North Regional Final – 1st December 2012

North Regional Final

Wigan Rileys, Saturday 1st December 2012

There was a real ‘buzz’ around Wigan Rileys from the moment we arrived at around 1pm on Saturday with many players taking advantage of the great Darts facilities on site, getting a few hours practice in before the start.

As always, pub champions’ certificates and trophies were awarded to the deserving winners before the commencement of play.

The draw was made for eight groups with the top two players from each group qualifying for the last sixteen.

The standard in the early stages was excellent in parts with Tom Gregory recording an 11 darter in one of his group matches. The group format allows players the opportunity to play a number of matches and a loss does not necessarily mean elimination. There were no defeats for A180’s Jamie Landon from Stoke, though, as the 21 year-old cruised through his group with a +6 legs difference. It was the same story for Rileys Scunthorpe’s Tom Gregory as he followed up a first match whitewash of his fellow ‘Scunthorper’ Vinnie Hawksworth with two more clear wins.

Landon followed up his group dominance with a fantastic 3-0 victory against Colin Craven in the last 16. However, in the quarter final, the Stokey was put under more pressure as Danny Lidgett took the first leg. Jamie then drew level but found himself back on 150 as Lidgett left 32 to go 2-1 up. Alas, Landon stepped up as cool as can be, finishing on two treble twenties and a double fifteen to go 2-1 up. This proved to be a turning point and from there Landon never looked back as he stormed to a 4-1 win in the quarter final and promptly following up with a 5-0 whitewash of Woodlands Hotel’s (St Helens) Stephen Marrow in the semi-finals. Marrow had fared well in the competition until coming up against an in-form Landon.

So, it was Jamie Landon through to the final, but who would he be facing?

After being defeated 2-0 in his first group game and having a self-confessed “nightmare month” in the run up to the Redtooth North Regional final, Scunthorpe’s Vinnie Hawksworth must have thought it wasn’t going to be his day, especially as he drew his nemesis Tom Gregory in the last 16. This match was a different story, though, and Vinnie turned the form book on its head as he emerged as a 3-0 winner. A rejuvenated Hawksworth followed this victory up with a 4-0 whitewash of Carl Bolshaw (Cricketers Arms, Sandbach) in the quarter finals and a 5-2 victory over Six Bells’ (Barrow upon Humber) Jamie Ellam in the semi-final.

Both Jamie and Vinnie played a tremendous final with both players hitting a 180 to the delight of the 180-waving crowd and it was Vinnie who emerged the 5-3 victor. Landon had threatened a comeback from 4-1 down to get back to 4-3 it was Scunthorpe’s day as Vinnie triumphed: a deserving winner.

All eight quarter finalists have qualified for Leeds, where the standard promises to be excellent.

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