Pit Stop Cup winner Robbie Stanger and runner-up Jamie Drever.
The spooky season is upon us and the 44 souls who braved the tempestuous weather to enter the Pit Stop Cup in the Orkney Golf Club on Friday evening clearly got the memo, as there were some ghastly darts on show, which is unusual to report these days.
The dastardly draw pitched many of the usual county team suspects together in the bottom half of the draw, with many of them clashing in the preliminary round, and as a result big names went tumbling early on almost as frequently as the oche on board one!
However, this opened up the top half of the draw, enabling some of the lower league players to add crucial points in their bid to claim a 'B' county spot. Stevie Garner won the opening ranking event of the season, but he was dispatched before the points stage, as was regular top points scorer Kevin Gray. It was noted at this stage how well the newer players to the league were doing with marking games, there are plenty of more experienced members who could take note and follow suit.
Wayne Monkman and Jamie Drever both navigated their way through the top half of the draw to meet in the semi-final. A close encounter was expected, but it was Jamie who displayed the most assured finishing to progress 4-1.
Robbie Stanger meanwhile had a tougher run to the semi-finals, winning a host of games in the deciding leg against a handful of strong opponents. There he would meet Erlend Lennie, who had a somewhat easier draw, although he was pushed almost as hard by his opponents. Robbie would prove far too hot to handle, winning through 4-0.
And so the final was set between arguably the battle of the two poster boys of the KDDL. Unfortunately, anyone expecting good looking darts was to be disappointed. Robbie was unusually slow out of the traps and Jamie looked very steady and composed as he went 2-0 ahead. A 180 out of the blue in the third leg spurred Robbie into life as he started finding the trebles with ease, although the doubles were proving almost impossible to hit for both of them.
A puzzling and uncharacteristic miscount should have cost Robbie the fourth, but Jamie's scoring game had deserted him by then and Robbie rattled off five straight legs to retain the title, thanks almost completely to his heavy scoring. A strange night of darts with only 6 180s, 4 ton-plus checkouts and one leg under 15 darts. Hopefully normal service will resume from everyone at the next ranking event, the Jim Scollie Masters in a few weeks time.
Results:
Pit Stop Cup Final: Robbie Stanger 5, Jamie Drever 2
'A' League:
Untouchables 9, Tankerness 3
Exiles 4, Legion 8
OGC 7, Wanderers 5
Sanday 8, Ale Stars 4
'B' League:
Rough 'n' Rowdy 9, Young Loons 3
Sands 12, Muppets 0
Bellevue 4, Bilco Boys 8
'C' League:
Exporters 8, Sands '2' 4
Vikings 8, Outcasts 4
EMYFC 3, Nomads 9
Bull Hitters 1, Shandy Bass 11
180s were scored by: Jim Brown, Ian Linklater, Brett Dickinson, Stevie Linklater, Stevie Garner, Paul Foubister, Wayne Monkman, Alan Gray, Nicol Gray, Logan Peace, Jamie Drever, Michael Montgomery, John Garson, Malcolm Coghill, Kevin Gray, Leigh Shearer, Ian Findlay, Simon Parry, Erland Ritch (two), Robbie Stanger (two), Gavin Skea (two) and Kevin Peace (three). Kenny Gunn had a score of 177 with Billy Ward also hitting a 171.
High Checkouts: Leigh Shearer 101, Brian Moar 102, Brian Stevenson 103, Stevie Linklater 108, Kevin Peace 108, Erland Ritch 110, Malcolm Coghill 117, Matthew Wylie 117, Toby Penwarden 118, Keith Holland 120, Jamie Drever 122, Matty Boler 122, Kevin Gray 101, 123, Ian Linklater 104, 108 and Thomas Leslie 106, 106 and 129.
Short Legs: Brian Moar 15, Stevie Linklater 15, Leigh Shearer 15, Ryan Findlater 15, Ian Linklater 14, Simon Parry 14, Kevin Gray 14, Kevin Peace/Stevie Linklater 14 and Robbie Stanger 15, 15.
Fixtures:
'A' League:
Untouchables v Wanderers
Exiles v OGC
Sanday v Legion
Tankerness v Ale Stars
'B' League:
Rough 'n' Rowdy v Quoyburray B
Sands v Quoyburray
Bellevue v Muppets
Young Loons v Bilco Boys
'C' League:
Exporters v Nomads
Vikings v EMYFC
Bull Hitters v Outcasts
Sands 2 v Shandy Bass (Monday)
Saturday November 8, Davie Cooper Memorial Cup (Open), Masonic, 1.30pm