ON THE OCHE: Railway Tavern regulars Pete Honeybun and Rachel Painter
RAILWAY Tavern darts duo Pete Honeybun and Rachel Painter reached the last eight of the English Open after beating Martin Wolfie' Adams and Trina Golden Girl' Gulliver in the group stages.
The competition was held at the Bunn Leisure West Sands Holiday complex in Selsey, and around 500 players from all over the UK and Europe took part, including current world number ones Mark Webster and Anastacia Dobtomyslova, Ted Hankey and Bobby George.
Weymouth pair Honeybun and Painter won through the first few rounds of the Mixed Pairs with 3-0 victories but the competition got a lot tougher when they reached the last 32.
A 3-2 win saw them progress into the Group Four final and it was there that they came up against Adams and Gulliver, who are both former world champions from 2007 and arguably the finest mixed pairs partnership in the world.
Honeybun and Painter won the toss and threw first, putting in a consistent showing over the first two legs to take a 2-0 lead. Adams and Gulliver then dominated the third before bringing the game back level in a tense fourth.
Adams and Honeybun threw for bull to decide which team went first in the decider and it went the Weymouth duo's way.
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The leg swung one way and then the other, leaving Honeybun with a 60 check out, knowing if he failed Adams would require 103.
Honeybun said: "Normally it's just 20, double top but my first throw hit one. I then hit a single 19 before thankfully hitting double top with my last dart.
"After it went in, it all got a bit emotional. It was like we had won the World Championships, and my mum and all of our supporters were so happy for us."
From there Honeybun and Painter moved into the quarter-finals where they faced Ian Lee and Barbara Lee, two county players from Cambridgeshire.
Unfortunately the Railway Tavern duo were unable to match their performance in the previous round and lost 3-0, with all the legs being very close.
Ian Lee and Barbara Lee went on to win the title but Honeybun and Painter could be very proud of their fine run in the competition.
Fellow Weymouth competitors Richie Gomm and Ricky Paddock also performed well, with the former reaching the last eight of a Money Competition in which he picked up £30.
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