Over the weekend two more regions debuted in the Winmau DPA 2021 Satellite Series with ACT and South Australian players participating for the first time, at the Young Services club and Kadina Darts club respectively.
In the ACT region there was an opportunity for some players to make their name against the more established stars and on the Saturday they did just that. Event One saw stars from the 2019 development tour in Greg Le’Strange and Josh Townsend make it through to the quarter finals, although both fell at that stage, to Jake Buckley (4-3) and Adam Faulkner (4-1) respectively. Veteran Daniel Sim did progress through to the semi finals, thanks to a win in a final leg decider against Corey Fortington whilst another player well known on the DPA circuit, Matthew Leahy, fell at the same stage to Bryson Williams (4-2.)
Both semi finals were comprehensive affairs with Daniel Sim only able to hold throw in what would be the penultimate leg of the match against Jake Buckley. Adam Faulkner also secured only one leg in his match against Williams, this time against the throw in the third leg. Faulkner then missed multiple opportunities to hold throw in the next leg before Williams threw a 15 dart leg (including visits of 140 and 159) to secure the 4-1 victory.
The Final saw Buckley hold throw in the opening leg before he broke the Williams throw in the second. Williams struck back straight away by breaking the throw of his opponent and then held throw to tie things back up. Buckley held throw in 17 darts before Williams was able to tie thing up once more. Buckley then held once more throw to put the pressure on his opponent to hold throw and put the match into a deciding leg. Williams was unable to do so as three small visits put Buckley in the box seat and that advantage was never slip as Bucley won the leg and took out the match 5-3.
The second event saw better success at the quarter final stage for Greg Le’Strange and Matthew Leahy as they defeated Daniel Sim (4-0) and the previous day’s winner Jake Buckley (4-1) respectively. The other quarters went to Thomas Hynes (who defeated Corey Fortington in a deciding leg) and Jon Pearson (overcoming the previous event’s runner up in Bryson Williams 4-2.)
Le’Strange then took on Hynes in the first semi final and it was Hynes who took the first break of the match to move 2-1 ahead after three legs. Le’Strange had missed a chance chasing 32 for that third leg and paid the price but then struck straight back by eventually breaking the Hynes throw at the next attempt. In the next leg he only needed one dart at tops to move ahead in the match 3-2. The next Hynes throw could have gone either way as Hynes watched his opponent only move from 57 to 20 before he himself left 16 chasing 48. LeStrange then missed out on 20 before Hynes busted 16. Le’Strange got the required double ten with his next dart to take out the match 4-2 and make the Final of Event Two.
In the other semi final Pearson and Leahy both held their opening throw before Leahy broke his opponent in leg three. He then held throw in 17 darts to take a comfortable 3-1 lead in a chase to four. Pearson then held his own throw before both players spurned multiple darts to take out leg six. In the end it was Pearson who got the break although Leahy would have been disappointed not to have checked out on three of his previous visits to the oche. Thus Pearson had the throw in the deciding leg but he opened slowly and Leahy secured an early lead with a 140 on his second visit. He consolidated this with visits of 125 and 97 to leave tops which he secured with his last dart in hand on his sixth visit. Thus Leahy had made the Event Two Final in the ACT as well.
In the Final it was Leahy who opened the stronger, holding throw in 18 darts before breaking his opponent in 15. He held a good lead in the next leg but poor finishing struck and Le’Strange took full advantage by stealing the break. He then watched as Leahy missed more darts for the next leg and was able to once more take full advantage, holding throw to put the match back on even terms. Both players missed darts for the next leg but it was Leahy who held his nerve to move back into the lead. Le’Strange then powered to requiring just 81 after nine darts in the next leg but took a little more time than expected to move the match back into equity once more. He then secured a break in 17 darts before holding his own throw in with the same amount of darts to secure the Final of Event Two 5-3 over Leahy.
In South Australia Andy Pinder became the first person across the nation to win two events on the one weekend. In Event One he defeated Darren Lovell 4-2 in the quarter finals. The Bradley Clothier Rob Modra clash finished even closer, with Clothier winning the deciding leg, whilst both John Nottage (over George Creasey) and Scott Hallett (over Matt Williams) won their matches 4-1.
The first semi final was a whitewash as Pinder defeated Clothier 4-0 whilst in the other Nottage went out to an early two leg lead before Hallett pinned him back with two legs of his own. After holding his throw in 17 darts Nottage then broke the Hallett throw to take the leg and the match 4-2.
