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Sheppey Classic 3
Merlins
Entertainment Complex was the venue for the 3rd Sheppey Darts
Classic where Sheppey and Kent players vied with over sixty of the top
professional players for the top prize of £2,000.00.
A set
back in January for Tony Cox and John Fraser when the event had to be
re-scheduled after the date for the Budweiser UK Open had to be altered
could possibly have led to the event being cancelled. However, Tommy
and Lee Dunne came to the rescue offering Merlins Entertainment Complex
together with a very generous sponsorship.
It was a
new venture for Tommy and Lee and although sceptical about holding a
darts event they decided to give Tony and John their backing. As
close as two weeks before the event, £1800.00 was still needed but with
firms like Docs Plant Hire and A.F.B. Builders coming aboard in the late
stages adding to the generous support from all our other sponsors, the
event was able to go ahead.
The
first day of the event, it was the turn of the Ladies, Youth and pairs
to toe the oche in three money in and money out competitions. First
to play were the pairs and with Sheppey players losing out in the first
round the final were contested by Terry Hayes/Paul Griffiths from Weston
Super Mare and Terry Rose/Steve Maish from Essex. Terry and Steve
taking the £200.00 prize for the winners.
The
Ladies Competition was not kind to the local Sheppey players who went no
further than the second round – the eventual finalists being Sally
Dowell from Kent and Apylee Jone from Surrey. It was Apylee who took
the championship 3-2 in a close fought game.
Sheppey
youth player Lee Steele played superbly all day to make his first final
but went out to the more experienced Ross Smith from Kent. Along with
the trophies Ross received £20.00 and Lee £10.00 for their efforts.
Sunday
saw the 3rd Sheppey Classic take place and although the doors
did not open until 10am the car parks was full and a considerable queue
was forming outside Merlins’ doors, this always was going to be the
event of the year as far as Sheppey was concerned but it more than lived
up to expectations.
Simon
Petit from the White Horse, Sittingbourne went out first round to Essex
player Jim Noone along with Ricky O’Brien (Sheppey). Fred Burton
managed to stay in till the third round by beating Marlene Badger
(Sittingbourne). Richie Hope lost second round to pro Darren Webster
along with Mat Robson who lost to pro-player Andy Jenkins. It seemed
to be all Sheppey players were unlucky with the draw with Chris Wills
losing to Mick Manning; Vince Walsh to Garry Ellis; Ryan Hope losing to
Mark Boness and Steve Sidders (Sittingbourne) to Peter Evison.
Geoff
Harkup managed the best for Sheppey. He played some superb darts to
get to the last 32, a considerable feat considering the quality and
amount of pro players attending the event but Harkup went out to Pro
Jason Clark 4-3 but he did have nine darts to level the score
unfortunately the magnitude and excitement of the event got to him and
he missed his chance succumbing to Clark’s experience in first class
darts.
Dave
Whitcombe from the Gore Court Arms, Sittingbourne, has just returned to
the pro circuit after a lean spell at the top that made him retire for a
few years. Dave now feels he wants to win again and is ready to try for
the top once again. Whitcombe proved he still has that magic touch by
reaching the last eight and going out finally to Ronnie Baxter 4-0.
Baxter went on to beat Keith Deller 5-3 in the semi-final after Deller
lost heart because of numerous bounce outs he had experienced.
Andy
Belton from Norfolk (who has only been on the pro circuit for two years)
has been steadily building up his points but never actually winning a
big event. The Sheppey Classic saw him win his place in the final
after beating Shaun Baird, Kevin Spiolet, Terry Jenkins and Mark
Landers. He met Colin Monk in the semi-final beating him 5-1 to meet
Baxter in the final.
The
final turned out to be one of the best finals seen on Sheppey. Andy
started well, taking the first leg against the throw in 14 darts,
following through with the second leg in 13 darts with yet another 13
dart finish in the third leg. Ronnie fought back strong and replied
with a 13 dart leg of his own to take the fourth leg and carried on to
take the 5th leg. So evenly matched, the game could have
gone either way but a 82 shot out in the sixth leg gave Belton a 4-2
lead. Nonplussed Ronnie Baxter scraped his way back to make the score
3-4 – now tension was building. It took 22 darts for the man from
Norfolk, Andy Belton, to take the eighth leg and now he was on a roll.
With a maximum, followed by a 140 he went ahead to just miss a 170
checkout to take the title. Left with 25 for the match he finished this
off with two darts – the Third Sheppey Darts Classic Champion for
2005. An overwhelmed Andy (nicknamed “The Dreamer” simply broke down
in tears of joy – he had achieved his dream! Averages for the match :
Ronnie Baxter 28.51 and Andy Belton 30.22
Local
businessman, Gary Powell, so enjoyed his weekend that he deposited the
sum of £500.00 to be paid to any player in the last 16 who scored the
magical nine darter. It may not have been won but it did cause a lot of
excitement and speculation on who might do it especially when Belton hit
a maximum in one leg with his first three darts only to miss the next
180.
After
the presentation was carried out by Tommy and Lee Dunne, they
immediately invited the organizers, along with Andy and his fiancée, to
the bar to open two bottles of champagne to finalize what was a
fantastic weekend of darts.
We hope
to see everybody back at Merlins next year for the 4th
Sheppey Darts Classic when Tommy and Lee have promised to help us make
it bigger and better event.
Once
more our thanks to everybody who helped to make it into the success it
is.
Tony Cox and John Fraser
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