“Fireball” Dechaine takes two out of three over Song to win Rack Race Stop #9
He was in the neighborhood (more or less), so Mike “Fireball” Dechaine opted to follow his victory at the Smoky Mountain 9-Ball Shootout in Waynesville, NC (April 25-28) with a three-and-a-half hour trip south to Aiken, SC, where he almost went undefeated to win the $2,500-added Stop #9 on the Rack Race at Rack & […]
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Mike Dechaine
He was in the neighborhood (more or less), so Mike “Fireball” Dechaine opted to follow his victory at the Smoky Mountain 9-Ball Shootout in Waynesville, NC (April 25-28) with a three-and-a-half hour trip south to Aiken, SC, where he almost went undefeated to win the $2,500-added Stop #9 on the Rack Race at Rack & Grill III in Aiken this past weekend (May 16-19).
“Nearly collapsed in the finals,” he noted in a FB post, “but somehow found a way to grind it out.”
The ‘near collapse’ was attributable to the work of Paul Song, who battled Dechaine for the hot seat, lost, and then came back from a semifinal against Josh Roberts to take the opening set of the event’s true double-elimination final. In a reduced race-to-6 in the second set, Dechaine did his grinding-it-out work to win the last match 6-4 and claim the event title.
Before we settle into how that event played out, it should be noted that the weekend also included three other events; two on Friday and a Second Chance Redemption event on Sunday. Friday night’s activities involved a 9-ball ‘Mini’ tournament that drew 28 entrants and a Jack & Jill event that drew 12 couples.
Johnny Archer went undefeated through the $500-added, 9-Ball “Mini” field, though not before veteran pool player and renowned cue maker Mike Gulyassy gave him a double-hill run for his money in the opening round. The Scorpion survived to shut out Bradley Harrelson, survive a second double-hill challenge from Landon Hollingsworth and down Paul Song 3-1 in a winners’ side semifinal that put him (Archer) into the hot seat match. Colston Harrelson, in the meantime, shut out two of his three opponents to get to the same place; shutting out Ronnie Hughes, surviving a double-hill battle versus Gindac Ciprian Gabriel and in his winners’ side semifinal, shutting out Clayton Branham to join Archer in the hot seat match. Archer won his third double-hill match to claim the hot seat.
Harrelson shut out Hollingsworth in the semifinals for a second shot at Archer. Archer defeated him a second time, 4-2 to claim the 9-Ball “Mini” title.
The $500-added Jack and Jill tournament bracket did not identify individuals on the teams. Team Childress played five matches to claim the title and lost only a single rack. They opened with a shutout over Team Archer, gave up the single rack to Clean Break Team, shut out Team Spires, and then, in the hot seat match, Team Archer Killer (who, by the way, never got the chance to fulfill their name’s ‘promise’). Team Archer Killer moved to the semifinals, where they were defeated by Beauty & The Beast. Team Childress shut Beauty & The Beast out in the finals to claim the Jack and Jill title.
Tracy Prescott, a Rack Race veteran was dealt something of a ‘bad hand’ in the Rack Race main event. She drew and lost to Josh Roberts in the opening round and after winning three on the loss side, faced and was eliminated by Johnny Archer in her fourth loss-side round. In Sunday’s $500-added, 12-entrant, Rack Redemption event, she earned the titled ‘redemption’ when, after being shutout by Mike Gulyassy in the event’s hot seat match, she returned from a semifinal shutout victory over Mike Bottoms to defeat Gulyassy, double hill, in the final.
Dechaine makes his first appearance in The Rack Race memorable
He has moved here. From Maine to Dallas, North Carolina (about 45 minutes NW of Charlotte), which speaks to the reason that Mike Dechaine was in a position to win two consecutive events recently, one in each of the Carolinas. The first (April 25-27) was in Waynesville, NC at the Silver Anniversary of the Smoky Mountain Shootout. The second was last weekend (May 17-18) at Stop #9 on the Rack Race.
He moved to the area for a combination of personal and meteorological reasons (“escaping the cold (Maine) weather,” he said). He has also been out of work for a while, which accounts for a seemingly sudden (although never really eliminated completely) increase in his tournament activity. This, in turn, launched excited speculation about a possible ‘return’ to previous levels of engagement that had included four appearances as a member of the USA’s Mosconi Cup team.
He has repeatedly insisted that a ‘return’ to such levels is not on his agenda, though continuing to engage in the sport very much is. He moved here about a year and half ago and has recently found a job with the same company he worked for in Maine. It was not, he explained, a company transfer, but a simple approach to a branch of that company in the area to which he moved. He detailed his previous experience with the company, references were checked and he was hired, in essence, to do a new, though old job.
That job will begin in earnest in North Carolina on July 7 when he begins mandatory (though seemingly unnecessary, given his previous experience) training. He will be ‘full time’ after six weeks. At that point, his primary focus will return to the ‘9-to-5’ and force pool onto something of a back burner. Again. Not totally, of course. He has indicated a plan to compete in the Rack Race’s season finale later this year. And as opportunities present themselves – times at which he will not be required to work on weekends – you might find him in attendance at various events in the Carolinas or nearby. Those opportunities, it should be noted, are likely to be more available in the Carolinas than they were in Maine.