The Final started well for Nottage as he opened with a 180 against the throw. He soon whittled down to requiring 40 but was unable to put it away in two visits and despite missing a shot at the bull for the leg, Pinder got to come back to the oche and hold throw. Pinder then missed opportunities of his own to break the Nottage through but finally got the ten required to go to a two leg lead. Leg three saw Pinder check out a 96 to move three legs clear. He then broke Nottage once more, this time in 16 darts, having started with three ton or ton plus visits. Another similar start in the next leg on throw and Pinder was able to put the leg away to win the match by five clear legs. In ten matches across the day Pinder only conceded eight legs.
Event Two saw George Creasey reverse the quarter final result from the day before over John Nottage to move into the semi finals. Andy Pinder made the same progress by securing the same scoreline (4-1) against Phillip Rowland. Scott Hallett made it two wins from two against Matt Williams in the quarters with a 4-3 win, whilst Rob Modra took out Bradley Clothier in a deciding leg to get revenge for his loss the same way at the same stage in Event One.
The close matches continued in the semi finals with both going to a final deciding leg. Pinder and Creasey could not hold their opening throws and it was up to Pinder to finally hold in leg three. He then broke Creasey to put himself in prime position only for Creasey to break straight back in 17 darts. Creasey then held throw using the same amount of arrows. Pinder had the throw in the next leg but four consecutive 100 visits put Creasey in good position. A 140 and 75 from Pinder left him requiring 60 which he got at the first attempt as Creasey stood behind him requiring only 38 for the match.
Rob Modra held his opening throw in the other semi final but missed a chance at 52 for the check out in the second leg. Despite having missed the bull in his previous visit to the oche, Scott Hallett was able to come back and score the 25 required to go 1-1 in the match. Hallett then threw a 12 darter, including a 96 check out, to break Modra and go to the lead. Modra struck back in 16 darts to tie the match back up before holding throw in 17 darts to move back ahead. Hallett then held throw so the result came down to whether Modra could hold throw in the deciding leg. With all of his experience Modra was able to hold strong, securing visits of 100, 134 and 125 along the way, to secure the leg and the match (four legs to three.)
The opening legs of the Final saw both players hold their throw comfortably. Pinder then held throw for a second time in the same fashion but missed a shot at a 102 checkout in leg four. Modra then threw the required 60 for the leg. For the third time Pinder held his throw comfortably before finally taking his chance on the Modra throw, securing tops after his opponent missed a chance at an 82 check out. On throw Pinder put away the required 38 with Modra standing behind him requiring 16 for his first break of throw in the match. Thus with this 5-2 victory Andy Pinder became a dual event winner across the weekend.
The Winmau DPA 2021 Satellite Series continues this upcoming weekend with a catch up event in Western Australia. Tim Pusey and Koha Kokiri will be looking to continue their good form of Events One or Two but will be up against a high calibre field ready to prove the quality and depth of darts in Western Australia
Round Robin – 501 best of 5 legs.
Top 4 from the Group stage progress to the knockout stage
Knockout - 501 best of 7 legs.
Final – 501 best of 9 legs.
Australian Capital Territory
Young Services Club
FINAL
Greg Le’Strange 5-3 Mat Leahy
Top 4
Greg Le’Strange 4-2 Thomas Hynes
Mat Leahy 4-3 Jon Pearson
Top 8
Greg Le’Strange 4-0 Daniel Sim
Thomas Hynes 4-3 Corey Fortington
Mat Leahy 4-1 Jake Buckley
Bryson Williams 2-4 Jon Pearson
Group A
Jake Buckley
Pat Molloy
Josh Townsend
Greg Le’Strange
Jon Pearson
Thomas Hynes
1st – Greg Le’Strange
2nd – Thomas Hynes
3rd – Jake Buckley
4th – Jon Pearson
Group B
Bryson Williams
Mat Leahy
Daniel Sim
Corey Fortington
Bob Berg
Trevor Crooke
John Laybutt
1st – Bryson Williams
2nd – Mat Leahy
3rd – Corey Fortington
4th – Daniel Sim
South Australia
Kadina Darts Club
FINAL
Andy Pinder 5-2 Rob Modra
Top 4
George Creasey 3-4 Andy Pinder
Scott Hallett 3-4 Rob Modra
Top 8
George Creasey 4-1 John Nottage
Andy Pinder 4-1 Phillip Rowland
Scott Hallett 4-3 Matt Williams
Rob Modra 4-3 Bradley Clothier
Group A
Andy Pinder
Bradley Clothier
Tracey Avis
Michael Powell
George Creasey
Matt Williams
Darren Lovell
1st – George Creasey
2nd – Andy Pinder
3rd – Matt Williams
4th – Bradley Clothier
Group B
John Nottage
Scott Hallett
Danielle Ainsworth
Randell Skelton
Michael Nicholls
Phillip Rowland
Paul Choules
Rob Modra
1st – Rob Modra
2nd – Scott Hallett
3rd – Phillip Rowland
4th – John Nottage