Daily Report

NSWRA QUEENS PRIZE 135th OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Daily Report

SARGARD

Holsworthy wins Sargard match with Mosman Neutral Bay 2nd

Final Day Report

And so it came to pass Jeffery truly did have an unassailable lead. Going to the final fifteen shots Jim looked as cool as you would like knocking them all in with seven centers. This gave Jim his second Queen's victory after previously winning here in 2006.

Jim was closely followed by fellow Australian team member Duncan Davies two points behind then a further point back Michael Millen, Jim Bailey, Angus Bell, Ben Emms, Mark Thurtell, Tom Ryan, Ken Young and Mark Buchanan rounding out the top ten.

The Grand went also to Jim Jeffery from Angus Bell.

The final range played as expected with the sea breeze setting and slowly strengthening as the range went on. Opening shooters were using around twelve left, by the time Jeffery shot late in the stage he was using around 16 minutes with a bit of a buffet the greatest danger.

So this brings to an end the 135th Annual Championships. A big pat on the back to all involved in putting them on at such short notice. The electronic targets were a big success with little trouble and readily accepted by all the competitors. It can be safely said it was one of the best Championships held at ANZAC

Court action to save this magnificent range from closure begins next week. Let's pray as we return to our homes that it's not a final fairwell.

Ben Emms

Ok, here we go down to the last range. 700 caused little grief to the front runners. Of the top ten I think Ken Young was the only one to lose a point.

Jim Jeffery hammered in a 50.7 early and maintains his two point buffer going into the last range. Duncan Davies picked up two centers on Jim so would now be only one centre behind.

The wind remains set from the ocean and one would not think the front runners are going to be overly troubled. Jeffery looks almost impossible to move from the lead but as we all know anything can happen in this crazy game!

Best of luck to all, range staff are just organizing the targets now so we will be shortly underway. Back straight after the conclusion with a quick summary.

Ben Emms=

Down to the last day with the weather looking as if it is going to be fine though there are some showers out to sea. Wind is from the NNE running at around 12-15mph.

Those down early at 700m are getting good scores but as it warms up the wind may cause some grief to those not watching closely.

The Calcutta last night was again a raging success with Jim Jeffrey a popular choice and sold for the price of a very healthy stud bull. Good support was also given to those in the remaining top ten and there will be some nervous buyers waiting the outcome of the Queens.

Final Day 1st Stage

Down to the last day with the weather looking as if it is going to be fine though there are some showers out to sea. Wind is from the NNE running at around 12-15mph.

Those down early at 700m are getting good scores but as it warms up the wind may cause some grief to those not watching closely.

QUEENS DAY 2

Bens Report

So the second day of Her Magesty's prize has been run and as the presentation gets underway this is the run down.

Jim Jeffery of Lyndhurst continues to lead the only man left clean 375.52 from Duncan Davies of West Wallsend 373.49 and Angus Bell of Port Jackson the only other two down 373.44.

Conditions have been reasonably mild all day with the breeze off the ocean although with a little up and down especially late in the day.

Probably the biggest drama of the day occurred late in last stage To the leader of the Queen's Jim Jeffery. Just on the cusp of a rain break his target malfunctioned recording a miss for his fifth shot. When shooting resumed after the rain Jim fired again and recorded another miss. With further investigation it was revealed the butts unit's battery had gone flat!! Thankfully the misses were explained and Jim finished clean - it would have been a very brave protest committee that took the the ten points of the Queens Leader!!!

Anyhow onto tomorrow's fare. We have ten shots first up at 700 metres followed by the big finish of fifteen shots at 800. The weather looks set in a pattern. My feeling is Jeffery will be hard to shift but pressure cooker situations can produce results that are not what are always expected.

Best of luck to all sorry got to run the Calcutta is on on ten minutes so get your money on.

Ben Emms

QUEENS DAY 1

Sorry for the late posting the evenings always seem to run short.

A quick summary of the afternoon. The wind strength from the same angle but with a little more changeability. 75's were rare across the range and after a multitude of doubles coming back after the 500 metre ranges there were only two left clean after 600.

Jim Jeffery took the day with 175.22 from the ever consistent Angus Bell 175.20. This pair are followed by Duncan Davies and Jim Bailey both one down and then a string of shooters on two down best of which were Steve Negus and Sarah Hayes. The badge list runs to just into the five downs.

B Grade was won by Bill Read of Qld Uni with an excellent score of 173.21; C Grade Gail Roberts 165.14; F Class A Rob Halloran from Steve Hart both with 202.11; F Class B Peter Johnstone 200.07 and F Open Alan Fraser 207.10.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day. Not traditional - double 300 then I think double 600m. If the wind remains as it has been scoring should be high. My tipping is the field could well be congested tomorrow night.

Finally the Sargard Teams was run and won by the strong Holsworthy club of Sydney. A team containing three current Australian team members - Bailey, Bell & Negus ably supported by Eric Wilson taking the money from arch rivals Mosman Neutral Bay and last years winners Lyndhurst.

The Queen's Prize is underway with a field of around 210 shooters turning out to compete. Conditions are overcast and cool with a frontal wind of around 12 mph flicking a point either side of the centre line.

The program for the first day is for a double stage at 500 metres for the morning. This afternoons fare is for one stage of fifteen shots at 600 metres then the Sargard teams to follow.

