Drummondville: Daigle Wins Largest Falcon Tour Field of the Season

Winner Martin Daigle, Director Danny Hewitt, Runner up Dan Normandin and second chance winner Darren Auclair 

By: Markus Noé

The Falcon Québec Pro Tour saw the biggest turnout of the season with 55 players descending upon Billiard Heriot in Drummondville, . The field boasted 12 pro's and a healthy number of high level Semi-Pro and AAA players. What added to this this tournament was the 34 amateurs that participated in this non-handicap event. This demonstrates that the staggered entry fee system that the Falcon Tour organizers Danny Hewitt and Luc Paquette have implemented is working.

With so many pro's and other top players in attendance it made it possible for upsets to occur. In Québec Alain Martel, and Danny Hewitt have been so dominate for so many years now its almost a guarantee that one of them will win the tournament if they are both in the field and no big out of province names show up.

Recent third place finisher at the Turning Stone Classic and finalist this year on the Falcon Tour Joey Cicero was the first big name to be upset. He went down in the first round to the Québec Junior Champion Tommy Cayer 9-7. Cicero did not have his best match however Cayer showed his potential by not playing scared and taking advantage of the opportunities given to him. In his next match he met up with one of the fastest rising female players in Québec Valerie Bedard who recently returned from a successful trip to Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, California. This was for the NAPT Division 2 (North American Pool Tour) stop, Bedard cashed in this event in the 9-12th position. She was apparently still in form as she got by Cayer 9-7 and in her match had Pro Martin Daigle down 4-1 before eventually losing 9-4.

Marco Caron

Top players such as Nicholas Charret, Harold Rousseau, Yan Lalande, Ghislain Champagne all found themselves out well before the cash, which goes to show you the caliber of the field. Semi-Pro players Marco Caron and Daniel Gagné both had impressive performances in this tournament and eventually met up on the losers side in the 5/6th position. Caron beat two Pro's on his winners side charge, Harold Rousseau and Ghislain Champagne. Gagné who lost early on the winners side won 4 matches on the losers side before ending Caron's tournament 9-6.

Daniel Gagné

 Gagné then went on to have an impressive win over Alain "The Dancing Bear" Martel 9-5 in the 4th place match. In the third place match he met up with Martin Daigle who just suffered his first lost to Dan Normandin another former 3rd place finisher at the Turning Stone Classic. Daigle went on to end Gagné's impressive run 9-7 and earned his rematch with Normandin.

Daigle would not be denied in this extended race to 11, as he won 11-7 to earn his first Falcon Tour victory of the season. Congratulations to all the winners, I would also like to thank Danny Hewitt and Luc Paquette for putting on a great event. The next Falcon Tour will be held in Edmundston New Brunswick this weekend March 10-11. Finally I would like to thank my main sponsor for this tournament Doug Disotell and Rack-M-Up Billiards.