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Monday-Saturday 4-9 August 2014
Appleton will have his name inscribed onto the World 14.1 Cup alongside Mosconi, Greenleaf, Mizerak, & all the past legends.
All photography used with express permission, courtesy of ©Charles Eames
Darren Appleton is the 74th World Tournament of 14.1 Champion
England's Darren Appleton capped off an amazing week of pool action by finishing off strong to capture his first ever World 14.1 title ! Appleton had lost in the finals last year, but sweetly rectified that with a resounding victory over America's #1 ranked Shane Van Boening. The Andy Cloth 74th World Tournament of 14.1 6 days of grueling pool stamina battles ended with spectacular performances by the world's greatest professionals.
The ANDY CLOTH World Tournament took place on August 4th-9th, 2014. Dragon Promotions and Dr. Michael Fedak were pleased to bring the 74th production of the oldest billiard event in the world . Also sponsored by Andy Cloth, Kamui Brands, OB Cues, Amsterdam Billiard Club, Realrealcool.com, Pool & Billiard Magazine , Aramith Balls, and George Beckman Kinetic Sculptures. Official patron 14.1 aficionados are Stu Mattana, Tom Gleich, Harold Siegel, Dr. Greg Diehl Plastic Surgery, and Official World 14.1 photographer Charles Eames. A star studded field has made it back once again to the 14.1 extravaganza taking place at Steinway Billiards Cafe, who is once more hosting the world's greatest straight pool championship.
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The Final Four
Notably this year's event was particularly tough in the field of champions as former World 14.1 winners Thorsten Hohmann, John Schmidt, and Stephan Cohen all failed to qualify the top 16 final bracket!
The first semi-finals pitted Great Britain against Russia. Evgeny Stalev took the lead early and looked as if his smooth, super offensive style would lead him into the finals. Stalev had played some stellar 14.1 throughout the event, and Appleton had had medicore performances including a dogfest the night before against Mike Dechaine (USA). Down by 70 points, Appleton turned up the juice and made a run. Though Stalev kept the lead for the first half of the match, Appleton took over and never looked back with an eventual 200-145 win.
Stalev became the first Russian to ever Bronze in the World Tournament and also held the high run of 150 (as well as unofficial high run of 224)
Photograph courtesy of ©Charles Eames
The next semi-finals was a battle of the Americans. Max Eberle of Las Vegas and Shane Van Boening of South Dakota were fighting to see who would have the right to play for the USA in the championship finals. At first, experience seemed to play in favor of Shane as Max botched many chances early on and Van Boening stretched to a 100+ ball lead. When Eberle had a chance again, he was down 40 to 147. And then he came back to life. Starting with a very tough shot, he went on to run 121 balls and take the lead. To date, Eberle's highest run in competition. SVB eventually got back to the table, but was visibly shaken a bit in his game as he faltered, but Eberle had also used up alot of energy and they both traded safeties for several innings. Needing only 22 balls to make his first major championship finals, Eberle got another key opportunity and was faced with a good break shot into the side pocket. Unfortunately, he made the ball and busted the rack but scratched. Van Boening took the gift and scraped by to a 200-178 win.
SVB happy to get the close call win
Photograph courtesy of ©Charles Eames
"I felt and looked like I was buried. Was so easy to just give up and say I had a good tournament. But seeing Jim Rempe at the 14.1 Hall of Fame Banquer really inspired me. In the video, Nick Varner was congratulating Rempe and said Jim never gave up till the last ball. That was in my head. So I fought back and made the biggest high run of my World 14.1 experiences and made it into a real match", said Eberle after the semi-finals ended.
Eberle showed a ton of heart against Van Boening and still received the well deserved Bronze
Photograph courtesy of ©Charles Eames
Last year Appleton had made the error of over practicing before the final day matches, on top of a long 2 hour drive. This year he swore off practice and came into the finals fresh. In contrast, the war with Eberle may have drained Van Boening some as he missed his first chance to strike blood. We will never really know because, once again, Appleton put in a incredible performance. He Started off with a 69 ball run, and then finished with a 131 & out completing the entire championship match in 3 innings!
"Not much I could do there", Van Boening said softly as he shrugged his shoulders. " Darren played great and deserves it."
