3rd Devon DTL Team Selection Shoot 2022 - Bradford Shooting Ground 14/5/22
We had the 3rd Devon DTL Team Selection for 2022 at Bradford Shooting Ground today, and yet again we were absolutely spoilt by the weather. Warm and still, with the odd bit of cloud about to give us a break from the heat for a short while.
Looking out across layout 1, with the Skeet towers either side of the DTL trap.
You couldn’t ask for better conditions to shoot in. The targets flew like they were on rails, and the scoreboard was peppered with red squares. All in all, 12 scores of 290 and above from the heavy hitters in Devon and Cornwall. 4 of us were on 50/150 at half way.
A view of the clubhouse.
My day was a little special before I even got to Bradford, it being my birthday and all, but little did I know how much more special it would turn out to be. I used my Caesar Guerini Invictus III again, and now I'm certain it's trying to tell me something!
I shot my 6th 100/300 in competition, and as you can see from the scoreboard, I was pushed hard.
Ollie Durovic and Alan Reece were absolutely on fire, and did a great job of driving me on. Both of them had only dropped 1 point after 3 rounds, so any errors on my part would be punished – heavily. Ollie couldn’t quite keep it up until the end, missing a target in his 4th round, but Alan was relentless, only dropping 1 more point in his last 25 and finishing on 100/298.
Next in the order were Richard Chapple, Chris Smyth and Ian Moore. Richard was the third man to shoot a 100 straight, and bettered his result of last week by 1 point, giving him 100/296. Chris and Ian both had 99/296.
Then came Ollie on 99/295, followed closely by Nick Shadrick (98/294) and Ed Collet (99/294), both very tough and seasoned competitors.
Another view of layout 1, with squad 3 shooting.
I have to say that the rythm and timing of my squad was brilliant. Ben Keightley didn’t have such a good day after a pretty heavy week at work and lacked a bit of focus and concentration, but he managed to dig a 25/72 out by the end of the day. He and Andy Heywood were a nice steadying influence on the timing of the squad, and it was just the right pace for me. Andy had a good day also with a 98/292, which is a nice result to take with him to Bywell in the 2nd week of June.
Two other performances of note were by Richard Ryan, and Paul Gorrett.
Richard had a perfect first half, being one of the ones on 50/150, but then seemed to lose it a little and missed 2 targets and 2 barrels in the 2nd half. But yet again, he denied himself any chance of winning any class prizes because he entered as Birds Only! His 98/292 really was a respectable score, and could well have earned him something.
Paul went all the way to his 95th target before his first miss, and then let another one go because he was occupied with the first one. He has a bit of work to do on his mental game, but that first 100 straight is inching ever closer. His 98/288 was only 2 points behind B class winner Roger Lewis, who also found his mojo today and carded a 99/290.
The class winners from today were:
High Gun and 1st in AA – Robert Dietz – 100/300
1st in A class – Alan Reece – 100/298
1st in B class – Roger Lewis – 99/290
1st in C class – Brian Deer – 96/280
I’m afraid I don’t know what other places were awarded, but well shot to everyone who took home something from today.
The Devon DTL team for 2022 is looking pretty formidable already, and we still have the Championship to go on 4th of June. Even though I’ll miss it because I’ll be shooting at Fauxdegla, the wins from today and last week put me in with a very good chance of being Team Captain again, but we’ll have to wait and see what the final results table looks like.
This coming week is a pretty big one – I travel to Gloucestershire on Monday in preparation for my APSI Level 1 Instructors Course on Tuesday through Friday. I’ve waited for it for over 6 months, and I’m a little apprehensive, but looking forward to it. Should be a good and very interesting week!
There it is, in black and white!