Alain Martel Wins Quebec Provincial Championship
Oct 30, 2014
This past long weekend the Quebec Federation held their Provincial Championships at Le Skratch, Laval. All divisions C-Pro were all well attended and contested as this was one of the biggest weekends of the year for Quebec Pool outside Le Classique De Appalaches.
Being that last weekend was Thanksgiving and family being a priority I was unable to attend the entire event. However I was fortunate enough to arrive Monday morning and watch the end of most of the tournaments. Outside of the Professional tournament which boasted Quebec's top players such as Luc Salvas, Danny Hewitt and more, the story was Jean Vallaincourt.
Vallaincourt is a AA ranked player from Gatineau Quebec, who stunned many by finishing runner up in both the AA and AAA tournaments . This type of dominance in two different divisions is very rare to see. As I was rapping my head around what Vallaincourt had accomplished I walked over to the draw sheets and noticed Semi-Pro Fred Lapointe was on route to a similar feat.
Lapointe was already in the Final of the Semi-Pro division when I caught up with him and playing in the losers side semi-final in the Pro Division. There he beat fellow semi-pro, who was also impressive this weekend, Eric Claude 9-5. He then went on to lose to Francis Crevier to finish 3rd in the Pro and unfortunately for him followed that up with a loss to Johnathan Herbert in the final of the Semi-Pro. This very solid performance for Lapointe has bumped his ranking to Professional status.
Crevier, after beating Lapointe earned another shot at Alain Martel who beat him in the winners side final. By this time most other matches were finished and everyone crowded around to watch. Martel obtained a few multiple game leads, but Crevier never let it extend. Both players were having a tough time keeping the cue ball on the table off the break, which was the difference in this match. At times when it looked like either player was getting ready to run away with the match a scratch off the break would allow their opponent back in, keeping this match close or tied the entire time.
Alain Martel
Like any great match talked about years later, this one came down to the wire at 12-12. Martel was up to break and some could of predicted what would happen, he scratched in the side. At first glance it looked like a wide open table however there was one cluster they had to manage. With ball in hand Crevier tried making a 9 ball combo while at the same time playing safe into the cluster. He accomplished his safety and it looked like Martel was done for, when he did what players of his caliber can. He came with a shot, which was a two rail kick that ended up safe. From there Crevier tried another safety which failed. allowing Martel the last opportunity he needed to win the match.
Guy Simard from Billard Quebec, with sponsorship from Canada Billiard was able to put on a very nice stream. If you are interested in seeing the matches you can go to his Facebook page . For full results on all the divisions please refer to www.webillard.com.
Pro Results
Nom
Position
Bourse
Martel, Alain #1002
1
1200 $
Crevier, Francis #291
2
825 $
Lapointe, Fred #1062
3
550 $
Claude, Éric #1156
4
350 $
Francoeur, Richer #3850
5 - 6
220 $
Hébert, Jonathan #188
5 - 6
220 $
Daigle, Martin #831
7 - 8
120 $
Nguyen, Dany #3401
7 - 8
120 $
Hewitt, Danny #1006
9 - 12
0 $
Parent, Alain #1369
9 - 12
0 $
Hervieux, Junior #1937
9 - 12
0 $
Grenier, Sylvain #1020
9 - 12
0 $
Dinev, Todor #2219
13 - 16
0 $
Champagne, Ghislain #761
13 - 16
0 $
Cloutier, Éric #1011
13 - 16
0 $
Gilbert, Styve #274
13 - 16
0 $
Normandin, Dany #110
17 - 24
0 $
Gagné, Daniel #735
17 - 24
0 $
Salvas, Luc #1007
17 - 24
0 $
Mercier, Edgar #3949
17 - 24
0 $
Hervieux, Yvon #1520
17 - 24
0 $