YORK’S Steve Atkin, on his debut in The Streamline Taxis York Open Darts Championship, became the first person to defeat Rich Corner during the opening two stages of the event.

Corner had won the first stage of the York Darts Promotions competition, held at Huntington WMC and organised in association with Red Dragon Darts, with an emphatic 5-3 win over Bridlington’s Barry Balaban.

The Mitre player also kicked off the second stage of matches with excellent victories over Mick Nixon and Balaban then, on his way to the final, Corner produced a ten-dart leg finishing on double 16 in his semi-final victory over Mark Hartley.

In the final, both players hit 180s as Corner, pictured, took a 4-2 lead, but Atkin responded with 15, 12 and 13-dart legs to pick up the £200 stage prize and 20 ranking points.

Other highlights from stage two came from Paul Curry, who in his first tournament completed a leg of 15 darts with scores of 180, 140 and a 117 finish.

Neil Hart also had a 146 finish while Andy Rennie enjoyed an excellent 3-0 win over UK Open qualifier Terry Temple.

During stage one, Jo Hodges had a 147 and 112 finish, York University student Jonny Law closed on 115 and 15-year-old Archbishop Holgate’s School pupil Chris Baker currently lies in joint 27th place after his two appearances in the competition.

Stage three will be held today at Huntington WMC with registration closing at 11.30am.

The same venue will also host the first YDP’s Streamline Taxis Ladies Competition. Registration for that event will close at 3pm.

For any further information regarding this or future YDP tournaments, contact Neil Hart by phoning 07921 128063 or email him at neilhartydp@hotmail.co.uk Sponsors are also being sought and York Darts Promotions can be found on Facebook.

Top ten ranking points (after two events): 1 Rich Corner (York) stages played 2, points 36; 2 Steve Atkin (York) 1, 20; 3 Barry Balaban (Bridlington) 2, 18; 4 Tommy Heron (Malton) 2, 14; 5 Paul Dixon 2, 13, Stuart Monaghan (Leeds) 2, 13; 7 Mark Hartley (York) 1, 12; 8 Dave Scaum (York) 2, 10, Steve Simpson (York) 2, 10; 10 John Quantock (York) 2, 9.