James’s Harrogate Joy

With a week to play before the ADC Vault 5.0 Series concludes, James Hall boosted his Finals Night chances with a second Round Robin win in the Yorkshire & Humber region at the Manhattan Club, with a 3-0 victory over Carl Heptinstall in the Final.

The hometown player moves into 23rd in the region after his win in Harrogate, with the top 32 players securing places at Finals Night where a place at the MODUS Super Series is up for grabs.

James opened his campaign with 3 wins in 1 of two group stages for the night, finishing behind Antony Sharratt and Richard Yates who both lost just one game in Group 2.

Hall’s best performance came in his opening match against Yates, running out a 2-0 winner with a 73.72 average including a 72 checkout to break in the second leg.
Rick Harper who is the Yorkshire & Humber region ranked number 17, impressed in the other group stage after topping the group with just one defeat. Ironically his best performance came in his only defeat against Steve Higgins, who included a first 9 dart average of 100.67 in winning 2-0 in Harrogate.

Sharratt and Harper won their respective groups, with the top 4 in each group stage qualifying for the Quarter Finals at the Manhattan Club.

Hall finished 3rd in Group 2 to set up a Quarter Final with Steve Higgins, taking a 17-dart break of throw in the opening leg of the match. The Englishman included a 180 and 2 140s in setting up a Semi Final against Harry Masterson, recording a first 9 dart average of 95.93 against Higgins.

Rick Harper impressed in his Quarter Final with Benjamin Fleming, including a 15-dart break of throw after hitting a 161 checkout on the bullseye to reach the Final 4.

Rick’s run came to an end in the Semi Finals after Carl Heptinstall recovered from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and reach the Final. Carl hit 10 scores over 100 in his 3-2 win over Richard Yates in the Quarter Finals, finding a 91 finish to secure the victory. Hall reached the Final with a 3-2 win over Harry Masterson after hitting a 72 checkout on double 6 in 2 darts, including 6 scores over 100 to advance in North Yorkshire.

James produced the second-best performance of the day to move a point behind Cameron Edkins in the regional rankings table, averaging 88.41 to whitewash Heptinstall 3-0 in the Final including a 14 dart hold of throw in the second leg.

Just a week remains before we have our Final 32 players from all the regions amongst the Vault 5.0, with players like James Richardson, Conan Whitehead and Tony Wood all securing places at the MODUS Super Series via previous Vault Round Robin competitions.

Events are still to take place in Pudsey, Hull, Harrogate, and Scarborough with just over a week to go now before the end of the ADC Vault 5.0 Series.