The Warwickshire Darts Organisation staged their annual Invitational Darts Classic at their county headquarters Hen Lane and District Social Club. 6 Beacon Road, Coventry, CV6 4DS. The event was made up of Internationals and county players plus up and coming stars of the future. The man to make his mark on the day was Hertfordshire’s Thomas Banks who throughout the competition hit an amazing twenty-three maximums and in the early group stages recorded a fantastic perfect nine dart s game against Warwickshire’s Noel Grant with an outstanding average of 130. Despite his superb efforts Banks made his exit in the semi-finals after taking out top Warwickshire players Nigel Heydon and Chris Wickenden before losing out in the last four to another Warwickshire County player Steve Hine who beat him 6-5.In the other semi-final Essex man Keegan Brown won 6-0 against Clwyd’s Adam Paxton.
The final outcome was not decided until the twelfth leg as Keegan Brown chalked up the all-important seventh winning leg to beat Steve Hine 7-5 and collect the winners £1400 with Hine receiving £700. Losing semi-finalists Thomas Banks and Adam Paxton each collected £350 with losing quarter-finalists Ryan O’Connor, Joe Croft, Chris Wickenden and George Killington picking up £250. Going out in the last sixteen and earning themselves £150 were Steve Heggerty, Dave Hill, Wayne Mynard, Charlie Symons, Thomas Garfield, Mark Martin, Nigel Heydon and Nick Fullwell.
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