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Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 7th March 2015 W Cutler Cup, 500yards 

            It was a fine warm day with little to no breeze for much of the afternoon and conditions for target shooting were just short of perfect. Scores, particularly from the target rifle group reflected that, but the F-class competitors, except for Grahame Willis, were a little short of their best form. The first stage was variable with some minor but rapid changes to the strength and direction of the south west breeze. 

           Steve Williams shot a 50.05 possible and Graeme Bright continued to tighten his group and eliminate the wild shots scoring 49.02, his one blemish being a windage shot at three o'clock. Dennis Lavelle and Gordon Shepherd matched scores shooting 47.04 apiece whilst John Coghill was again quite wayward managing just 42.01 in an inner four riddled stage. 

           In F-class Grahame Willis held a tight group shooting 58.3 but Laurie Sim (50.0) and Ben Wright (49.2) found some difficulty with the changeable breeze. Geoff Willis back from his successful travels emphasized his great 2015 form with a 60.2 possible. 

           The second stage produced marginally better scores for most of the competitors. F-class improvements were most notable for Wright (55.0), Sim (57.4) and Grahame Willis (59.3), but Geoff Willis had a minor meltdown dropping six points for a lowly 54.1. Willis blamed a change of ammunition for the poor showing which handed the Cock of the Walk to Grahame Willis. 

           Gordon Shepherd who for a number of reasons has thrust his name in the hunt for the 2015 Club Championship again showed impeccable consistency with a 50.03 possible. Due to the travel commitments of many of his competitors, and more so his own consistently high scores, Shepherd could conceivably turn the clock back 25 years to his last Championship win in 1990. Williams dropped a point on his last shot but managed to hold onto the COW after Bright could not clinch the possible needed to grab a win. Lavelle dropped five points but still managed to swamp Coghill who despite a big improvement failed to hold it together at the business end of his shoot. 

           Next week is a Championship stage and the W Cutler Cup concludes at 600 yards. 

Scores: 
G Shepherd TRA 97.07 (3 ¾) 100
G Bright TRA 98.07 (1 ¾) 99 ¾
S Williams TRA 99.08 (1/2) 99 ½
J Coghill TRB 89.03 (10 ¼) 99 ¼
G P Willis FSA 117.6 (1 ¾) 99
D Lavelle TRB 92.05 (5 ¾) 97 ¾
L Sim FSB 107.4 (9 ¾) 97 ¼
G S Willis FSA 114.3 (1 ¾) 96 ½
B Wright FSB 104.3

by John Coghill