As usual Vauxhall was a packed venue with players eager to take advantage of the dart competitions open to them.   Children in Need weekend saw Tony Mitchell (JR Darts caller) raise a grand total of £515 for the fund when allowing dart players to insult him and swear at him without any retaliation.  Not an easy task – how he did it beat everyone.   However, Tony has stated “It will be pay back time at future tournaments” – watch out!.

JR & VAUXHALL 128 PRO - Dennis Smith (28.14) bounced back to form in superb style to defeat Terry Jenkins (27.38) 6-3 in the final of the JR & Vauxhall Holiday Park 128 Classic.    Dennis took the first leg in 16 darts and the match followed in the same vein throughout.   A draw after the first four legs put Dennis in overdrive and he continued to take the next three legs in quick succession.  A respite in the 8^th leg was short lived with Dennis taking out the ninth and final leg the way he started, in 16 darts.

VAUXHALL OPEN

This event saw an in-form Chris Mason (28.23) winning 5-3 against Essex man, Al Hedman (28.01) in a closely contested match.  Al had started his game with a maximum at the beginning of the first leg and another half way through but although winning the first, third and sixth legs, it was Chris Mason who threw the all-important doubles to clinch the championship. 

Janine Gough (Glamorgan) picked up the Ladies title with a strong 3-1 win over Leslie Newcombe (Warwickshire).  

Good games came from the Under 12s where the two lads were definitely following in their fathers’ footsteps.   Luke Walsh (20.26) (Herts) taking a 2-1 win against Jason Askew (19.86) (Surrey).

Essex player, Vinnie Clark’s performance (20.65) gained him a sponsor after his pulling of a 2-1 win over Simon Hartley (19.12) of Gloucestershire.  Well impressed with Vinnie, Norma Self of Ryelands Entertainments was quick to offer sponsorship – looks a rosy future for this up and coming young player.

In the other events, Ian Cowans beat Ray Black 2-1 in the Young at Heart section, the Mixed Triples saw Norma Wilson, Dean Allsopp and Steve Soar (2 Women and a Ferret) win their match 2-1 against Sam Petchey, Peter Wright and Paul Errington (2 Rights and a Wrong) and the Mixed Pairs Champions were Karen Page and Phil Gilman, winning 2-1 against Michelle Jackson and Wes Newton.