News

            A southerly wind threw up several dilemmas for shooters, as the Mount and surrounding hills and ridges split the breeze into several different components. As a result the flags responded by indicating that the wind direction was from every forward quarter. At times quite strong from the south west, and other times a mild south easterly with plenty of mirage, the changes kept shooters on their toes and caught out a number of the lesser lights unfamiliar with the prevailing conditions.

           No-one achieved a possible even when the conditions lightened later in the day but some very good scores were attained. Steve Williams set the top standard with a first stage 49.06. Gordon Shepherd with 48.04 and Graeme Bright with 48.03 were next best but John Coghill was quite erratic with a low point 42.02.

           Ben Wright with 55.04 pushed Grahame Willis to take a 2 super centre lead into the second stage. Colin Howell, a fist time possible scorer last week, came back to earth with a thud with just 43.0. Father son pair Aaron and Bailey Ely lined up against each other with their .243 Steyr hunting rifle and Ely younger won bragging rights with a two point half way lead.

 

           The second stage produced more of the first, at least in the early stages. Colin Howell and John Coghill produced big improvements but they needed to after their first stage disasters. Aaron Ely put his son back in his place with a seven point turnaround to set matters right.

           The real competitions were between Williams, Bright and Shepherd in target rifle and Willis and Wright in F-class. Williams dropped two points to open up the competition but Bright failed to take up the offer with an early double inner putting paid to his chances. Shepherd looked set to give Williams a run for his money but his customary inner four finish saw Williams finish Cock of the Walk by a point and a couple of centre bull’s eyes.

           Willis showed marginal improvement but Wright was unable to match him and relinquished his hold on the day's COW. Jeff Eppleston and Geoff Willis are attending State and National team practice and Nick Cock is attending the Tasmanian Queens Prize Shoot where he has, at time of writing secured the Llewellyn Series, the lead up event to the Queens.

 

           The W Cutler Cup and the fourth stage of the Club Championship will continue next week at 600 yards.

J Coghill TRB90.04 (11 ¾) 100

S Williams TRA 97.10 (2) 99

G Shepherd TRA 96.07 (2 ¾) 98 ¾

G Bright TRA 96.09 (2 ¼) 98 ¼

G P Willis FSA 111.5 (4 ¾) 96 ½

B Wright FSB 108.6 (7) 95 ¾

C Howell FSB 96.1 (12) 90

A Ely FSB 89.0; B Ely FSB 84.0