Saturday was a walk up start at 1:30 pm , a Sweepstakes for 15 shots to count over 500 yards. A total of 55 shooters was a welcome new "Record" for the hardworking Crows Nest Goombungee committee and conditions were quite warm with switchy winds.
In F Open , my 89-10/90 gave me a good clear win, from my Beaudesert Clubmate Di Hannel on 83-3/90 . Di beat well known North Arm rifleman Dennis Brown on a countback for the Silver medal, with Dennis also an 83-3.
Then followed Col Sutton from Goondiwindi (82-2), Andrew McKilop from Bundaberg (81-4), Scott Mitchell, also from Bundaberg (80-1)
Sunday was again hot and with very variable winds, inc plenty of 2 to 2.5 moa drop offs for the OPM.
Twelve shooters lined up in F Open and battled it out over 600 yds, 500 yds and then 500 again to finish.
At the finish it came right down to the last few shots before a result was known. My Qld teammate for Tassie, Col Sutton from Goondiwindi, beat me home by one damned "X" to take the No 1 badge that I had been fortunate enough to win the year before......ie my Title defense failed ! Final scores as follows :
Col Sutton. 175-12
Tony Berry. 175-11
Cam McEwan. 172-13
Mark Fairbairn 172-11
Kelvin Bell. 172-10
Emile Daniel. 170-6
Di Hannel. 170-5
Julie McEwan 169-11
Dennis Brown 169-5
Chris Bell. 167-9
Scott Mitchell. 165-6
Andrew McKilop 160-4
In F Std A Grade, 7 shooters fought it out for the No 1 badge, with the eventual win going to G Haeusler from Goondiwindi, with 166-7.
Just 4 "X's" back on 166-3 was Beth Caskey from Pittsworth.
Third badge to Ernie Mace with 165-7
Jason Mayers from Belmont was 4th on 164-7, followed by Brian Pickles (163-0), Dick Blocksidge (162-5) and Steve Nelson (157-5)
14 lined up in F Std B grade, and I am fairly confident that Graham Sells took it out with a fine 170-7, which will probably be the last time he shoots as a B Grader ! Not a bad effort for the young fella to finish 4 pts ahead of the A Grade winner, so I think he might have managed to pick up a tip or two, shooting with our F Open World Champions , Julie and Cam McEwan out there at Dalby/Tara RC.
35 TR. A grade shooters saw local Rep shooter Ashley Bidgood take the No1 badge, by not dropping a shot all weekend. His OPM score was 150-19, to go with his 75-5 from the Sweepstakes.
15 TR B grade shooters , and 4 in C Grade rounded out a very good showing by our TR shooters, with a lot of QLD Rep polo shirts Worn on the mound
All in all a very good weekends shooting was had by all.
I will just have to work harder on Col Sutton to leave his 7WSM or whatever it is , at home next year. If I keep telling him how good his little 6XC that he shot in the Sweepstakes on Saturday, he might fall for it
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Tasmania here we come, in a couple of weeks. Crushing, but not unexpected news from far N Qld over the weekend (via an SMS to Cam from that Lobert World Champion bloke) that they are at unbackable odds in Tasmania, with the whole team shooting 60-10's at 1000 yards in a recent practice.
Tony Berry