Redtooth National Darts Final 2013
Sunday 24th November, Genting Casino, Sheffield
More than 150 people gathered at the Genting Casino in Sheffield last Sunday for the National Final of the Redtooth Darts tournament with players from as far apart as Dundee and Devon.
After six gruelling hours the Group stages were completed and we entered the knock-out stages with the last 32 remaining players.
The Redtooth Darts North Regional Final for season 4 got underway on Saturday 17th November at Rileys in Wigan.
After some tense matches in the league stages, the 4 semi-finalists were Scott Dale, Graham Salmon, Paul Howell and Andy Hornby.
Paul “Howler” Howell (Gunner) had a fantastic 3 darts finish with 20, treble 17, bull and subsequently won 4 – 1 against Andy Hornby (Dog & Partridge) to make it into the final. Scott Dale (Dog & Partridge) battled it out against Graham Salmon (Gunner) also winning 4 – 1 to secure his place in the final.
Onto the final round and best of 9. Scott took the lead against Paul and then ran away with a 5 – 0 win to take the title of Regional Final Winner, his finishing blowing away the competition. Good luck in the National Final Scott !!
Touched down at Stuttgart airport on Thursday evening as I had a date with a former 3 time world champion (John Part ) the following evening. That gave me plenty of time to familiarise myself with the surroundings and relax before tomorrow’s big game.
So Friday afternoon I make my way to the Glasplas Arena a good few hours before I am due to play to have a proper practice and warm up. By the time I am due to play I’m well ready to take on the 3 time world champion. I was pretty slow out the blocks as John Part went off like a train taking a 5-2 lead. But with grit and determination I got back to 5-5 and hit the winning double, double 4 in the decider. Not many people can say they’ve beat a world champion on a stage.
The Scottish Regional final took place at Riley’s Edinburgh and started with the presentation of trophies and certificates to the individual pub winners.
In the first semi-final Ralph Hirst, Riley’s, Edinburgh was drawn against Fred Thompson, the winner of the league at The Eagle Coaching Inn, Dundee. The second semi-final saw the Riley’s, Edinburgh champion, David Daly up against Chris Kirkcaldy from The Eagle Coaching Inn, Dundee.
The first semi got underway with Fred taking the first leg in 20 darts. Missed doubles cost Fred in the second leg with Ralph eventually levelling the match at 1-1. Ralph steadily improved his scoring and with Fred continuing to have ‘double trouble’ Ralph took control of the match winning the next three legs to run out a 4-1 winner.
The second semi saw David Daly (Riley’s, Edinburgh) up against Chris Kirkcaldy (Eagle Coaching Inn).
Chris won the bull and stormed into a 1-0 lead against Dave.
Both players struggled in the second leg with David on the double first missing several darts at the double, Chris came down and hit double 2 to win the leg and go 2-0 up.
Despite some good scoring from David, Chris was proving to be on form with his finishing, eventually running out a 4-0 winner.
The Final between Ralph and Chris was to be decided over the best of 9 legs. Ralph won the bull and romped into the lead scoring 100 & 105 in a 19 dart finish.
Chris levelled the game at 1-1 going out in 18 darts.
After this Ralph took complete control of the match throwing 3 140’s and 6 100’s as he took the next four legs to run out a worthy 5-1 winner.
Congratulations to Ralph Hirst, Riley’s, Edinburgh the Scottish Regional Champion for Season 3.
Riley’s Victoria was the host venue again for the Regional Final which started off with the presentation of trophies and certificates to the individual pub winners.
Despite it being a Bank Holiday Sunday it was extremely pleasing to see all three players from the Walnut Tree in Maidstone attend; even more impressive was the turnout from the Market House Inn, Cullompton in Devon who not only bought three players but also had six supporters in tow. They had set off from Exeter at 8.30 am and were on the 9.00 pm coach back, due to arrive about 1.00am, truly dedicated darts fans!
The group stage set the standard for the day with 180s flying in on a regular basis and Richard Gumble (Riley’s Victoria) even achieving a magical 170 maximum finish in his 3-0 win over Amos Fuller (Walnut Tree, Maidstone).
Perhaps one of the biggest shocks of the day was seeing London Super League player, John Power (Riley’s, Victoria) failing to qualify for the semi-final; after winning his first two games, 3-0 against Jack Fuller (Walnut Tree) and 3-1 against Darron Cottrell (Market House Inn) he lost 2-3 to Bob Fuller (Walnut Tree) and 2-3 to Steve Boyce (Market House Inn).
Players gathered at Riley’s, Wigan for the Season 3 Regional Final which got underway with the presentation of trophies and certificates to individual pub winners.
Many of the players had one eye on the TV screens as Wigan prepared to take on Hull in the Challenge Cup Final, they were all hoping to complete a successful afternoon on the board and also enjoy the local team picking up another trophy at Wembley!
The league stages were keenly fought with a 180 in the first leg of the first match by Stu Jones, Riley’s, Wigan setting the tone for what would be an impressive session of darts.
Stu would go on to top the league winning all six of his matches in some style, 3-0 against Craig Orr (Cricketers Arms, Sandbach), 3-1 against Mike Wilson (Riley’s), 3-1 against Josh Walton (Cricketers Arms), 3-0 against Anton Hastings (Riley’s), 3-2 against Tom Neil (Pheasant, Batley) and finally 3-1 against Mark Woodberry (Cricketers Arms).
Paul “Moomoo” Amos will be back at the oche from the 14th September after the summer break. Good Luck Paul from all at Redtooth.
Paul is presently ranked 51st on this year’s PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit and will hopefully continue to moooove up the rankings over the next few months.
He is also ranked 90th on the PDC Order of Merit (based on 2 year rolling prize money).
