinner, and things began to fall further and further behind schedule. The one pocket final rounds, it turned out, had to be postponed until Friday, a decision that was to have unfortunate consequences.
Nine-ball forged ahead into the middle rounds, and the favorites continued to make their statements.
All hell broke loose in the straight pool as the tables needed for the quarterfinals were not made available to those running the event, and after the competitors discussed it, they decided to chop the money eight ways, a sensible but unfortunate decision that denied the fans of the game a chance to watch the top eight matching up against each other for the title.
Friday, 1/26
The afternoon featured the late rounds of one pocket, and Chohan, Daulton, Bergman and Bustamante were the last four standing. Bergman and Bustamante both had high finishes in the banks, so if either were to snap off the one pocket event, they’d become the one to beat for the all-around. In the semis, Bergman eliminated Daulton and Bustamante beat Chohan, a match in which he got very lucky. In rack four, Chohan needed four balls to end the match and Bustamante hung a five ball with several balls near Tony’s pocket, but Bustamante went up the table and back and caromed off Chohan’s balls without leaving a shot. It proved a match-deciding roll. Bustamante would not waste the opportunity it afforded him , beating Bergman in the final. Justin certainly had his chance, leading 1-0 in racks and 7-0 in balls, but a defensive mistake opened the door for Bustamante, who ran eight and out to seize the momentum in the match. Coupled with his fourth-place finish in the banks, the 54 year old Bustamante, by winning the one pocket event, became the man to beat for Master of the Table.
The banks ring game, which had been scheduled to begin at 8:00 PM, didn’t start until after midnight, and it really was a shame. I missed most of it, learning the next morning that Billy Thorpe was the winner.
Saturday, 1/27
The Derby’s final day is simultaneously uplifting and depressing, but it always delivers drama. This year would be no exception, as the nine-ball was to deliver some of the greatest drama ever seen at the Derby.
A critical match in Round 9 featured undefeated Chris Melling and undefeated John Morra, with Melling prevailing to become the last undefeated player. Melling had not been dominating at the Derby City 9-ball event, winning two 9-8 matches and two 9-7 matches through Round 10, but he was grinding away to the late rounds.
Living on the edge match after match always exposes one to a loss, and so it would be when Melling led Donny Mills 8-4 in Round 10. Mills missed in each of the next two racks but was rescued by a roll and, after that, Donny was brilliant to finish off Melling by 9-8, so everybody had a loss going into Round 11, with eight left. Chinakhov, Immonen, Mills and Filler were eliminated and they tied for fifth, leaving Morra, Melling, Orcullo and SVB to vie for the title.
Orcullo drew Melling and this proved to be one of the greatest matches ever played at the Derby. Trailing 7-6, after a brilliant lock-up safety by Orcullo, Melling faced a difficult two rail kick, and many of us felt that to even hit it would be a solid shot, but Chris wanted more. After lining it up (and you could see that he was lining up the kick-in) for what seemed an eternity, he confidently kicked it in and ran out. It is among the finest shots ever played at the Derby and the crowd went nuts. Following a break and run, Melling led 8-7. The next rack featured a long safety battle and Melling earned ball in hand. With the balls tied up in knots, Chris attempted a tricky combo on the nine but wasn’t up to it, so the safety battle continued. Dennis ultimately hit one of the best shots of the entire event, caroming the two in off the three to develop the three, but he failed to complete the runout, and Chris advanced to the final. Breathtaking!
SVB drew Morra and it was back and forth early, with SVB earning a 5-3 lead. On the verge of a runout to go up 6-3, Shane hung the seven. Arriving at the table down 5-3, Morra walked away from it with a 7-5 lead, as he had three straight break and run racks after capitalizing on the unexpected SVB error. Shane had one more chance, but his next miss closed the deal, and Morra advanced to the final where he would play Melling. Two amazing semifinals. Was there any way that the final could measure up to these two fine matches? As it turns out, the answer would be yes.
In the final, it was eerily simiilar to the SVB/Morra semifinal. Melling was about to take a 4-2 lead when he had a careless scratch on a seven ball. This time Morra, coming to the table trailing 3-2, would complete that rack and run five more, earning an 8-3 lead. Melling looked dead and buried. He kicked in the four and ran out in Rack 12 but still trailed 8-4. At 8-6, Morra appeared to be in command but went wrong on a very simple safety and Chris punished him. Melling’s double hill win at 3:30 AM ended the Derby and completed an electrifying evening of nine ball.
That’s all folks. Gomez wins 10-ball, Melling wins 9-ball, Bustamante wins 1-pocket, Deuel wins banks, Thorpe wins the bank pool ring game, and Bustamante is the Master of the Table. Sadly, there is no straight pool champion this year.
The Takeaways
The play was exciting, the experience was memorable, but in some ways, this was the worst Derby City Classic because of the extremely poor schedule management. The straight pool event fell apart, the one pocket finals were delayed by a full day, the bank pool ring game was played so late that few saw it, and the nine ball, as a result of all of this, went until 3:30AM on Saturday
There are a lot of kinks to work out for next year.
Socially
I caught up with a lot of friends and made some new ones, and if I saw you, it was a pleasure. If I missed you, I regret it. Hoping to do it again a year from now.
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So the issue was really was NOT time management, it was just so many more matches.
