The final two events of the WADC Winmau Championship North were decided at the Sports Village, as Natalie Gilbert and Steph Clarke each picked up their second titles of the season on Teesside.
Gilbert added to her success in April at the same venue with the spoils at Event Seven, grappling with functional hemiplegia, an after effect of a stroke that she had earlier in her life, which on this occasion left her with partial paralysis, and she was visibly struggling with her mobility to and from the board.
Despite this, she remarkably came out as the victor, taking the title by winning three straight legs to defeat Lauryn Salter 5-4.
Gilbert opened with two wins without reply, and then had to work hard to make the semi finals at the expense of Kim Holden as she ran out a 5-3 winner, before making the final with an assured 5-2 success against Eleanor Cairns.
Salter dropped just three legs on the way to the last eight, and averaged over 81 to make the last four after sinking Angela Kirkwood in a final leg.
Salter would need another last leg to make the final, firing in five 180s in winning 5-4 against Event Six Champion Vicky Pruim.
She then led 4-2 in the showpiece, but missed match darts would prove costly, and eventually Gilbert pinned double five to pip her to the post, and the £500 first prize.
In a quirk of the draw, Gilbert and Salter would meet in round one of the next event, with Gilbert repeating her win, this time 4-1, but would bow out in the quarter finals.
Event Eight belonged to Steph Clarke, as she backed up her Event Five win at the start of the weekend with victory at the end of the two-day stint in Middlesbrough. Clarke won 5-2 in the final against Angela Kirkwood.
Clarke breezed through her first two matches by 4-1 scorelines, and then beat Jackie Brighton 4-2 to make the last eight, where Debbie Dexter was eliminated in a 5-2 win for ‘The Swan’. Clarke then bossed her meeting with Sarah Roberts to make the final, winning 5-1.
Kirkwood beat Jade Gill and Antonia Mason before taking a 5-2 win against Kim Holden, and she made the final in a 5-0 thumping of Eleanor Cairns, avenging the defeat to the youngster in the final of last weekend’s final PDC Womens Series event before the World Matchplay.
A 14-dart break of throw gave Clarke a 3-2 lead in the final, and she never looked back as a 76 finish confirmed her title double.
Gilbert’s efforts over the weekend see her top the standings, 14 points ahead of Vicky Pruim, with Clarke climbing to fourth.
The next block of North action is on the 5th and 6th of September at the same venue.
—ENDS—
