British Open Single Barrel 2022 – Brook Bank Shooting Ground 14/8/22
I ran out of time on the night of the competition, so had to finish this the day after. Apologies if it flows a little funny in places!
I won’t be using that air conditioning repair company again. They had all night to sort it out, and nothing they did had any effect on today’s temperature.
Someone said it was a few degrees cooler than yesterday, but I don’t believe it! Perhaps it was the near complete lack of air movement that made it feel hotter, but regardless of what it was, it was tough!
Starting slightly earlier let us escape some of the worst of it, but the trade-off was a lower sun shining into the layouts.
The all important question loomed - what lens colour to choose? One that enhances orange but makes you squint, or one that deadens everything, including the targets?
I opted for the former to start with, and didn’t have the most comfortable opening round.
The hot, fitful sleep the night before wasn’t helping either, despite the lack of travelling (I’d decided to stay nearby overnight).
For the first time in a long while, I missed the first one out, basically because I didn’t see it well and didn’t connect properly. But I got over that quickly, and chipped my way through the rest of them bar one, coming off with a 23.
The next round was slightly better. Changing to purple lenses reduced the glare and made seeing more comfortable, but another one still got away (24 on the scorecard).
The heat was relentless, and difficult to contend with. Even the shady parts felt like you were in an oven!
And I wasn’t the only one suffering. Some of the early leaders from yesterday were decidedly off the pace, while others were digging in and setting some serious markers for the rest of the field at the halfway point.
There’s always one on the scoreboard that finds it hard to miss, regardless of weather conditions or what the targets are doing, and today we had 4!
Geoff Howlett (on a mission after his overall 2nd place finish yesterday) was on 50 straight, and he had Martin Taylor, Pete Bugler, and Maurice Beedan for company.
Nigel Clarke and Tony Dore were snapping at their heels on 49, with Phil Morgan, Darren Perry, and Chris Smyth all on 48.
My 47 wasn’t out of it by any means, although it took a bit of self talk and a quick glance at the scoreboard to get that message into the shooting computer.
Winning overall was looking unlikely, but I could still make a bid for one of the other trophies up for grabs. The only way for me to make that possible was 50 straight in the second half.
Positive action was called for and, feeling like I was lacking certain resources, I downed a bottle of Lucozade – Raspberry flavour. Rather pleasant actually, and it sorted me right out!
Switched on for the first time since yesterday’s opening round, I went out and absolutely destroyed the next 25 targets.
You could have fed some of them back into the machine and made new ones without doing anything to them – except that collecting the pulverized dust might have been a bit tricky!
First half of the task complete then, and events elsewhere gave me hope - all of the leaders dropped targets in their third round.
Geoff and Maurice limited the damage to just one, both now sitting on 74, and setting up a classic two-horse race for the finish line.
Tony did likewise. He was now tieing with Martin (who had 2 escape him) and Chris (who had smashed his way through the middle 50 straight), and was keeping the pressure firmly on, not giving them any room for error on 73.
Phil was being Mr Consistent with another 24 to go with his brace of 24s from earlier, and we were now neck and neck on 72, along with Darren and Nigel.
From my point of view, it didn’t matter what anyone else was doing. I’d found some mojo, and I was going out to repeat what I’d done the round before.
Knowing that you have to hit them all and nothing else will do simplifies things drastically, and crystallizes the mind somewhat. Perhaps I should use this before I start next time!
What I wasn’t prepared for however, was how the light conditions were making the targets very difficult to pick up on release.
Both of the layouts we were using at Brook Bank had slightly different backgrounds, and the one I was now on had slightly more green above it than the other. The change from dark to light was just where I wanted to look!
I could tell I wasn’t seeing them right because my breaks were all chippy, and in hindsight, perhaps I should have adjusted where my eyes were. Another 2 eluded me, giving me a final score of 95, and ending any hopes I had of picking up any silverware. The quest for what I call a major win continues!
No, I wasn’t best pleased with the outcome, but the way I approached the last 50, and the complete destruction doled out in the 3rd round, shows that my form might be on the way back at last.
Before I went out to shoot that last round, I knew that Geoff had blasted another 25 to dust and finished on 99.
Maurice was the only one who could match him, but he’d had a 23 to finish with and had to settle for 96, making Geoff 2022 British Open Single Barrel Champion. A 98 followed by a 99 at Single Barrel is some shooting, and is one way to get back at Phil for beating him the day before!
Speaking of Phil, he was tied with Tony on 97, and they had to go out and shoot again. Another 25 straight from the Morgan Machine sealed the win, with Tony ending up with a 22. He still won the Veterans outright though!
Lorrie once again lifted the Ladies and B Class trophies. She finished on 90 despite dropping 5 targets in her first round, which was a great recovery after a dodgy start.
But her margin of victory wasn’t quite as comfortable as yesterday! Wendy Spackman found her groove and shot well, ending up on 83.
Another shoot-off took place to decide 2nd and 3rd in Veterans. Bob Clark, Maurice Beedan, Dean Webber, and Pete Bugler were all tied on 96.
Bob elected to stand aside, so Maurice, Pete, and Dean lined up to sort it out.
Dean shot a 23 while Maurice and Pete shot 24 each, so he dropped out while they lined up again for another full round of Single Barrel.
Both men scored another 24, making sudden death necessary. Pete missed his 14th target, and Maurice took his chance, breaking his and securing 2nd in Vets.
Here’s the list of winners:
High Gun, and British Open Single Barrel Champion 2022
Geoff Howlett 99
2nd Overall, and 1st in AA
Phil Morgan 97 + 25
3rd Overall, and 1st in Veterans
Tony Dore 97 + 22
2nd in Veterans
Maurice Beedan 96 + 24 +24 + 14
3rd in Veterans
Pete Bugler 96 + 24 + 24 + 13
1st in Ladies, 1st in B Class, and 1st in Disabled Sitting
Lorrie Greening 90
2nd in Ladies
Wendy Spackman 83
1st in Juniors
Felix Hughes 82
1st in A Class
Bob Clarke 96
1st in C Class
Darren Crain 91
Well shot everyone, and thank you to Wesley and Allison at Brook Bank for hosting 2 days of great competition shooting!