The Pitstop Singles Cup, the second of this year's seven ranking points competitions, was held in the Orkney Golf Club last Friday evening.
Despite being within easy reach of the centre of town it is habitually the worst attended of the ranking competitions, and this year was the lowest entry yet, with only 24 players coming forward.
With KDDL rules stating that a match must be won before any points can be gained, it resulted in 4 players receiving byes into the last 16 and coming away with no points. This is a real missed opportunity for those players on the fringes of either of the main or 'B' county squads and anyone aspiring to be part of those teams really needs to be showing up at these events.
The event itself however was a huge success, especially in terms of the return of that old Friday night darts feeling. Whilst the atmosphere was superb, the standard of darts on show never really reached the heights of some of the previous competitions and league games, but there were obvious nerves on show from a number of players.
The draw threw up a real bottom heavy draw, resulting in a glorious opportunity in the top half for some huge points to be won. Gary Wilson and Kevin Peace played steadily all night to find themselves pitched against each other in the semi-final. It was a somewhat nervy affair with Kevin managing to hit the doubles at just the right time to win 4-2.
By Semi-final time in the bottom of the draw it was old stalwarts Stevie Linklater and Kevin Gray who were squaring up. Having almost dominated Kirkwall darts between them over the last 15-20 years, it was surprising to find Stevie in the position of needing to lift his first ranking trophy since the Pitstop Cup in 2016, while Kevin was trying to re-establish his dominance, having missed the first ranking event through an ill-timed mediterranean cruise!
Stevie drew first blood and really should have sewn up the second leg but missed his opportunity. The tie was finely balanced throughout but Kevin was the one managing to finish off the legs to win 4-1, giving him the opportunity to try and retain his title.
Harsh as it is to say, the final was a real anti-climax, the proverbial damp squib, with Kevin Gray just doing enough in each leg to see it out, with Kevin Peace obviously struggling to relax into the game and trying far too hard. A 180 from Gray in the second leg was really the only highlight as he strolled to a comfortable 5-0 win with an average struggling to get much north of 70.
Valuable points for Peace though and a real confidence boost in reaching a ranking event final. He will undoubtedly come back better prepared and more determined next time.
Results:
'A' League:
Legion 6, Untouchables 6
Sanday 7, Exiles 5
OGC11, Bilco Boys 1
'B' League:
Skippers 7, Shandy Bass 5
Tankerness 8, Vikings 4
Muppets 10, Shapinsay 2
Young Loons 3, Sands 9
Quoyburray 5, Murray Arms 7
Pitstop Singles (Ranking) final: Kevin Gray 5, Kevin Peace 0
Fixtures:
'A' League: Bilco Boys v Untouchables
OGC v Exiles
Sanday v Legion
'B' League: Muppets v Shandy Bass
Young Loons v Vikings
Murray Arms v Shapinsay
Quoyburray v Sands
Tankerness v Skippers
Saturday November 5
Davy Cooper Open memorial Singles, Masonic, names by 1.30pm
180s came from: Stevie Moar, Gordon Rendall, Kevin Peace, Daryl Robertson, Stevie Linklater, Kevin Sarling, Jamie Drever, Aaron Mitchell, Gary Wilson (two), Brett Dickinson, Brian Moar (two) and Kevin Gray (six).
High finishes came from: Wayne Monkman 106, Brian Moar 107, Stuart Thomson 112, Wayne Small 114, Nicol Gray 115 and Paul Foubister 115.