“Once that job starts,” he said, “(the increase in pool competition) will die down completely.”
Basically, he added, all of what hopeful fans have been seeing as a potential ‘return’ has just been “(me) occupying my time while I’ve been out of work.”
The protracted absences from regular professional competition had an effect on his game. While he retained the basics and the lessons learned at the height of his professional career (his best recorded earnings year with us here at AZBilliards was 10 years ago), he lost a step or two, some of which he’s regained with his recent, more frequent appearances. At one point, earlier this year and in the latter part of last year, he described his game as “mediocre, at best,” but improving.
“My consistency is getting a little bit better,” he said after this weekend’s victory on the Rack Race, “but I’m not aiming at more. I’m not stopping completely. I see competition in the future as a source of potential income, until July 7th comes, when I’ll be focused on the 9-to-5 again.”
He became “more comfortable” in his ‘9-to-5’ life and admits to losing some of his “passion and striving,” which has resulted in some beneficial changes in his approach to competitive pool.
“I like to be intense, going all in,” he said, “but I’m not as willing to commit to that 110% anymore, so I tend to accept losses a lot more.”
He had nothing but praise for his experience with the Rack Race.
“It was a great venue,” he said, “and an awesome tournament, perfect.”
For those in attendance last weekend, it was clear that even in his protracted, occasional absences from competition, he is still considered by many to be among the sport’s ‘royalty.’ He also became the immediate and acknowledged ‘favorite’ in the field, ahead of (somewhat surprisingly, in order) Johnny Archer and Josh Roberts.
“Some of the regulars, like Roberts, Archer and Tommy Kennedy knew him, of course,” said Michael Newsome, owner of the Rack Race homes in North Carolina and Georgia, “but for the local people, they’d heard of him, but had never seen him in person before. So they were looking to chat with him and have photographs taken with him.”
“I’d never met him before, either,” he added. “I was talking to him (at various times) for hours and I thought he was a super-nice guy.”
It was Dechaine’s first appearance on the Rack Race and as it happened, he missed out on competing against the Race’s most prominent competitors, the men who knew him well, like Roberts and Archer. He did face Tommy Kennedy, Nathan Childress and two members of the Harrelson family; Bradley, the father and Colston, the son (who’s just picked up a sponsorship from Predator Cues). Those four amounted to literally, half the battle, as he played eight matches against six opponents.
To his recollection, Dechaine had never competed against who he described as his toughest opponent, Paul Song. He faced him three times at the end of the event and is not likely to forget the matches or him. He won two of three against him; a comfortable win, a double-hill loss and in a close battle, a deciding final match.
Dechaine opened with three 8-4 wins against Jesse Draper, Kennedy and Colston Harrelson before downing Nathan Childress 8-3 in a winners’ side quarterfinal and drawing Bradley Harrelson in one of the winners’ side semifinals. From the other end of the bracket, Song, headed for the hot seat match, had to deal with some serious challenges to advancement. He’d begun with an 8-2 win over Deamon Trey Dawson and then ran into a double-hill battle against Richard Kilgore. Surviving that, he drew Josh Roberts, allowing him only a single rack. He advanced again, straight into his second, double-hill match, this time against Landon Hollingsworth. He prevailed to draw James Council in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Dechaine sent father (Bradley) Harrelson over to the loss side 8-4, while Song was sending Council over 8-3. In the first of three, Dechaine defeated Song 8-1 and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Bradley Harrison picked up Hollingsworth, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Song with 6-1 victories over Kim Davenport and Bradley Harrison’s son, Colston. Hollingsworth then shut ‘Dad’ out and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Council drew Roberts, who’d followed his loss to Song with five straight, which included the elimination of Tommy Kennedy, Gindac Ciprian Gabriel, and Archer. Roberts defeated Council 6-1 and joined Hollingsworth in the quarterfinals.
Roberts defeated Hollingsworth and moved on for a rematch against Song in the semifinals. In their earlier race to 8 in the third winners’ side round, Song had allowed Roberts only a single rack in their first meetup. He was a little less stingy in their rematch, allowing him four, as he chalked up the six he needed for a second and necessary second shot at Dechaine, waiting for him in the hot seat.
Dechaine had only been idle for a little over an hour, according to the digitalpool time stamps on the bracket. But Song was definitely on a ‘roll’ with his second victory over the event’s ‘favorite’ to win and no doubt brought some of that energy into the opening set of the true double-elimination final. He used it to battle an equally determined Mike Dechaine and between the two of them, began a sort of grand, double-hill battle over whose desire to win was stronger. Song took the opening set.
The second set was a reduced race to 6 and it almost reached the same fever pitch in a little less time. Dechaine edged out in front near the end to win the second battle 6-4 and claim Stop #9 on the Rack Race.