Scoring has generally been high although there was the usual leakage of points across the field. For the first stage Steve Negus was best on range with a sound 50.9 although he was heard to gripe that it was "all over the shop"!!

Bill Read was best for B Grade with 50.7; Dominic Tran took C Grade 48.4; Ernie Mace F A with 58.4 sand Alan Fraser 59.5 for F Open.

The second five was similar to the first although the breeze maybe did start to flick around a little more catching the unwary. I apologize I don't have scores for this second stage.

600 has just recommenced with the wind remaining from the frontiers around 10 to 11 o'clock at similar strength. The 15 shot stage will test a few.

Ben Emms

McIntosh Final Day

So the McIntosh has reached it's conclusion with a double stage at 800 metres with in a twitchy little frontal which probably went throughout the afternoon from three left to five right.

With the wind starting to twitch the points leaked and the leaders fell away. First Baker then Bailey lost points, Jeffery as well. Finally it was left to Lt Colonel Angus Bell to remain the last man clean for the series. I'm righting this just after the conclusion of the final range so I have no confirmed scores to give to you. I am afraid you will have to wait for the stats for those.

Now what I can give you from here are a couple of assumptions on the balance of the grades and but then only on a couple of those.

F Class A Grade looks to have gone to Greg Emms of the strong Lyndhurst club after shooting an excellent 60 at the last 800. After switching to F Class 12 months ago it's like a second childhood!! Well done old boy :-)

In C Grade young Mitch Bailey eclipsed the field shooting three 49's for the day and finishing on a 46 at the last 800 which would have done him no damage. From the sheet I saw at lunch time I would think he would have won by a margin of ten.

I apologize for the shortage of fact. Stats will be posted shortly. Tomorrow we have the commencement of The Queen's Prize. The program is novel. Double 500 followed by 15 shots at 600 metres. This is then followed by the prestigious Sargard Teams.

The forecast is improving. Best of luck for the coming days and well done to all for the Mac

Ben Emms

McIntosh Day 1

Welcome to the first of the daily reports for the NSWRA Championship week. Apologies for the late posting but a number of cards were mislaid and the new stats program needed a couple of modifications. Hopefully all is now on track for a trouble free week of fun in the sun.

The Queens Postponed from September last year due to the pending closure of the magnificent ANZAC rifle range the rescheduled event has attracted great support with entries well up on the previous years numbers. With court action preceding next week let's hope and pray this does not end up being the last held at this location.

Now onto the business at hand! Only one word can describe the days events and that is wet!!! Showers have been passing over the range all day with everyone getting their chance to shoot through them. Even with this disruption shooting with the electronic targets still allowed shooting to flow reasonably smoothly and the four ranges scheduled were all completed in plenty of time. The light breeze of the ocean was fairly tame although it did freshen a little later in the afternoon regardless scoring was high throughout the day and I'm somewhat surprised that there are only four 200's on the board.

So to the star of the day and the new program had us at 300 meters for a double stage which was then followed up by a double at 600 meters after lunch. Conditions to start were light with only a point and a half required for the 9 o'clock breeze. Jim Jeffery hit the ground running once again with a solid 50.9 and was rather unlucky to get caught in the heaviest of the showers we shot in during his second stage and after a fogged up eagle eye marred the aim he lost a crucial point to leave the range with 49.9!

Mal McKenzie of Port MacQuarie took the second 300 stage with a solid 50.7. The minor grades went to Damien Doyle for B Grade 49.3, Yujin Wu C Grade 49.1, F Class A grade to Greg Warrian 60.6, F Class B Grade Phillip Barton 59.4 , Alan Fraser took F Open 60.7.

Back to 600 meters after lunch the start once again was delayed due to heavy showers which when they passed left some very calm conditions lending themselves to high scoring. Jim Bailey took full advantage recording the only 50.10 for the day. Damien Doyle took out B Grade with 49.6 , young Mitch Bailey followed in his fathers footsteps took home the C Grade trophy with 49.1. F Troop grades were all clean and all with 7 X's.

Jim Jeffery was back in the money for the second 600 with his second 50.9, Richard McRae took B Grade 48.2, C Grade Yugin Wu 49.4, F Class A Grade went to Greg Emms who really is enjoying a purple patch with the 60.6, Peter Johnston took B Grade 57.2 and Open went to Les Rozsnyai 60.1

So to the aggregates and giving us a bit of an insight into what may be ahead as the week progreses. Angus Bell took out the day 200.26, Jim Bailey followed with 25 centers and Bill Baker from Queensland with 18 were the only ones to get through clean - all rather relieved that Jim Jeffery snagged a 4 at 300!!!

Minor grades went Ishan Nadkarni for B Grade 192.13 from Damien Doyle 191.12; C Grade Yujin Wu 194.12 from Mitch Bailey 190.9; F A Grade went to Greg Emms 237.21 from Darryl Barlow 236.15; F B went to Linton McRosti 235.14 and F Open to Alan Fraser 239.22.

So that ends the results for today and we look forward to tomorrow with some hope of slightly better weather. The program is for double 700 followed by double 8 which should provide a grand finish. Best of luck to all we'll try and get some reports up through the day.

Ben Emms