Paul “Moo Moo” Amos took part in The 2013 Gibraltar Darts Trophy Main Event thattook place at the Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar from 28 to 30th June.
There was a field of 64 players with a prize pool of £100,000. Paul reached the last 32 and won £1000 in prize money – well done Paul !!!! The event was eventually won by Phil “The Power” Taylor with Jamie Lewis as runner up.
Paul has also qualified for the European Tour Event 7 in Sindelfingen, Germany which takes place in September – Good luck to Paul for this event from all at Redtooth Darts.
Report from Paul ‘Moo Moo’ Amos
I arrived at the venue just after 9am in time for a decent practice before players championship no:6 starting at 12 noon.
Was feeling confident after beating the world number 10 Dave Chisnal in the last tournament, and narrowly losing to the world number 12 Kevin Painter 6-5 in the last leg decider the day before in players championship 5.
So the draw was made about 11 o clock and my first match was against Darren Johnson a good solid dart player. Also on my board was the legend that is called Phil (THE POWER) Taylor.
Regional final’s day had arrived at (Riley’s Edinburgh), on the 25th of May players from all over Scotland had earned there place at regional finals to compete for there national finals place at Sheffield on the 24th of November.
Presentation and group draw had been done with pub Champion Alex Tweedy in group 1, he showed no hesitation taking maximum points winning all games 2-0 2-0 2-0 in the group and topping the table with no legs against the Paraffin Lamp Champion.
Jim Copeland also from the Paraffin Lamp showing great performance through-out the day only losing out to Champion Alex Tweedy Jim finished as runner up in group 1.
Group 1 other competitors were Riley’s Edinburgh David Daly and also Paraffin Lamp Rab Dougal showing very little form and not making the top 2 today it was not meant to be there day.
Group 2 Was the group of Death with Champions Tam Park and Ryan Murray being drawn in the same group also last season’s qualifier Scott Parry being paired with the Champions it was going to be a tough group.
Up first was Champion Tam Park against pub qualifier Chris Gray , Chris fought for his place in the weekly season 2 challenges, On the day Chris showed fantastic darts against the Champion with a great start to the day with a 1-0 up over the Champion, Tam showed no fear and bounced straight back to go 1-1 but Chris had the last laugh with a great 15 dart leg to get the 2-1 win over the champion.
Ryan Murray last year’s National finalist was back to compete to try and earn his place again was up against season 1 qualifier Scott Parry, Ryan took the first leg in a steady 17 darts leg Scott was on form and found another gear to go 1-1 Champion Ryan showed great form with a 180 in the decider and taking the 2-1 win.
It did not stop there with the two Champions up against each other with Champion Ryan straight out the blocks with a 16 and 17 dart legs to win 2-0 Champion Tam Park was looking for Scott to get the win over inform Chris to Keep him in with a shout but Chris’s excellent performance took out Scott with a 2-0 victory to take Chris into 2nd place of the table and put Champion Tam out of the top two qualifier of the group stages.
Finally a win for Champion Tam Park over Scott 2-0 with the final match of the group stages underway saw Champion Ryan Take out Chris with 2-0 win to top the group B and Chris Gray runner up.
Qualifiers for Sheffield and Semi Finalist game were Paraffin Lamp Champion Alex Tweedy versus Riley’s Edinburgh Chris Gray in the first semi final and Riley’s Edinburgh Champion Ryan versus Groups A runner up Paraffin Lamp Jim Copeland in the 2nd semi final.
Alex winning the bull to go first and only 6 darts into the first leg Champion Alex scored a maximum 180 and winning the first leg not a problem for the inform Riley’s Chris Gray who bounced right back which saw the Champion 2-1 down Chris missing 6 darts to go 3-1 up on the champion ,Alex checked out 112 under the pressure the champ showed why he’s champ pulling off a great finishing performance hitting a 18 and 15 dart legs to seal the deal put Alex into the final with a 4-2 victory over Chris.
Second semi of the day Saw Champion Ryan play runner up Jim Copeland from the paraffin Lamp, Jim wins the bull to kick off the semi final but not an issue for Champion Ryan who breaks through and goes on to a great lead of 3-0 with heavy scoring Jim does not stop and gets a leg on the board Ryan wins the last leg with a cool 16 darts to see him into the final with a 4-1 victory over Jim.
Paraffin Lamp’s Champion for two seasons Alex Tweedy was up against Riley’s Champion Ryan Murray in the final which had both parties spectators on the edge of there seats with both players playing well all day Alex was up for the bull first hitting the outer bull (25)Ryan throwing just outside the outer (25)the game was underway. Ryan with no hesitations wins the leg in 17 darts against the throw of play.
Champion Alex shows why he is in the final punishing Ryan with A maximum (180) after Ryan starting poor in the second leg but 6 darts later Champion Ryan goes back into the lead hitting a maximum (180) in the same leg Ryan going onto win the leg in 18 darts.
Champion Alex still fighting hard with some steady scoring from both Champions in a fantastic third leg from both players Alex missing double’s Ryan steals the leg in 16 darts.
Champion Ryan heavy score’s in the forth leg with back to back 140’s and a 100 takes Champion Ryan 4-0 up with a great 14 darts leg to take his tally to 4-0 up.
Paraffin Lamp’s Champ feels no defeat as he starts the fifth and final leg with a good 100 Ryan starts 100 to keep the leg tied Alex scores only 45 Ryan Punishing Alex once again with some heavy scoring which sees Champion Ryan seal the match off with a steady 16 darts leg to seal the game set and match 5 legs to nil Ryan finishing off the day with a nice 30.92 average Alex falling at the last hurdle finishing off with a 24.78 Riley’s once again sees Champion Ryan become the second Regional final Champion Joining season 1 Champion Paul Burrows at National Finals.
National Final Qualifiers:
