Lakeside Playoffs Report

Yet again, we came home empty-handed, but this time we actually showed the rest of the world that we could actually compete with them. I believe that overall, this was our best performance - as a group - for many a year.

Everybody arrived up in Hull in plenty of time (Wednesday afternoon at the latest), so there were no excuses there. The action began with Thursday's Lakeside playoffs, and the four men involved in the preliminary round all made it to the first round. Jerry Van Loan was the first victor, seeing off the challenge of John Jennis (Belgium), and was soon followed by Ryan Barnette and Chuck Pankow. Ryan triumphed over Finland's Ville Petajamaki and our resident elephant-trainer (Chuck works at Nashville Zoo) won his first ever match on European soil against Pole Adam Skalski.

I faced a tough opener against Germany's Karsten Koch, but I did have the advantage of having beaten him in the playoffs three years ago. This time, we both played really well, but despite six 180's from my opponent, I managed to scrape through thanks to some missed doubles late in the match. I had been a little disheartened earlier on, as I had missed several attempts at the out. True, it had only been one dart each time, but when I gave myself shots at the double from 90, 116, 164, and 167, the law of averages dictates that at least one should have gone in! Still, I got them when it mattered.

Jim Widmayer soon realized the folly of letting an opponent have a poke at an out as Gibraltar's George Federico converted every opportunity in the first set. Fortunately, Jimmy gave him few chances after that, and secured his place in the second round. He was joined by Dieter Schutsch, but Dieter looked ill at ease against a surprisingly resilient Peter Tous (Czech Republic).

The last of our international newcomers, Tom Sawyer (looking surprisingly chic for once) faced the young Dutchman Jan Dekker. Sadly, the trip from New England to the North of England wasn't to be too profitable, and poor Tom failed to win a leg. I wouldn't read too much into that result, though, as Tom played really well. Unfortunately, "really well" was sufficient only to give him the ONE dart at a double. I didn't know Jan, but after posting legs of 14, 16, 11, 14, 17, 15 (and a ppd average of 34.55), I had a feeling that we hadn't seen the last of him.

Ryan's second match was against Northern Ireland's brilliant Daryl Gurney; too brilliant in fact, for our man. Having said that, Ryan managed to stick in some spectacular sub-15-dart legs, but it was Gurney who advanced. In the same group, Jerry met a similar fate against young Arno Merk (Germany). Unfortunately for us, the chubby German on our side, Dieter, couldn't repeat Arno's feat, and slumped to a disappointing 2-1 reverse against Finland's Esko Pietikainen.

With four men down, it wasn't looking too good for us, but I saw off the challenge of my Facebook friend (and Farmville neighbor) Harry Famaey. It wasn't the best performance by either of us, but we at least finished the match in some style. I hit a nice 180 to set up 64, Harry followed in identical fashion (to leave 20), but I didn't give him a shot. Finally, Chuck joined us by besting Northern Ireland's Gary Tipping.

My next match was against Krzysztof Ratajski, who - a couple of years ago - became Poland's first ever representative at Lakeside. Krzysztof was quickly into his stride, taking the first two legs, but I clawed my way back to take the set 3-2. After a couple of bad breaks, he started getting a little frustrated, and I eased my way to a straight sets win over the flagging Pole. Jimmy Wid secured his second "W" against the experienced Roman Bleistein (Switzerland), but Filipino Lourence Ilagan put paid to Chuck's hopes.

Two survivors soon became one, as Jim wasted some great chances against Canadian Marcel Simard, so it was now down to me. I faced Finnish National Singles Champion, Jaakko Kiiski. Jaakko (who actually speaks better English than most of my American team-mates!) struggled to find the triples, and I picked up my third successive straight-sets victory. Now in the quarter-finals of the playoffs, I extended that sequence to four-in-a-row against Fabian Roosenbrand. The young Dutchman, who made it through these playoffs a few years back, couldn't build on a promising start, and I was just two matches from my Lakeside debut. A full round ahead, I now had to wait to see who my next opponent was.

It turned out to be Jan Dekker. Not content with having whupped Tom in their opener, Jan made short work of the brilliant Gino Vos to join me in the semi-final. I kinda wish that Gino had won.

Simply put, I played well against Jan. Twice as well as Tom Sawyer, actually. I succeeded in having TWO darts at a double! I wired the DB for a 121 out for the first leg, and then missed one shot at 116 in the second set. That one really hurt, as Jan walked up behind me and checked out from 154. I lost to the better man, and he followed up by winning his next match and qualifying for Lakeside. Honestly, we all agreed that Jan was by far the best - and most consistent - player on the day, and thoroughly deserved his reward.

Sadly, with the ladies being in a separate venue, it was difficult to keep track of what was going on, let alone watch them. In fact, I only managed to watch a little of Kim Leduc's prelim against Lincolnshire's Emma Tomlinson. Kim didn't play at all badly, considering it was a totally new experience for her, but it was Emma who advanced by a score of 3-1. Debbie "Red Hot" Ivey was another making her international debut, but the Oklahoman stormed to a great five-leg victory over Belgian Wendy Beutels before dipping out to Scot Frances Lawson.

Cali West picked up a couple of wins (against Necla Demsar and Jo Sibley) before exiting at the hands of Naoko Komine (Japan), while 2009 US #1 Andrea Taylor managed a brace of her own (against Dorothee Lemaire and Janni Larsen) before succumbing to the vastly experienced Dee Bateman. That just leaves Brenda Roush, who proved to be our most successful lady on the day. Brenda stormed past Liz Williams, Susanna Young, and Tracy Morrison, but Finland's Marika Juhola wasn't going to allow her to do the same. Still, Marika had also claimed the notable scalp of Tricia Wright, and Brenda did take her all the way, but our day was done








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