The final two events of the Winmau Championship South season took place in Aylesbury, and Jack Drayton and Roger Crook took the titles, with places at the Tour Finals and the ADC Global Championship also confirmed on a frantic day of action at Bradmoor Farm.
Drayton had made the final of Event Nine, and the Fleetwood native went a step further on Sunday, a 5-2 win against Michael Wiles confirming his first title of the season at Event 11.
Wins against Kyle Mantom and Ash Ling, a 98.20 average included, started Drayton’s day, and he then survived last-leg thrillers with Liam Earwicker and Archie Self to make the last 16, where he thrashed Ross Twell 5-1. After a 5-2 win against Reece Colley, Drayton impressed to make the final.
A 93.50 average enough to see off Asa Canfield 5-1. Wiles won Friday’s warm-up event, and he started with wins against Taylor Harding, Callum Grealis and George Cressey. Tom Parradine was shaded 5-4 to allow Wiles to make the last eight, and he then averaged over 93 to take a 5-2 win against Dan Hands, but rode his luck to make the final, dodging match darts to evade Robbie Martin 5-4.
Drayton put on a scoring clinic in the final, and ended with an average of over 94 as he springboarded himself into top eight contention with maximum points.
Crook was the final champion to be crowned, and he did so in dramatic fashion, taking a 5-4 win against Harrison Leigh in the Event 12 finale.
Backed by plenty of friends and family, Crook lost just two legs in making the last 32, as he banked wins against Rich Griffee, James Goodin and Matthias Dietrich, and further wins over Graham Jenkins and Steve Green saw him make the last eight, where he averaged over 87 to deny Adam Mould on his home turf in a final leg.
Crook would then advance to the final, as he clinched a 5-3 win over Jamie Kelling. Leigh worked hard for wins over Hayden Newman, Mason Teese and Lloyd Pennell, ending the Welshman’s qualification hopes, and he went the distance to knock Michael Wiles out, with Neil Duff beaten 5-3 as Leigh made the quarters.
Leigh was solid in ending the hopes of young sensation Jack Johnson in a 5-2 success, and he made the final against Crook by getting the better of a 5-4 score against Dai Davies, already a winner on the tour this season.
It was a close final, with both players having patches, but it was Crook that took a feel-good victory, a nerveless 100 finish in the final leg proving timey to bank him the £1,000 winners’ cheque. Crook would finish in a commendable tenth place in the standings, but it wasn’t quite enough to take a Tour Finals spot, with the top eight players rewarded.
Callum Francis, Archie Self, Dai Davies and Graham Hall booked berths at the ADC Global Championship and Tour Finals as members of the top four, while Lewis Cook, Alan Slater, Dan Nicholls and Chas Barstow joined them at the Tour Finals by finishing in spots five to eight.
The Winmau Championship Tour Finals take place on the 3rd and 4th of October, with the ADC Global Championship running from 1-8 November.
Images: ADC
