Pagulayan unscathed; Bustamante back in the hunt

Former world pool champion Alex Pagulayan posted five more victories to stretch his win run to eight and stay in the hunt for the 2008 Derby City Classic crown with compatriot Francisco “Django” Bustamante at the Executive West Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky Sunday.

Pagulayan, who clobbered a talent-laden field to lift the 2004 world 9-ball title in Taiwan, trounced Tiger Nall, Curtis de Hart and Shin Young Park then beat John Schmidt twice to remain unbeaten in eight matches.

After dropping his seventh round match to Pagulayan, Schmidt used his buy-in option to force a rematch with the talented Fil-Canadian, who beat the American cue master for the second time.

But while Pagulayan continued to frolic, Efren “Bata” Reyes bowed out of the title race as he dropped two matches, including one to Tony Fergerson in the eighth round.

Reyes, who matched Pagulayan’s hot start of three straight wins, also fell to Brent Jackson in the fourth round although he bounced back with victories over John Bretinoiu and Truman Hogue only to reel back with a setback to Fergerson.

But Bustamante sustained his fightback after an opening round setback, beating Michael Collins, Nall, Gerald Reichle, Jeremy Jones and Jonathan DeMet to stay in contention in the $100,000 event.

The other RP bets, however, fell by the wayside with Rodolfo Luat, Fil-Am Santos Sambajon and US-based Jose Parica dropping two matches and bowing out of the title race.

After dropping his match to Edward Ames in the second round, Luat succumbed to Tony Blankenship in the fourth round.

Sambajon suffered stinging back to back setbacks to Mark Tadd and Shawn Putnam in the sixth and seventh rounds while Parica, who stunned former world 9-ball champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany in the fifth round, lost to Mark Slye Jr. in the fourth and then to Larry Nevel in the sixth round.