by Mark Lacombe
Steve Shope Captures Dart Madness Championship and Brad Oxendine tosses a 9 dart 501!
Steve Shope of Kansas City, Mo. captured the Second Annual Dart Madness Championship on November 21-22nd 2020 at 94 Bistro in St. Peters Missouri. Steve defeated Jules Van Dongen in the finals 11-10 in a thrilling match to capture the $1500 first place prize.
On Saturday in the Top 32 and Top 16 round Steve defeated Daniel Roderick, and SIDA star James Byers 6-4, and 7-4 respectfully.
Jules Van Dongen from Meerssen the Netherlands by way of Parkview, Mo. fought his way through his bracket on Saturday taking down Michael Walters of Topeka Kansas 6-0, and taking out last years Dart Madness Champion Paul Schwindamann of Kansas City 7-2.
On Saturday Brad Oxendine became the first player from the St. Louis area to hit a perfect 9 dart 501 in competition. He hit against Zach Fuchs in the fifth leg of their match which Brad won 6-3. Brad went 180-180-141.
#PROMOTEDARTS and You Shoot’em, I Rank’em had a $501 bonus in place for anyone to hit a nine darter in any of the Dart Madness events in 2020. Brad was paid his $501 on Sunday evening once the tournament ended.
Sunday’s top 8 matches featured some of the finest players in the Tri-State area (IL, MO, KS). Brendan Dickerson from Cadet, Mo. 2019’s Dart Madness finalist defeated Springfield Missouri’s Jeremy Lantrip 9-2 to move into the top 4 round.
Brad Oxendine defeated Columbia Missouri’s Jason Snodgrass 9-6 to advance to the top four. Steve Shope beat Curtis Strite 9-8 in a great match. And Jules Van Dongen defeated Ryan Mooneyham 9-7 in a match that featured Ryan who survived a heart attack just 18 months ago connecting on 6 of 7 darts at the double 20 during the match. There was a 14 dart game, and four 15 darters during the back and forth match. Mooneyham hit a 16 darter to tie it at 7-7. But the Dutch Dragon took the last two legs to secure a semifinal position.
In the top four matches Brendan pulled ahead 7-6, but Steve went on to take four of the next six legs to secure this place in the finals. A big 106 check out (60-6-D-20) in leg 17 kept Brendan on his heels. Both players averaged 71 point per round (PPR). Steve won 10-9.
In the other top four showdown Jules Van Dongen took on Brad 9 Dart Oxendine in a thriller with Jules surviving 10-8. This match featured two 13 dart legs, one fourteen dart leg, and four 15 dart legs. It was Van Dongen in the lead at 5-3 after checking out 113 with T-20 S-13 Double 20. Brad answered back with back to back wins of 18 and 16 darts to tie it at five each.
With Jules up 7-6, Brad won two on the spin on 18 darts and a beauty 13 darter (140-100-140-105-16) to take an 8-7 lead. But the Dutch Dragon stepped on the gas peddle and won his final three legs to vault himself into the finals against Steve Shope.
The finals was a back and forth battle from leg one to leg 21. With Jules up 6-4 after ten legs, Steve checks out 110 (60-20-D-15), then takes the next two legs for a 7-6 lead a lead he would never relinquish. Though Jules continued to tie the match several times including 7-7, Steve answered that with a 146 checkout to lead 8-7, then made in 9-7 a leg later. Jules kept battling back winning two on the spin for 9-9 tie. In leg 21 Steve kept the heat on and never let Jules have a shot at an out.
The matches between Ryan Mooneyham vs. Jules Van Dongen, and the two top matches and the final can be found on YouTube just search for DPSTL, and Dart Madness Finale matches.
The darts on Sunday were superb, many of the matches were PDC range on averages and check out percentage. Dave Madison has developed some great players from the Dart Madness events. And I expect more players to put in the work to strive to be the best they can be.