JOHN Quantock won a thrilling Streamline Taxis York Open Championship final 6-5 against fellow Minsterman Chris Thompson at Huntington WMC.
The Yorkshire Warrior clinched victory in the showcase York Darts Promotions event with a two-dart 100 finish to take the £501 winner’s prize.
That deciding leg also proved the best of the final with Quantock, after throws of 140, 21, 100 and 140, checking out in 14 darts.
Former UK Open quarter-finalist Thompson had earlier led 4-2 with a pair of 15 and 17-dart legs.
But Quantock stayed in touch with two 15-dart efforts, including a 116 finish.
Games of 21, 15 and 24 darts saw Quantock move within one leg of victory only for Thompson to go out in 18 darts to ensure the final went to the wire.
Earlier, Thompson (21, 17, 20, 21) beat York’s Ray McInally 5-1 in the semi finals while Quantock’s legs of 19, 121 finish for 12, 14, 15 and 16 proved too strong for Scarborough’s Oliver Mitchell (20), who lost by the same score.
York’s Jo Hodges, meanwhile, won the ladies’ competition, rattling off four legs on the trot to defeat Tracey Farmeary 4-2. Farmeary threw two tons to forge into an early lead but Hodges responded with seven of her own and an 18-dart leg.
In the semi-finals, Farmeary beat Bridlington’s Sue Balaban 3-1 with both players hitting two ton-plus scores.
Hodges booked her place in the final with a 149 finish to end fellow York player Lynn Clapham’s challenge by the same margin.
The YDP’s next event will be the Jorvik Security Darts Open, starting on Friday, July 20 with a guaranteed overall winner’s prize of £250 and a total prize find of £1,145.
There will be four qualifying competitions, all staged at Huntington WMC, with the other dates Fridays, August 3, 17 and 31, before a finals night on Friday, September 7.
Registration, costing £5 on each evening, will close at 8pm for an 8.30pm start with each stage winner receiving £50.
All quarter-finalists at each stage will qualify for the final.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here