Two 180s in his 7-1 success over Liam Taylor meant a win in his final match-up would secure the championship and top seeding in the Final's Night bottom half of the draw.
However, Hellings lost 7-6 in a last leg decider to Dave Hollow despite adding three more 180s to his overall tally of 18 for the season.
Hollow made it a hat-trick of wins from three starts on the night to secure seventh in the standings after defeating Darren Smith 7-2 with Smith getting as many 180s as legs in the match.
Hollow added a brace of 180s of his own in his final outing on the regular season in a 7-1 success over Del Bryce.
The aforementioned Hellings' defeat left the door narrowly open for Scott Lawrey, who secured the title with wins of 7-1 over 12thplaced Sean Burkitt, and 7-2 against Bryce, who finished in 14th.
Both Hellings and Lawrey finished on 100 points after 15 played but Lawrey's leg difference was four better than his counterpart, which was helped by the two large victories on the night to take the £170 prize.
Andrew Cook did everything he could to put his name on top of the leaderboard finishing one point shy of a century after two wins in the final league night to leave him third.
Cook powered past Sean Taylor 7-2 despite Taylor's 180 and followed that with a superb performance against Darren Smith in which there was a maximum each and four tonplus checkouts.
Cook's 116, 118 and 120 combinations usurped a 104 from Smith to lead Cook to a 7-4 win and third place, whilst Smith ends his campaign in 11th.
Jason Pinkerton also came up short in the title race to finish a respectable fourth, but picked up the prize of top 180 hitter in the league with 28 of the 278 thrown in the competition.
Pinkerton added five to that total in his two match-ups as a solitary effort in a 7-0 win over Liam Taylor was followed by four more in a 7-1 success over Sarah Brown.
This story is from the December 13, 2023 edition of The Herald.
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This story is from the December 13, 2023 edition of The Herald.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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