Weekly Review 30/12/2017

Bathurst Rifle Club Inc. 30 December 2017, W Northcott Memorial Trophy, 700yards

Wind, a target shooters mortal enemy, descended on the Bathurst Rifle Range on Saturday, with strong gusting westerly winds harassing shooters all day. There was never going to be high scoring and very little chance of attaining a score good enough to keep, in the race to the Club Championship.

The cream however rose to the top yet again showing that skill and knowledge can overcome even the most trying of conditions. Nick Cock and Jeff Eppleston shone out with scores that they normally would disregard but the buffeting wind made their efforts first class. Cock even had a rare magpie three but still managed to piece together a 47.03 and a 48.04 the seven centre count a testimony to his control.

Eppleston also fell afoul of the dreaded inner four, the F class equivalent of the target rifle magpie, on two occasions, but he slotted six shots inside the tiny super centre ring to emphasize his control, good practice for his upcoming sojourn to windy Wellington in New Zealand to contest the Trans Tasman F class Championships.

There isn’t much to be said for the remainder except for the embarrassing spectacle of John Coghills’ one outer and eleven counting magpies in an all time low of 36.01. Ron Gibson also courted the magpie ring but still managed to win the B grade Cock of the Walk with a low 78.04 score. Steve Williams and Graeme Bright entertained the dreaded magpie whilst Gordon Shepherd managed to avoid that lowlight by shooting mainly inner fours instead.

The F class contingent were boosted by the visits of Ken Eppleston and Peter Duncan from West Wallsend and Luke Harris from Hornsby who joined in the fun. Nick Webster had his first taste of the type of conditions Bathurst can turn on whilst the others battled to stay competitive. Grahame Willis was one of the few to better a previous score and boost his Championship chances, as did Colin Howell whilst Geoff Willis and A J Smith just tagged along.

Colin Howell won the W Northcott Memorial Trophy by half a point from Jeff Eppleston in an F class quinella. The next shoot is the Norman Rutherford Memorial Trophy over 800 yards on Saturday 6th January.

Scores:

C Howell FSB 105.3 (12) 97 ½

J Eppleston FSA 111.6 (5 ½) 97

N Cock TRA 95.07 (1 ¼) 96 ¼

G Shepherd TRA 89.05 (6 ½) 95 ½

S Williams TRA 91.05 (4 ¼) 95 ¼

G P Willis FSA 105.4 (7 ¾) 94

G S Willis FSA 104.3 (7 ¾) 93 ¼

G Bright TRA 88.06 (4 ¼) 92 ¼

R Gibson TRB 78.04 (12) 90

A J Smith FSB 102.2 (5 ½) 89 ½

J Coghill TRB 71.02 (12) 83