Scarborough’s Usher, Mitchell and Spivey shine in Winmau Challenge Tour

Over the course of three days the next batch of five events presented the players with a chance to earn the top prize of £3,000 per event.

The top two at the end of the 24-event season, will also go on to gain a PDC Tour card, allowing them to play in the 2027/8 seasons of the Pro Tour, as well as spots in the PDC World Championship, the overall winner of the tour also gaining a spot in the PDC’s Grand Slam of Darts.

The trio are all aiming for a top 16 finish as a minimum, which would see them bypass the first stage of the 2027 PDC Q School, and potentially gain spots in the 2027 PDC UK Open and PDC Winmau World Masters.

Mitchell started the weekend strongest, winning eight consecutive games to reach the final of event 6.

An impressive opening win over Croatian Romeo Grbavac 5-4 with an average approaching 98 set the tone for the impressive run.

Wins over Ted Evetts, Killian McCormack, Collin McCaughern, Llew Bevan, Ryan O’Connor, Daniel Ayres and Gilbert Van Der Mijden followed for Mitchell, the highlight being a 5-2 win over Welsh international Beven in the last 32 with an average of 102.5, with Bevan posting a 94.7 in a high quality contest.

Heading into the final Mitchell’s average for the day was almost 94 for the day heading into the final. It proved to be a step too far on this occasion for Mitchell, Coulson running out a 5-0 winner.

Usher enjoyed a run to the last 64 in event 6.

Wins over Justin Bradshaw and Michael Flynn saw him reach that stage before an agonising 5-4 defeat to Nathan Care.

Usher trailed 4-1 before getting back to 4-4, and with the throw in the final leg, Care went out in 12 darts to seal his spot in the last 32.

It was a disappointing start to the weekend for Spivey, who lost 5-3 to Mark Crutchley, his average of almost 89 was not enough.

However Spivey did enjoy the best run of the trio in event 7 on Friday afternoon, his run to the last 32 was his best of the weekend.

He also won against Romeo Grbavac in his opening contest before averaging almost 99 to dispatch Jimmy McKirdy for the loss of just one leg across two contests.

Then 5-4 wins over David Wawrzewski and JJ Wright would follow before his run was ended with a 5-3 loss to Humberside’s Tommy Lishman.

Usher and Mitchell crashed out in the last 128 after winning their opening contest. Mitchell beat Declan Corcoran 5-2, just minutes after losing the event 6 final, before losing 5-4 to Nunjo Dewaele of Belgium. Usher won 5-1 against Craig Lewis, before losing 5-3 to Andrew Cass.

Event 8 on Saturday morning followed and it Usher enjoyed his best run on the Challenge Tour since losing his PDC Pro Tour Card at the end of the 2024 season.

His run to the semis saw him beat highly-rated teenager Jenson Walker 5-4 in his opener with an average of 97, before he picked up wins against Harry Ward averaging almost 100, and PDC World Cup finalist Austrian Rowby-John Rodriguez, both 5-2.

Yorkshire’s Lewis Pride was next for Usher, a rematch of their clash in this year’s Q School, and it was Usher who gained revenge with a 5-3 with, averaging 96 in the contest.

Another player who got the better of Usher at Q School was Tommy Morris and in a contest where the stats were derailed by a poor opening leg, Usher came out on top 5-3.

Michele Turetta was next for Usher and at 3-0 down in the quarter-final, Usher could have been forgiven for giving up.

He did however grind out a 5-4 win against the Italian in a contest which Usher dominated after his slow start.

It was Aden Kirk who eventually defeated Usher 5-4 in the semis, an incredible finishing display from both players followed.

Usher opened the contest with a 120 checkout, before Kirk found an incredible run of checkouts taking 146, 126, 106 and back to back checkouts of 56 sealed a 5-4 victory from 4-3 down, Kirk getting over the line with a 14-dart break in the last leg.

The day again started slowly for Sam Spivey, who lost his opening contest 5-2 to the improving Ben Townley.

Mitchell opened the day in explosive style, beating Nathan Rafferty 5-0 with an average of 110.5, legs of 14,13,13,17 and an 11-darter to win the contest saw Mitchell post the weekend’s highest average.

He did however lose 5-1 to Tommy Morris in the last 128 with an average of 94.

Mitchell would again reach the last 64 in event 9, losing to Steve Haggerty 5-4 after wins over Oliver Klein and Peter Burgoyne.

Event 10 would also see Usher reach the last 64 with wins over Derek Coulson and Jake Eichen, both 5-3.

He would then lose 5-4 to former Lakeside world finalist Mark McGeeney, an impressive 14-dart hold in the decider enough to see off a fightback from Usher.

Spivey would pick up a win in event 10, beating Kyle Manton 5-2 with an average of just over 98, before losing 5-0 to Ricardo Ulrich.

The final event of the weekend won’t live long in the memory for any of the three, Mitchell lost his opener 5-3 to Maurice Gutgesell.

Spivey won 5-0 in his opener against Lazlo B Csato, but he would be defeated 5-3 in his next contest by France’s Nicolas Thuillier.

Usher also won his opener 5-0 against an in-form James Beeton but Usher would then lose 5-3 to Connor Arberry in a jaded performance.

With 14 more events to come across three weekends Spivey is currently sitting in 107th place with work to do, however the level of performance over the weekend gave hope the gap can be closed to the top 16 and beyond, he is currently 10th in the overall averages list for the season.

Usher is sat in 27th place having played only 9 of the 10 events so far, and a gap of just £800 to 16th-placed Jenson Walker.

Mitchell is sat 17th, just £50 behind Walker, all three knowing that strong runs in the next weekend in Hildesheim, Germany on May 1-3 can change everything.