News

Bathurst Rifle Club Inc., 22^nd October 2023, BRC Open Prize Meeting 2023

          After several weeks interruption to the shooting program due to the car races, Bathurst Rifle Club returned to the range and with the previous months of preparation completed by many hardworking members the club was ready to host the first BRC Open Prize Meeting to be held in several years. The recent upgrades to the shooting points and other facilities set the stage for a great day of shooting. The club used its own three electronic targets on this occasion so numbers were restricted but with a total of thirty-nine shooters competing it was a full program to manage for the day. All members worked together making it one of the best run and enjoyable events held by the Bathurst Rifle Club in some time. The cool south westerly breeze started early with the variable wind conditions turning it on to make one of the more challenging days for shooting at the Bathurst range.

          The decision was made to shoot all three matches from the 600-yard firing point to manage available time efficiently and it was not long before the difficulty of the shooting conditions was realised as the scores came in for the first match. Les Fraser (Lyndhurst Rifle Club) handled the conditions well in TRA grade with the loss of just one point to lead by four centre bulls with Nigel Russell (Roseville RC) leading TRB grade. F Standard A grade shooter John Weigel (Gosford RC) also topped the field in his class with a loss of just one point and Sahara Dukes (Port Jackson RC) did well to lead the FS B grade shooters. The highly contested F Open class was led by Gary Trudgett (Cootamundra RC) again losing just one point for the match. The FTR class was contested for the first time at a Bathurst OPM with Michael Cuda (Lyndhurst RC) leading the group at the first match. The Sporter class was also contested for the first time with James Clarke (Bathurst RC) getting great results to lead the first match.

          Rolling through to the second match at 600 yards saw no change in the wind conditions that were likely getting worse at times. David Brown (Narromine-Dubbo RC) stepped it up a notch to claim the range in TRA grade while Robert Logue (Katoomba RC) claimed the range in TRB grade. Terry Knight (Grenfell RC) shooting FSA grade gained top spot for the match with a single super centre advantage and local Col Howell (Bathurst RC) claimed the range for FSB grade. In F Open class Chris Anderson (Nowra RC) topped the range with the only possible score gained on the day while Michael Cuda (Lyndhurst RC) again led the group of FTR class shooters for the match. In Sporter class Simon Budden (Lyndhurst RC) claimed the top spot for the range losing just one point in the difficult conditions.

          The third 600-yard match for the day was going to be the most difficult being later in the day and also needing fifteen shots to complete the stage. TRA grade shooter Jim Jeffery (Lyndhurst RC) rose to the top for the final stage with the loss of just one point with Nigel Russell claiming his second range for the day in TRB grade. Gary Haeusler (Goodiwindi RC) FSA grade shooter claimed his first match win for the day with Col Howell (Bathurst RC) again taking top spot in FSB grade. F Open shooter Phillip Rhodes (Nowra RC) claimed his range win for the day taking top spot by one super centre while local FTR shooter Geoff Willis (Bathurst RC) claimed his first range win for the day. Sporter class shooter Simon Budden (Lyndhurst RC) scoring another match win on the day.

          Consistent scoring for the three matches during the day could likely pave the way for the day’s top aggregate scorers and in Target Rifle A Grade David Brown (Narromine-Dubbo RC) held well to finish two points clear for the days aggregate win (170.11) with Phil Hodder (Roseville RC) in second place (168.7). Target Rifle B Grade shooter Robert Logue (Katoomba RC) claimed the win (160.7) over Nigel Russell (Roseville RC) in second place (157.10). In F Standard A Grade class Gary Haeusler (Goondiwindi RC) shot consistently to win the class (201.11) with Bruce Rowlands (Lyndhurst RC) shooting well to take second place while scoring the highest centre count of the day (197.16). F Standard B Grade shooter Col Howell (Bathurst RC) did well to take the first place in difficult conditions (191.6) with Sahara Dukes (Port Jackson RC) taking second spot (182.3). F Open shooter Gary Trudgett (Cootamundra RC) shot well all day to take top spot with the least loss of points (203.13) followed by Chris Anderson (Nowra RC) who held on well for second place (199.8). FTR shooter Michael Cuda (Lyndhurst RC) shot very consistently to take first place (199.10) over Geoff Willis (Bathurst RC) who just held on to second place by one super centre (193.8). Sporter class was won by Simon Budden (Lyndhurst RC) who scored very well (168.12) with James Clarke (Bathurst RC) claiming second place by several centre bulls (164.11).

          The Bathurst Rifle Club would like to congratulate the winners and thank the many competitors that travelled from all directions of the state which included ten members of the Lyndhurst Rifle Club for their support of the event and hope all had an enjoyable day of shooting with some success. We look forward to your future support and hope to offer more shooter numbers in the future. Thank you also to our sponsors Bathurst RSL, OzFclass.com and Mal Wright.

Geoff Willis

Scores: 

TRA-
D Brown 170.11,
P Hodder 168.7,
J Jeffery 167.11,
L Frazer 167.10,
M Thurtell 167.7,
A Bonanni 166.11,
N Brown 165.3,
J Gordon 164.7.

TRB-
R Logue 160.7,
N Russell 157.10.

FSA-
G Haeusler 201.11,
B Rowlands 197.16,
J Weigel 195.4,
T Knight 193.9,
W Sides 187.2,
L Sweet 183.8,
K Eppleston 182.6,
P Duncan 175.4.

FSB-
C Howell 191.6,
S Dukes 182.3,
R Webb 168.3.

FO-
G Trudgett 203.13,
C Anderson 199.8,
K Hills 197.7,
L Helm 194.9,
M Sharp 194.9,
J Leask 194.7,
M Helm 192.10,
B Savage 192.8,
P Rhodes 182.7,
M Wright 170.2.

FTR-
M Cuda 199.10,
G Willis 193.8,
A Horder 193.7,
C Halloran 191.13,
B Wright 174.6.

Sporter-
S Budden 168.12,
J Clarke 164.11,
A Beavis 164.4.

All scores/plots can be found Here.