The first Darts WA ranked event for the season was held last Saturday where over 140 keen ‘Darties’ turned out to take part in the annual ‘Bob Grayson Memorial’.
Bob was a long serving member of the DWA Committee where he held various positions over the years, including Manager of the Men’s State Team for many of them. Bob was well respected and a tireless worker for the darting community overall.
President Betty Hislop said she was extremely pleased with the turn out on the day and in particular, the number of the State’s junior players taking part.
Ladies ‘Open’
In a high quality field that boasted 11 current and former State players, the ladies battled it out to see who would take the honours in the first ‘Ranked’ event of the year. Angela Clarke was consistent all day and a worthy winner over State team mate Julie Lewis.
Ladies ‘B’ Grade
The ladies ‘B’ Grade was also a strongly contested affair with a mix of some new and up and coming young players along with some seasoned campaigners, making it a great challenge all round. Eventually it came down to a couple of the seasoned players with Kristina Gallacher edging out Laurel Bainbridge in the final.
Mens ‘Open’
With a starting field of 58, it was a ‘Who’s Who’ of WA’s darting talent with players coming from as far as Geraldton, Bunbury and even Victoria. At the completion of the ‘Round Robin’ a couple of the ‘Big Guns’ failed to make it off their boards along with some big upsets in the early part of the ‘Knock Out’. In the end, it all came down to consistency with Beau Anderson taking on Gearoid Carmody in the Best of 9 Final. The lads turned on a brilliant display of power scoring and clinical pegging to entertain the remaining crowd and the ‘Old Maestro’ Beau Anderson turned back the clock to remind everyone of his ‘Champion’ status by eventually taking out the honours with a 5 – 3 win.
Mens ‘B’ Grade
A terrific turnout of 55 x starters for the Men’s ‘B’ Grade saw some excellent darts thrown throughout the day with many wondering why some of these guys were in fact playing in the ‘B’ Grade. Again, consistency was the name of the game with some of the early favourites falling by the way. Solid all day performance eventually saw Braedon Lawrence taking the honours with a 4 – 1 win over Tom Hunt in the final.
Finally, a huge thank you to everyone for coming along to support the event, to both our Event Co-ordinators Angie Fairman and Audrey Mullen for another job well done and to the Belmont Sports & Recreation Club for their continued hospitality…..see you all at the West Coast Classic on the 7th & 8th March.
