STUART Kellett has climbed the Unicorn Challenge Tour rankings following his most productive weekend of the year to date.

The Northwich thrower progressed to the semi-finals of Sunday’s second event, adding £500 to his prize money total, before succumbing to eventual winner Adam Huckvale.

A run to the last 32 earlier in the afternoon leaves him inside the top 20 on the Order of Merit.

The 36-year-old saw off Paul Holloway and Adam Bowman without dropping a leg before beating Michael McCloskey (5-3), David Pallett (5-2), Reece Robinson (5-2) and Cody Harris (5-2) – a victor in the campaign’s ninth event on Saturday – to set up a head-to-head with Huckvale.

Meanwhile a pair of wins, against Coni Singh Nagi (5-3), Craig Quinn (5-4), preceded a 5-0 defeat against Dennis Nilsson in Sunday’s opener in Wigan.

On Saturday, Michael Gallimore won a deciding leg in a second-round encounter.

However a whitewash success against Marvin de Fijter (5-0) in the next event earned for Kellett £50 before another slender reverse, this time at the hands of Adam Smith-Neale (4-5).

Simon Preston, from Middlewich, matched his best result since winning the first £2,000 title up for grabs back in January.

He ran into Harris in the quarter-finals on Saturday, putting £300 more on a running total that leaves him fifth in the standings after a dozen events during 2018.

The tour resumes, again in Wigan, in September.