The second Pro Cup of the 2012 season ended up as a repeat of the third Pro Cup of last season, seeing ’Guapo’ Karl Boyes come up against The Tornado, Tony Drago.

Karl Boyes - Pro Cup (II) Winner (© Andy Warden)

Boyes’ path to the final started comfortably enough, putting together a solid showing to beat Darryn Walker 9-3 and send himself through to the winners qualifying bracket. The wheels temporarily fell off the Boyes bandwagon, however, with Imran Majid hammering Guapo 9-1 to send him across to the losers bracket. He did make it through to the quarter finals from here, but only just – a 9-8 victory over Arfan Dad enough to set up a last 8 meeting with Shaun Storry. Boyes seemed to turn on ruthless mode at this stage, taking a 9-1 victory setting up a second meeting the competition with Imran Majid. The Maharaja couldn’t make it past Boyes this time, however, and it was Guapo who won 9-6 to go through to his first GB9 final for eight months.

Drago started his tournament off in typically quick fashion. With a combined time of just 69 mins for his 2 matches in the double elimination stage, he saw off Stewart Colclough in his opening match 9-2 before winning his winners bracket match against Jayson Shaw by the same scoreline. A much sterner test came in his following two matches – Chris Hall gave as good as he got, but Drago saw off his challenge with a 9-7 victory and set up a rematch of his own against Jayson Shaw. As is always the case with two lighting quick players, the match time wasn’t going to be very long. Drago ultimately won through 9-8 in just 68 minutes and ensure a mouthwatering final against Boyes, both in their first final since they last previously met.

The final was just as hard fought as both players’ semi-finals, with Tony and Karl both playing clinical and professional pool. 16 racks couldn’t separate them, and it went down to Boyes holding his nerve in the 17th and final rack to take a nailbiting 9-8 victory and seal his first GB9 title since the 2010 British Grand Prix.