News

Bathurst Rifle Club Inc 23rd May 2015 Secretary's Trophy, 900yards

            Saturday marked the closure of competition for the 2015 Club Champion trophies. Steve Williams continued to ink his name on the Club Champion honour roll, his eighth win in a row and his twentieth in total. Gordon Shepherd harried him to the very last shot with a fine 98.12 to fall just 5 points short of a major upset. 

           The big surprise of the season was Grahame Willis who came from nowhere to snatch the F-class trophy which has had only one name, Jeff Eppleston, engraved on it since its inception in 2007. Eppleston carried some very average scores from early in the year and Willis climbed over the top with excellent late season form. Geoff Willis unfortunately failed to get the required number of shoots to qualify thus missing an almost certain win. B grade also changed hands with Dennis Lavelle putting in some fine scores and vying for overall Cock of the Walk (COW) against all comers on most occasions this year. 

           The weather at 900 yards always seems to be rougher than at any other range but Saturday turned on a dream day for target rifle shooting. With little or no wind and a light mirage scoring was always going to be heavy. Nick Cock reveled in the conditions and for the second week in a row, scored a big double possible taking out the COW from a determined Shepherd, who concluded his challenge with the day’s best stage, a 50.09. 

           Geoff Willis won the F-class COW but the mirage jumping from side to side caught him out on a couple of occasions, as it did with most of the competitors. His 115.5 was however, a good steady result. Ben Wright’s last two shoots have been right up there with his more experienced competitors as his 100% handicap rating shows. 

           Dennis Lavelle won the B-grade COW after John Coghill again collapsed, a wild outer two bringing about his downfall. Graeme Bright also returned to his bad ways with a couple of magpies appearing on his scorecard.

           Cock won his first trophy since transferring from Lithgow Rifle Club earlier in the year, it being the very tasty Treasurers Trophy. 

           The F A Wilde Trophy will commence next Saturday, the 30th May, at 300 yards. 

Scores:

N Cock TRA 100.14 (1/2) 100

G S Willis FSA 115.5 (6 ½) 100

B Wright FSB 108.1 (12) 100

G Shepherd TRA 98.12 (1 ½) 99 ½

J Coghill TRB 87.03 (12) 99

G P Willis FSA 112.5 (5) 97 ½

S Williams TRA 95.06 (2 ¼) 97 ¼

D Lavelle TRB 90.02 (6 ¾) 96 ¾

G Bright TRA 91.07 (3) 94

by John Coghill