Yep, it was a hot one at the 2010 Arizona State Sporting Clay Championship held the weekend of September 23-26 at the Ben Avery Clay Target Center just North of Phoenix.  The locals tell me it was about 10 degrees above normal for the time of year.  That translates to about 105F temperatures for the weekend, the record high I had heard was just 108 so we were pushing record temps all weekend.  Oddly enough with the humidity hovering around 20 percent and fairly constant breeze it wasn’t actually that bad.  Certainly not the kind of heat that could ruin your weekend, ruining your scores is another matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWUZf1BKu4M

It’s hard to quantify how much effect the heat had on scores in the Main event but it was obvious that Saturday’s Rattlesnake course was a tough SOB.  With wind affected targets, distance and way to many edgy or black targets throw against the dark back ground of the desert and scrub brush, some stations were simply an eye test for many.  There’s no better way to phrase it.  In fact one station, number ten, was thrown out due to the fact that black targets were mistakenly loaded into the machine.  Ten had the shooting position atop one of the berms with a true pair of quartering in/crossing black targets that never got above your feet.  They were edgy and hard to see against the ground below.

I heard rumblings from people who had shot the other Main course, Roadrunner, on Saturday that it may actually be tougher than Rattlesnake!  I suspect in the wind it might have been.  When I shot it on Sunday in calm conditions it was definitely the easier of the two but not by much.  Stations six through ten were pretty good targets with a nice mix of angles.  One through five however were a series of ball busters but not near as bad as those on Rattlesnake.  One interesting station featured a teal like incoming target from a trap about 125 yards out from the station paired with a quartering out, curling bird about 35 yards away.  The problem was the teal never came in passed about 70 yards, a tough target for sure.  Then you had  to tackle the other bird which was no gimme either.  It’s really not necessary to have two low percentage targets on a station.  If you’re going to take one away from the shooter, it’s perfectly acceptable to give one back.

I don’t want to sound too critical but when you have the top guns shooting in the 80′s on both courses then it’s an unnecessarily tough set of targets for the C,D and E shooters, state championship or not.  I also don’t want to make it sound like it was all bad, it wasn’t.  In fact I thought the targets set by Dan Twitchell were nearly great, if only more color was used and more belly or dome shown on a lot of the presentations.  What could have been I guess…

The best targets of the weekend were found in the Prelim and on the FITASC.  I thought the prelim targets were great and what the main targets should have been.  I thought the FITASC was good especially parcours three and four.  The only draw backs here were some of the peg placements where the brush obscured too much of the target flight.  A minor problem really.  I don’t mind that a lot of the targets were thrown to a center point at all but when you do that, peg placement becomes paramount.

OK this really reads like some kind of over analyzed movie review so I’ll just mention that Gebben Miles won the event claiming his 6th Arizona State Championship.  About the targets Gebben said, "The courses were very difficult but the wind played a factor.  I enjoy hard targets but you can’t really control the wind, especially when it’s continually changing.  All in all it was very challenging and you had to be on your game to score well."  When asked how he feels going into the Nationals as defending champ Gebben said, "I love the feeling.  Pressure is a privilege.  I feel as prepared as I was last year both physically and spiritually so we’ll see what happens."  Gebben also held one of his popular chapels at the shoot, "There was a great turnout for chapel at the shoot! There were just fewer than 30 people that showed up. I know it’s not about numbers, but it is nice to have that many there. People really enjoyed it and I received many compliments afterward. Much of what I’ve been hearing from people is that they desire to hear God’s Word taught and enjoy being challenged. I enjoy teaching and giving people Biblical information to chew on."

Overall, I have to say that I had a fun weekend of shooting and that’s all that matters.  The Arizona State is a great event to attend especially if you’ve never shot in desert terrain.  Main event resident Lady Champ was Kaitlyn Borie, Junior was Wesley Borie and Sub-junior was Casey Coleman.  The Prelim was won by Zach Kienbaum while Tom Mack took the FITASC and 5-stand Main.  I would like to thank Chris Stadler ASCA President, the ASCA Board, Dan Twitchell, Lois Lessing and Sarah Newell for their hospitality and putting on a good event.

2010 Arizona State Sporting Clay Scores

St. Petersbourg, Russia was the host of the 2010 European Parcours de Chasse Championship.  In its 43rd year the event was held May 27-30 at Shooting Club Nevsky.  With some of the events that took place the last few times a major championship was held in Russia still on the minds of shooters, it was definitely a smaller turnout than usual.  Worries about travel in and the handling of firearms in Russia in the past are not unfounded.  This time it seemed to go fairly smoothly though with just a few reports of late arriving guns.  Shooters reported slight difficulties in obtaining visas but that the passage of guns was easy and the locking of the guns at the host club was actually convenient.

"The targets were of a good level even if the scores were high. I enjoyed shooting, the setting was magnificent." said event champ, Christophe Auvret (FRA) however,he went on to say, " There were far too many loopers for my taste with too few fast targets above the head."  Silver medalist Ben Husthwaite (GBR) said of the event, "The Euro was a first class event.  Targets were very technical with some of the most technical simo pairs I have ever shot.  There were eight layouts and all were different in presentation and terrain." 

The big news of the event was the strong showing of the French teams.  "It has been 14 years since a French shooter has won the European championship." said Auvret.  Teams from France won Gold in the Senior, Junior, Veteran and Super-Veteran classes as well as taking the Silver in Ladies. Auvret himself has won four selection shoots in France this year.

Auvret won the event in a shoot-off over Ben Husthwaite of the UK.  Auvret and Husthwaite both shot a 192ex200 in the event with Auvret shooting +18 in the shoot-off to Husthwaites +16. The shoot-off however was not without controversy over some of the calls made by an inexperienced referee.  "The shoot-off I would say one thing, the refereeing was poor, incompetent and the results were wrong and a sad end to a great shoot." said Husthwaite.  From Auvret’s point of view, "Personally, I think there were errors, pieces that were seen or not seen." 

Both shooters being great sportsman spoke highly of the other, "The shoot-off with Ben left me with very good memories of his kindness and the accuracy of his shooting.  I had no particular emotion in the shoot-off with him but very happy to beat him."  said Auvret.  Husthwaite said, "Christophe is a great shot and a long time friend  and I congratulate him on his first major!"

For those not familiar with Christophe Auvret, the 27 year old Frenchman lives in Gisors in the Normandy area of France.  He has been shooting since the age of 10 and has managed a gun club for the last 9 years, the Ball-Trap Club de La Rapée.  He shoots a Browning 525 with 32" barrels and likes Rio cartridges, though everyone in Russia had to shoot what was available at the club, only two makes of cartridges.

Of worthy mention in the shoot were always a threat, George Digweed (GBR) in the Bronze position as well as Felix Soldado Folch (ESP) in Senior 4th.  High Lady was Cheryl Hall of the UK even though it fell out Italy, France then Russia in the Ladies teams.  High Junior was another Spaniard José Julian Moreno Carrasco.

In the hotly contested Junior team event it fell out with the French team on top led by Guillaume Gay, then Italy led by the young ace Michael Spada and bronze went to the team from Sweden led by Jonathan Hermansson.

To wrap things up, Auvret says, "Finally, I thank the federation that helped me go to Russia, the staff of Team France, Dr. Dominique Lemonnier et al. and all my friends on the French team."

43rd European FITASC scores

Ball-Trap Club de La Rapée

Shooting Club Nevsky