Viking National Championship and Mike Janis, The Best in the Business!
Here we go all, WOW what an event! Great players, great equipment superb tournament direction and good friends make for a WIN Event for all.
The action started off on Tuesday night with a mini tournament won by John Schmidt. The main attraction followed on Wednesday with players from all over and a mass of hometown boys who gave the out of Towner’s a real run for their money. Being from this area, I was exceptionally proud of the locals for coming out and showing their best against some of the greats in billiards today.
The field of 110 exceptional players turned out for the Viking $25,000 National Championship at Palace Billiards in Villa Park, IL. The Palace is owned and operated by US Open 8 Ball Champion and 18 world title champion holder, John Abruzzo with his partner of 7 years Steve Hopper. The Palace has been the host to many large events that include a WPBA tournament several years ago, seasonal Viking tournaments and others. When in the Chicago area, The Palace is by all means, a must see and by far one of the crown Palaces in billiard rooms nationwide.
Tournament directors Mike Janis and Joe Waugaman as always had the event under complete control as additional players flocked in last minute. Mike runs one of the best events in the country and is one of the nicest guys in the sport.
As the event began, the rotisserie was hot with such notables as Shawn Putnum, still on fire from his last win at The North America Open Tour's Pittsburgh stop. Shawn, who is sponsored by Joesy Custom Cues www.joseycues.com played flawlessly in his first match Wednesday night with an 11 to 1 victory over his opponent.
Such top pro notables as Earl Strickland, Santos Sambajon, Shannon Daulton, Larry Nevel, Johnny Weisman, Brandon Ashcroft, Tom Karabatsos, Troy Frank, Willie Munson, Niels Feijen, John Schmidt, Charlie Hillbilly Bryant and others. In addition to hometown favorites as Mike Bandy, Ike Runnels, Tom McClusky, Tom Spencer, Duane Tuula and Bob Romano just to mention a few.
Other players to keep an eye on were 17 yr old Justin Bergman and 15-year-old John Washburn who are both rising junior players.
One particular beauty stands out in this crowd, she is Katrine Jensen who is in the states for a month from Denmark. This blonde bombshell is the girlfriend of Neils Feijen and is in the states for the next month. This Danish Doll has been playing seriously for the past 4 years and is hoping to obtain sponsorship for further events while she is in the states. We will have an in depth interview with Katrine in the upcoming Main Events. I am writing an interview with her that Mike will be posting soon.
Play continued with the greatest upset coming yesterday evening (Saturday) during a match between John Macias and Ike Runnels. Macias was crushing Runnels running rack after rack and finally John on the hill and Runnels with 3. Ike came back from and ran 7 racks to the hill and scratched on the break. The two jousted neck to neck till Ike took the win. It was certainly the play of the year by Ike Runnels and excellent play by Macias.
The shortest match was between Marcinkowski (8) and Schmidt (11) lasting only 48 minutes.
Another match that was noteworthy was between Justin Bergman and Chris Orme of Canada. Justin was down 2 to 8 and came back 6 games in a row neck to neck with Orme finally winning the event on the hill. Bergman received a stand ovation for his efforts.
There are so many other great shots and outstanding matches to name. All the players did a fine job to help make this a spectacular event.
Niels went undefeated through the event to take home the $5,000 Grand Prize.
I might add that he had a touch of the flu and some back pains going on, so imagine it made his win even more difficult.
In closing, I can’t say enough good things about Mike Janis and the Viking Tour. If you have never played in a Viking event, make it your priority for next year. If you are a sponsor and are looking for a great way to promote your product, give Mike a call. It really doesn’t get any better than this!
From one tournament director to another, I want to be like MIKE!
Congratulations Mike Janis and the Viking tour, here’s to next year and more fine productions!
Eydie
Here we go all, WOW what an event! Great players, great equipment superb tournament direction and good friends make for a WIN Event for all.
The action started off on Tuesday night with a mini tournament won by John Schmidt. The main attraction followed on Wednesday with players from all over and a mass of hometown boys who gave the out of Towner’s a real run for their money. Being from this area, I was exceptionally proud of the locals for coming out and showing their best against some of the greats in billiards today.
The field of 110 exceptional players turned out for the Viking $25,000 National Championship at Palace Billiards in Villa Park, IL. The Palace is owned and operated by US Open 8 Ball Champion and 18 world title champion holder, John Abruzzo with his partner of 7 years Steve Hopper. The Palace has been the host to many large events that include a WPBA tournament several years ago, seasonal Viking tournaments and others. When in the Chicago area, The Palace is by all means, a must see and by far one of the crown Palaces in billiard rooms nationwide.
Tournament directors Mike Janis and Joe Waugaman as always had the event under complete control as additional players flocked in last minute. Mike runs one of the best events in the country and is one of the nicest guys in the sport.
As the event began, the rotisserie was hot with such notables as Shawn Putnum, still on fire from his last win at The North America Open Tour's Pittsburgh stop. Shawn, who is sponsored by Joesy Custom Cues www.joseycues.com played flawlessly in his first match Wednesday night with an 11 to 1 victory over his opponent.
Such top pro notables as Earl Strickland, Santos Sambajon, Shannon Daulton, Larry Nevel, Johnny Weisman, Brandon Ashcroft, Tom Karabatsos, Troy Frank, Willie Munson, Niels Feijen, John Schmidt, Charlie Hillbilly Bryant and others. In addition to hometown favorites as Mike Bandy, Ike Runnels, Tom McClusky, Tom Spencer, Duane Tuula and Bob Romano just to mention a few.
Other players to keep an eye on were 17 yr old Justin Bergman and 15-year-old John Washburn who are both rising junior players.
One particular beauty stands out in this crowd, she is Katrine Jensen who is in the states for a month from Denmark. This blonde bombshell is the girlfriend of Neils Feijen and is in the states for the next month. This Danish Doll has been playing seriously for the past 4 years and is hoping to obtain sponsorship for further events while she is in the states. We will have an in depth interview with Katrine in the upcoming Main Events. I am writing an interview with her that Mike will be posting soon.
Play continued with the greatest upset coming yesterday evening (Saturday) during a match between John Macias and Ike Runnels. Macias was crushing Runnels running rack after rack and finally John on the hill and Runnels with 3. Ike came back from and ran 7 racks to the hill and scratched on the break. The two jousted neck to neck till Ike took the win. It was certainly the play of the year by Ike Runnels and excellent play by Macias.
The shortest match was between Marcinkowski (8) and Schmidt (11) lasting only 48 minutes.
Another match that was noteworthy was between Justin Bergman and Chris Orme of Canada. Justin was down 2 to 8 and came back 6 games in a row neck to neck with Orme finally winning the event on the hill. Bergman received a stand ovation for his efforts.
There are so many other great shots and outstanding matches to name. All the players did a fine job to help make this a spectacular event.
Niels went undefeated through the event to take home the $5,000 Grand Prize.
I might add that he had a touch of the flu and some back pains going on, so imagine it made his win even more difficult.
In closing, I can’t say enough good things about Mike Janis and the Viking Tour. If you have never played in a Viking event, make it your priority for next year. If you are a sponsor and are looking for a great way to promote your product, give Mike a call. It really doesn’t get any better than this!
From one tournament director to another, I want to be like MIKE!
Congratulations Mike Janis and the Viking tour, here’s to next year and more fine productions!
Eydie
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