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Bathurst Rifle Club 8th August The J Sibera Trophy 600 yards

            It's not often that the weather turns on a perfect day for shooting, or at least that is what appeared was laid on for the final round of the J Sibera Trophy. The breeze didn't seem to show any venom as the directional flags just flopped around the flagpoles.

           Geoff Willis showed the way with a perfect F class score of 60/60, but that was the end of the penny section as the first stage turned into a battle of attrition. Gordon Shepherd looked likely to follow Willis's lead until a blurry inner four spoilt the fun reducing him to a 49.05.

           In form shooters Graeme Bright, Dennis Lavelle and Ron Gibson all found the breezes' benign appearance a handful, as they each dropped three points. John Coghill and Jan Sibera faired even worse jumping from side to side as they chased the breeze and mirage changes, lucky to collect moderate 46s.

           Tim Robinson shooting for the first time without the aid of a coach upstaged most of the experienced members with an excellent 48.01 spoilt only by a couple of skinny inner fours. The sunny day enticed Roger Northcott onto the mound but he found the task a little daunting, a slow start leading to a 50/60. Keith Redding was unable to hold his group in the black, a miss and three magpies reducing him to just 40.0.

           The second stage was little better than the first, except for Bright who threw down a challenge to Shepherd with a 50.05. Bright who coached two new shooters throughout the day had his hands full and did well to finish on a high. Shepherd however clinched the days COW with a repeat 49 despite another last shot inner which is becoming a trademark of his. A Christmas in July-going into August-celebration the night before is probably not the best preparation for a competition shoot.

           Roger Northcott almost caught Willis, who had a disaster, stringing four inner fours together in a miserable 50/60. Northcott couldn't quite hold a tight enough group, falling just three centres shy of Willis.

           Of the others Gibson had a repeat 47 holding off Robinson by just three centre bulls eyes for the B grade COW whilst Coghill and Lavelle couldn't make sufficient improvement on their first stages to be a threat. Redding was off the boil with another flock of magpies on his scorecard and Sibera continues to grapple with his new front sight as he contemplates changing his rings to posts.

           New shooters Chris Lofts and David Ducker tried out full-bore for the first time and despite the lack of comfortable shooting gear and an old club rifle stayed on the target for most of the time with scores of 30.01 and 29.0

           Geoff Willis made club history when he took out the J Sibera Trophy being the first F class shooter to win a trophy under the new handicap system.      

           The W & J Brown Shield commences next Saturday at 700 yards.

Scores:
R Northcott 107 (14 ½) 100
G Willis 110 (10) 100
G Shepherd 98.09 (1 ¾) 99 ¾
R Gibson 94.05 (5 ½) 99 ½
T Robinson 94.02 (5) 99
G Bright 97.09 (1/2) 97 ½
K Redding 80.02 (17 ¼) 97 ¼
J Coghill 93.05 3 ½) 96 ½
D Lavelle 93.07 (3 ¼) 96 ¼
J Sibera 89.03 (6 ¾) 95 ¾
C Lofts 30.01
D Ducker 29.0