Photograph courtesy of ©Charles Eames
The final shot of the 74th World 14.1. Appleton ran a 131 & out to claim a resounding 200-27 blow-out of Van Boening in the finals.
Photograph courtesy of ©Charles Eames
"I really didn't prepare as much this year for the tournament because been working on my new house and got my wedding this weekend. So I didn't really expect to win at all. I really struggled in the early parts of the tournament including last night in the quarter-finals against Dechaine. But today I felt really good", said Appleton after the finals. "This World 14.1 is one of my favorite tournaments. The win comes at a great time because all my family is coming into town and I can share this with them."
As Darren Appleton's name will be inscribed as the 74th World 14.1 winner, he requested (almost insisted) he be allowed to take home the World 14.1 Cup for the year to showcase in his private poolroom. After a Bronze, a Silver, setting the world record at 200 points, and shooting in 1450 balls this week en route to winning the Gold this year...Dragon Promotions decided he be the first player to earn the right.
Charlie Williams (Executive Producer), Cindy Lee (CEO Dragon Promotions), Van Boening (2nd), Appleton (1st), Eberle (3rd), Stalev (3rd) , Manny Stamatikis (host) & John Leyman (Director)
Photograph courtesy of ©Charles Eames
THE STATS
THE 74th WORLD TOURNAMENT | |
NEW YORK - USA | |
THE GROUPS | |
| GROUP A Thorsten Hohmann GER Jeanette Lee USA Jeremy Sossei USA James Heller USA Charles Eames USA Eddie Kwok USA Q | GROUP B Darren Appleton ENG Mike Davis USA Jonni Fulcher SCO Shaun Wilkie USA Tom Karabotsos USA Q Dan Christian USA Q |
| GROUP C John Schmidt USA Evgeny Stalev RUS Justin Bergman USA Frank Scharbach GER Q Frankie Hernandez USA Joey Landi USA Q | GROUP D Stephan Cohen nothing Earl Strickland USA Charlie Williams USA Tony Robles USA Michael Yednak USA Bob Madenjian USA Q |
| GROUP E Mika Immonen FIN Corey Deuel USA Zion Zvi ISR Earl Herring USA Jeff Crawford USA Q Kevin Clark USA | GROUP F Van Boening USA Jayson Shaw SCO Max Eberle USA Tom Gleich USA Sean Morgan USA Mike Verkruyse Q |
| GROUP G Dennis Hatch USA Johnny Archer USA Andre Lackner GER Q Mike Dechaine USA David Daya USA Dennis Spears USA Q | GROUP H Warren Kiamco PHL Ralph Eckert GER Danny Barouty USA Hunter Lombardo USA Q Jonathan Smith USA Q Ed Culhane USA |
THE 74th WORLD TOURNAMENT | ||
NEW YORK - USA | ||
THE LAST 16 | ||
Shane Van Boening | 200 : 010 | Johnny Archer |
Mika Immonen | 200 : 190 | Earl Strickland |
Max Eberle | 200 : 159 | Ralph Eckert |
Andre Lackner | 200 : 114 | Jayson Shaw |
Tony Robles | 200 : 129 | Jonni Fulcher |
Evgeny Stalev | 200 : 088 | Justin Bergman |
Mike Dechaine | 200 : 147 | Warren Kiamco |
Darren Appleton | 200 : 030 | Corey Deuel |
THE 74th WORLD TOURNAMENT | ||
NEW YORK - USA | ||
THE QUARTER FINALS | ||
Shane Van Boening | 200 : 115 | Mika Immonen |
Max Eberle | 200 : 172 | Andre Lackner |
Evgeny Stalev | 200 : 136 | Tony Robles |
Darren Appleton | 200 : 172 | Mike Dechaine |
THE 74th WORLD TOURNAMENT | ||
NEW YORK - USA | ||
THE SEMI FINALS | ||
Shane Van Boening | 200 : 178 | Max Eberle |
Darren Appleton | 200 : 145 | Evgeny Stalev |
THE 74th WORLD TOURNAMENT | ||
NEW YORK - USA | ||
THE FINAL | ||
Darren Appleton | 200 : 027 | Shane Van Boening |
