Weekend 3 of the Winmau DPA Satellite Series 2022 kicked off with wins to some of the big names of Australian darts, as Brandon Weening, Rob Modra, Dave Marland and Justin Miles secured titles. There were four events occurring as Queensland is on a separate weekend later in the year.
In Victoria the action began at the Morwell Anglo Italian club with Mal Cuming defeating Barry Leddington 6-3 and Brandon Weening taking out Ash Britt by the same scoreline in the semi finals. The final saw Weening break the opening Cuming throw in 15 darts but then lose his own throw in 16 darts. For a second successive time the Bull was unable to hold throw as he left 20 chasing a 60 check out and Weening threw double 12 to return to the lead. Weening then held throw for the first time in the match before Cuming also held in 18 darts. Weening then returned to a two leg lead with a 16 dart leg on throw before Cuming failed to convert 32 on three visits and Weening checked out 71 to move to a 5-2 lead. Cuming was not giving up though and broke Weening immediately before holding throw to move the match to 5-4. The pressure was on the young Weening because if he dropped his throw in the next leg Cuming would have the darts in the final leg. However a magnificent 13 dart leg, including visits of 140 and 180 on his third and second last visit, secured the final by 6 legs to 4 and returned Weening to the winning circle in Victoria once again.
At the NDDA venue in South Australia Danny Porter defeated Michael Conlan in their semi final whilst Rob Modra also progressed having eliminated Kym Mitchell 6-2 at the same stage. Thus Danny Porter returned to the final stage once again but any thoughts of winning another final were derailed by Modra. Mods opened with a brilliant 12 dart leg to break his opponent’s throw before Porter broke straight back. Porter then threw two 180s to start the next leg on throw but failed to secure the rare nine darter as he missed his seventh dart at triple 20. He did secure the leg in a remarkable 11 darts though. Both players then held throw as Porter went to a 3-2 lead. Modra then moved the match back in parity before breaking Porter’s throw in 13 darts. He then held throw comfortably before breaking Porter once more and securing the final by 6 legs to 3.
In NSW Dave Marland returned to the winners circle with a win over good mate Mark Taafe in the final at the Warilla Bowls and Recreation Club. Taafe had made the final having dismissed the challenge of David Boyle 6-0 in the semi finals. Marland did not have things his own way in his semi final but finally overcame Dave Hanel 6-4 to progress. In the final Tafe held throw and then broke Marland to go to an early 2-0 lead. Marland then pounced in 13 darts before holding his own throw to return the match to parity. The fifth leg saw Marland spurn a chance for another break and instead Taafe went back into the lead. It was to be short lived as Marland then comfortably held throw. Both players held throw again to move the match to 4-4 and make it a three leg shoot out. Marland broke the Taafe throw in 15 darts before he lost his own throw in 14. Thus it was to be a deciding leg and Taafe threw first. The local moved to 101 fairly comfortably and then threw 85 to leave double 8 for the title. In response Marland moved from 80 to 20 to leave double ten. Both players then spurned darts for the title at the next visit before Taafe left 8 chasing the double 8 on his second visit. This time Marland was able to take advantage but it took him his last dart in hand to hit the double five to secure the title 6 legs to 5.
With Queensland unable to compete this weekend the last venue was the Port Kennedy Tavern in WA and it was there that the more experienced players held off the challenge of the young bridgade out west. In the battle of two former dual PDC World Championship representatives David Platt defeated Loz Ryder 6-2 in their semi final whilst former World Series of Darts representative Justin Miles outlasted Dave Burke 6-5 in the second semi final, Miles breaking the Burke throw in the deciding leg in 13 darts. The final between two of the big names of darts in Western Australia would turn out to be just as close. It started with Miles breaking the Platt throw at the first attempt and holding his own throw before Platt held and then broke the Miles throw to return the match to equity. Miles then pounced on Platt’s missed shot at a check out in the fifth leg to gain a break once more but Platt responded immediately by breaking his opponent’s throw. At 4-4 Platt held his own throw in 15 darts and moved a leg away from the win. Miles held his throw in 16 darts to gain some of the momentum going into the deciding leg. Platt, on throw, opened with a 140 and Miles could only collect 45, driving his opponent into favouritism for the match. However Platt was unable to secure a triple figure visit in his next four visits whilst Miles collected 135 and a pair of 140s to leave 41. Platt moved from 157 to 72 before Miles stepped up and collected 41 in two darts to win the deciding leg, the match (6 legs to 5) and the final of the first WA event of the weekend.
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