Sunday 08 March - Sporting Clays Competition

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Consistent Shale in Control at Sporting Clays   

Autumn is here, but the falling leaves will have to wait. The Wangaratta Clay Target Club’s Sporting Clays competition on Sunday the 8th of March saw 39 shooters choose a day of sport over a day of raking up in the garden. Overcast skies threatened all day, but the rain held off until after the shooting was over.

The varying colours of the sky in such weather can be tricky for some shooters, but, as the saying goes, the cream rises to the top, regardless of the conditions. In this case it was Adam Shale and Marty Seymour rising to the top and they were neck and neck all day at the head of the leaders’ board.  

Shale missed only one target in each of his first two rounds and, in spite of Seymour shooting the day’s only possible in his third round, Adam’s consistent start gave him the edge. He came out the overall & AA Grade winner with 94/100 over Marty, 2nd on 93/100.

There was a Shale at the top in A Grade, too. This time it was Adam’s mum Gaye taking the win with a score of 86/100. Mark Reynolds won a shoot-off with David Jackel to take second on 86/110.

B Grade went to F&G Benalla shooter Trevor Jones with 73/100. The Bendigo club’s Colin Repacholi was 2nd on 78/110 after a shoot-off with Gary Byron.

Barry Ellis used his 1960s vintage Merkel to take C Grade with 57/100. Kyabram F&G’s Marion Barnes was 2nd on 42/100.

High Guns winners were, Overall, Adam Shale 94/100; Veterans, David Jackel 78/100; Ladies, Gaye Shale 86/100; Juniors, Jacob Motha 66/100 & Sub Juniors, Matt Motha 57/100.

The day went well, thanks to the usual team of hard working volunteers setting up the traps, Col Crittenden, Phil Smith, Trevor Bussell, Jacob Motha, Matt Motha & Alistair Sunderland. It was nice to see those last three young blokes helping the old coots. In the office it was, Alison Harwood, Anita Klima & Ernie Williams keeping the ship afloat.

Saturday 15 February - Down the Line Competition

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Ferguson and Saunders the shooters to beat at DTL   

Angus Ferguson and Darren Saunders shared the top places in two of the three events at the Wangaratta Clay Target Club’s 15^th of February Down the Line competition. Ron Gulliford robbed them of a clean sweep by winning the other event on the day’s card.

Event one was a 30 Target Point Score Cash Divide and it was the Corowa club’s Angus Ferguson who took out the AA Grade and Overall wins with 84/90. Darren Saunders took 2nd in AA Grade with 80/90.

A Grade saw the host club’s consistent veteran Bob Glossop and Euroa’s Lachy McDonald tie on an impressive score of 88/90.

In B Grade, Neville Bussell gave the host club another win with 84/90. Second went to talented junior Cameron Ford with 82/90.

Steve Wozniak took 1st in C Grade with 77/90 from Peter Sunderland in 2nd on 76/90.

Event two, the 25 Target Handicap, got underway with the temperature and humidity rising significantly. The uncomfortable conditions didn’t affect the quality of the shooting, though. Ron Gulliford took the top spot with 29/30, one target up on hard working club volunteer Phil Smith, 2nd on 28/30. Neville Bussell’s 24/26 gave him 3rd and made it a trifecta of Wang club members.

The final event of the day, the 40 Target Double Barrel, saw the quality of the shooting lift even further and shoot-offs were required to settle the overall winner and the placings in three of the four grades.

In AA, Darren Saunders took the grade and, after an entertaining shoot-off with Ian Cooksey, the overall win on 81/82. Angus Ferguson was 2nd in AA with 43/45.

A Grade went to Ian Cooksey on 39/40. Anthony Plum well and truly had his eye in by now and took 2nd on 45/47 after a shoot-off with Ron Gulliford and Lachy McDonald.

Craig Sessions won B Grade with 39/40. Matt Motha was 2nd on 41/43 after toppling Cam Ford in a shoot-off. This pair of determined juniors drew praise from many of the old hands present.

Mark Bilney took out C Grade with an impressive 38/40. Peter Sunderland was a distant 2nd on 31/40.

High Gun winners were, Overall, Lachie McDonald 149/155; Veterans, Bob Glossop 146/155; Ladies, Joanne Ford 139/155; Juniors, Matt Motha 142/155.

Sunday 09 February - Sporting Clays Competition

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McGauran the Master in Tricky Conditions   

Sunday the 9th of February’s overcast weather and relatively mild temperature made a pleasant change for competitors and visitors at the Wangaratta Clay Target Club’s Sporting Clays competition. Occasional sprinkles of rain fell from time to time, but it was never enough to dampen the ground or the enthusiasm of the seven squads of shooters.

As usual, Col Crittenden, Graham Coyle, Trevor Bussell and Phil Smith were hard at work from early in the day to ensure that the two grounds provided a variety of challenging targets. Strong winds persisted throughout the day, changing the character of those targets and further stretching the shooters’ skills. Mick Baldwin, Tom Challis, Pud Harrison & Rhys McGauran rose to the occasion and each managed to shoot a possible in one of their four rounds.

Two of the above mentioned fought it out for AA Grade and overall honours. After a shoot-off, Rhys McGauran’s 102/110 gave him the win with Pud Harrison 2nd on 100/110.

