Fort Bragg Clay Target Center, 09-19-08 - 09-21-08
Spring Lake, N.C., on an overcast and somewhat breezy afternoon the North Carolina State Closed Skeet Tournament got under way with the Doubles Championship Event. Jay Bunting won the Doubles outright with a 99. Close behind was Jack Ross with a 98 for Runner Up. Class Winners were Stuart Brown AAA-1, Mike Pittard AA-1, Richard Wallace A-1, Donald Wise B-1, Lisa Stroupe C-1 and Shirley Jones D-1.
The 12 Gauge Championship Event came down to a shoot off between six men, each running 100 straight. When the smoke from doubles at 3, 4, and 5 cleared, Craig Kirkman emerged as the Gun Champion followed by Marine shooter, Darron Todd as Runner Up. Class winners were Hayes Wauford AAA-1, Mitchell Simpson AA-1, Adam Johnson A-1, Jim Tiner B-1, Brian Leazer C-1, and Ed Tabor D-1.
Darron Todd also won the Jack Parks All-Gauge Memorial Award that was shot concurrently with the 12 Gauge Event and is open to all members of the Armed Forces active or retired.
The 20 Gauge Championship Event was decided under the lights with Stuart Brown winning the Gun Championship and Bill Hayner as Champion Runner Up. Class winners were Scott McIntyre AAA-1, Harold Powell AA-1, Wally Merritt A-1, Jim Tiner B-1, George Shuman C-1 and Stacy Sink D-1.
Saturday night after the 20 Gauge event all shooters and their guests were invited to Cocktails and Dinner. We dined on barbequed chicken, barbequed pork, baked beans, cole slaw, chicken and rice and boiled potatoes. If anyone went away hungry, it was his own fault because the food was plentiful and outstanding.
After the shoot offs were over and done with, anyone that wanted to could participate in a round of Chinese Trap. To the uninitiated this is somewhat like a Chinese Fire Drill but with shotguns. The targets are thrown from a trap house as they would be thrown during a round of trap. To compound the situation, the shooters are standing on the skeet stations and it is shot as a team event in that both shooters have to be standing on the station at the same time. To add to this confusion one shooter shoots at the target and if he misses, then his partner has to shoot at the same target immediately. Needless to say, a large time was had by all.
The 28 Gauge Championship Event came down to five shooters with 100 straights. These shooters went at it hot and heavy at 3, 4 and 5 at doubles and Craig Kirkman winning the Gun Championship, Hayes Wauford was Gun Champion Runner Up. Class winners were Mike Pittard AAA-1, Bruce Colclough AA-1, James Hill A-1, Jay Kotz B-1, John Shobert C-1 and Gary Hicks, Jr. D-1.
The 410 Bore Championship Event can be, and usually is, a nerve racking time for the shooters that are in the hunt for HOA and HAA. It has been said that when a shooter opens a box of 410s that a strong breeze comes out along with the shells. Well this time it didn’t happen. It seemed that the conditions were about as good as you could ask for. There was a slight breeze, not enough to bother the targets and an overcast sky for a background.
Dustin Taylor, a Junior Shooter won the 410 Bore Championship Event in a shoot off, after running his FIRST 100 straight with the 410, to get to the shoot off. Jay Bunting was Gun Champion Runner Up. Class winners were Donny Weaver won AAA-1, Bruce Colclough AA-1, Harold Powell A-1, Lisa Stroupe B-1, J.R. Reese C-1, and Fred Welfare D-1. Our B-1 Winner, Lisa Stroupe, who normally referees for us, decided to just shoot and shot her career high of 97 in the little gun, congratulations Lisa!
In honor of his first 100 straight with the mighty 410, Dustin Taylor’s friends and fellow shooters literally shot his cap into little pieces.
The Champion of Champions Event was won by Craig Kirkman with a 100 straight.
The HOA Championship Event was won by Craig Kirkman with a 397, Hayes Wauford Runner Up with 397, Stuart Brown AAA-1 with a 397, Bruce Colclough AA-1 with 394, Butch Hassell A-1 with 390, Jim Tiner B-1 with 381, Dick Hampton C-1 with 376 and Stacy Sink D-1 with 364.
Our other HOA Champions were, Edie Fleeman Ladies Champion, Dustin Taylor Junior Champion and Jake Ferrell Sub-Junior Champion.
The HAA Event was won by Stuart Brown with Jay Bunting as Runner Up. The class winners were Hayes Wauford AAA-1, Bruce Colclough AA-1, James Hill A-1, Robbie Juel B-1, Lisa Stroupe C-1 and Bobby Cress D-1.
There are a lot of people that worked very hard to make this our 69th North Carolina Skeet Shooting Championships the success that it was. I am sure that I’ll overlook someone in the process of saying THANK YOU for a job very well done, but here goes. To the ladies at the registration desk, Belinda Tiner and Karen Utley, that kept us shooting on the correct field and at the right time, the people that kept the trap machines full of targets, Stuart Brown, who spent a lot of time lately at Fort Bragg Clay Target Center getting the machines in tune to throw the excellent targets that we had. To the folks that cooked some tasty meals and last but not least to our referees, those people that stood there all day giving the shooter that good pull every time.
If you were there, we enjoyed seeing you and shooting with you. If you were not there, you should have been because you missed a good shoot and an overall good time.
For the record, there were 18 one hundred straights, 23 ninety-nines, and 37 ninety-eights shot in the tournament. This tells me that we had good targets to shoot and a lot of shooters that brought their “A GAME” with them.
