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Bathurst Rifle Club 25th July The J Sibera Trophy 300 yards

          The last full 300-yard range of the season was a good one for Graeme Bright who has shown an aversion to the short range for most of the season.
Brights' 300-yard efforts let him down in this years Club Championship, but he finally overcame his hoodoo with a 100.13 double possible to take out the days Cock of the Walk.

          The weather was fine and mild but the northwesterly breeze whipped up a few surprises throughout the day with gusts and drop offs of up to two points. Steve Williams, on line to challenge Bright, was caught out by one of those bursts early in his second stage, dropping a shot to finish with 99.12. Dennis Lavelle continued to consolidate his A-grade status with stages of 48.03 and 49.04 and now needs to upgrade his front sight ring selection to take the next step. Gordon Shepherd failed to challenge the top three falling victim to a string of inner fours in his second stage 47.04 after a solid 49.05.  

          John Coghills' mind was more on the AFL than shooting and his scores mirrored the fortunes of his beloved Cats with a poor 45.02 followed up by a good 48.01. Ron Gibson and Jan Sibera both had problems, Gibsons' a total mystery, but Siberas' came down to a loose front sight tunnel which blew right off the end of his barrel. Gibsons' first stage 47.04 was followed by a disastrous 43.02 second, whilst Sibera went from a 44.03 to 48.02 after the offending tunnel left the scene. 

          Tim Robinson used the club rifle for stages of 46.01 and 44.01 and precipitated a move to purchase and fit a new barrel in a long overdue upgrade of the club gear. Left-hander Tim Halloran battled a right-handed Omark for scores of 35 and 41 whilst zeroing a scoped .223 rifle in preparation for the switch to F class.

          The Effeys put on a bit of a show but they were not immune from the wind shifts. Roger Northcott almost took a surprise win with two stages of 57 only to be counted out by Jeff Eppleston with stages of 56 and 58. Steve Jeffs was up there with them but fell into a hole with a 52 after a first stage 56 and Andrew Trevillion unleashed his new rifle and scope combination with disappointing results. Inner fours punctuated both stages, but at least he showed a trend to improved accuracy as the day wore on.           

          Next Saturday is the second round of the J Sibera Trophy over 500 yards. 

Scores:   

G Bright 100.13 (1/2) 100

R Northcott 114 (11 ½) 100

S Williams 99.12 (1/2) 99 ½

J Sibera 92.05 (7) 99

D Lavelle 97.07 (1 ¾) 98 ¾

J Eppleston 114 (3 ½) 98

J Coghill 93.03 (4 ¾) 97 ¾

S Jeffs 108 (9) 97 ½

G Shepherd 96.09 (1) 97

T Robinson 90.02 (6) 96

R Gibson 90.07 (4 ¼) 94 

T Halloran 34-41

A Trevillion 51-53