In A Grade, Russ Taylor and Tony Connell tied on 88/100. The shoot-off went to Russ on 97/110 with Tony in 2nd on 93/110.

B Grade was close, too, with Rutherglen F&G’s John Clark taking 1st with 80/100 from Wodonga F&G’s Francis Indica on 79/100.

Barry Ellis won C Grade with a respectable 74/100. Barry, a connoisseur of old guns, used his Miroku Model 9000 which dates from the 1970s, making it almost new by his standards. Paul Reynolds was 2nd with 59/100.

High Gun winners were, Overall & Juniors, Rhys McGauran 93/100; Veterans, Alex Mikolajewicz 87/100; Ladies, Marion Barnes 57/100; Sub-Juniors, Lachie McDonald 55/100.

Thanks to Alison Harwood and Ernie Williams in the office and to Bruce Henshall for his work on the microphone and the scoreboard.

Saturday 18 January - Down the Line Competition

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High Scores in Spite of Testing Conditions   

Hot, smoky and very windy conditions greeted shooters at the Wangaratta Clay Target Club’s first DTL competition for 2020, held on Saturday the 18th of January. Nevertheless, there was a good turnout of 35 entries for the day’s events, which included 20 Target Single Barrel, 20 Target Handicap and 40 Target Double Barrel.

Down the Line competitions will be starting from midday this year, in the hope of attracting more entries, but the Motha family was still there early, as usual, to get the grounds set up. Graham Coyle made an early start too, to get both traps adjusted to specifications before the kick-off.

Event 1 was the 20 Target Single Barrel Cash Divide. AA Grade saw a three-way tie at the top of the ladder, with Terry Pigram, Phil Matthews and Keith Willett each scoring 19/20 to share the prize pool.

In A Grade, Ken Birt scored the only possible in the event to scoop most of the cash, but Pat Calandro and Peter Watkins tied in 2nd with 18/20 to take their share.

B Grade went to Matt Motha on 19/20 from fellow host club member Neville Bussell on 17/20.

Craig Sessions took out C Grade with 18/20. Barry Ellis made good use of his lovely old 1960s vintage Browning to take 2nd on 14/20.

Event 2, the 20 Target Handicap got underway with the wind gusting even stronger and ended in four shooters tying on 19/20. In the shoot-off, Neville Bussell continued his good form from the first event and won with 21/22 from Ian Cooksey in 2nd on 20/22. It was great to see Bob Foster back shooting in competition after an accident last year and he took 3rd on 19/21. Pat Calandro, shooting off 24 metres, was the unfortunate member of the four to drop out of contention.

Event 3, the 40 Target Double Barrel, saw shoot-offs needed to separate close scores in most grades. In AA Grade, Bob Leita, Russell Barnes and Terry Pigram all shot possibles. Bob won the marathon shoot-off with 79/79 from Russell on 78/79.

A Grade saw Ken Birt and Pat Calandro tie on 38/40. Pat was unavailable for the shoot-off, so Ken was awarded 1st place.

B Grade went to Cameron Ford with an excellent 39/40. Cam’s mum, Jo Ford, took 2nd on 43/45 after a shoot-off with Phil Smith.

In C Grade, Craig Sessions smashed 39/40 to finish on top, with Mitch Parker in 2nd with 37/40. 

High Gun winners were, Overall, Phil Matthews 76/80; Veterans, Phil Smith 71/80; Juniors, Cam Ford 72/80.

Sunday 12 January - Sporting Clays Competition

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Jory’s Year off to a Flying Start   

The Wangaratta Clay Target Club kicked off the new year with a Sporting Clays  competition on Sunday the 12th of January. An excellent field of 40 shooters competed on two grounds of very different character. Graham Coyle and Phil Smith laid out the traps on Ground 1, while Col Crittenden, Trevor Bussell, Matt Motha and Alistair Sunderland set up Ground 3, resulting in a wide variety of targets catering to all shooters.

The day started quite clear, but bushfire smoke got progressively thicker as the day progressed. Visibility was far from perfect, but that was of little importance, compared to the adversity being faced by those directly affected by the disastrous fires.  

Brett Jory is never far from the head of the pack and, on this occasion, he ended the day five targets clear of his nearest rival. Brett shot the day’s only possible in his final round and took the AA Grade and overall wins with 94/100. Adam Shale was 2nd in AA on 89/100.

Wodonga F&G’s Russ Taylor won A Grade with 84/100. Max Kavanagh, who had earlier donated a slab of shells to be raffled off for the club, tied with Alan Seccull on 82/100. A coin toss decided 2nd place in Max’s favour.

B Grade winner Alex Mikolajewicz reckoned that his impressive 87/100 was thanks to some recent coaching from Graham Coyle. Russell Barnes claimed 2nd with 84/100.

C Grade saw female shooters taking the two top spots. Regular NSW visitor Vicki McDonagh took 1st with 70/100. Second went to keen-eyed Kiwi Petra Deadman on 75/110, after a shoot-off with Paul Reynolds.

High Gun winners were, Overall, Brett Jory 94/100; Veterans, Graham Coyle 83/100; Ladies, Gaye Shale 80/100; Juniors, Matt Motha 72/100.

Special thanks to Col Crittenden who was busy all day, keeping the equipment running and the show on the road. Thanks also to Alison Harwood in the office. Alison spent the day in fierce combat with the new online scoring system, but came out on top in the end.