By John Wood
The predicted wet and windy weather for the May competition at the Woods Point Gun Club instead turned out to be a dry, cold, cloudy day with some sunshine that added a little warmth.
Visitors from Mansfield, Traralgon, Mornington, Morwell and Warnambool gun clubs made it a busy day.
The first squad was underway by 9.30am so that everyone could complete the day before darkness fell.
In the Eye Opener, Phillip Desmond won the AA-grade cash with 14/15 and Brendon Jones took A-grade with 15/15.
B-grade was successful for Marty McLaughlan with 12/15, while Steve Howlett and Frank Balcombe shared the C-grade moolah with 15/15 each.
The tricky background and the dappled light meant that after the Eye Opener there were no more perfect scores returned for the next three events.
The signature event of the day was the Jodie Poile Memorial, 30 targets Continental, sponsored by her husband Daniel and Daniel’s parents, Laurie and Jo Poile.
Daniel Chinn, Shawn Wood, Steven Howlett and Mick Ward (27/30) were early leaders until Cranky McCall, Andrew Estcourt and Chris Jones spoilt their party by returning 28/30 each.
Then Cameron Trevitt popped to the top of the leader board with 29/30, which was not bettered.
Cameron became the proud wearer of the Jodie Poile Memorial sash, taking the AA-grade prize as well.
McCall took AA-grade second while Estcourt won A-grade followed by Russell Brill (24/30).
Jones took B-grade from Wood while Howlett claimed C-grade from Frank Balcombe on 22/30.
Event three was the Howqua Mixed Targets Championship comprising 10 targets double barrel, 10 targets single barrel and 10 targets double barrel points scored three for a break on the first shot, two for a break on the second shot and zero points for a miss.
This event was sponsored by Ken and Ann Skinner.
Trevor Ewert and Mick Ward came in with the best scores of 47/50 to go into a shoot off for the overall win and after a bracket of five targets each of double barrel, single barrel and double barrel points, Ewert claimed the Howqua sash and the AA-grade prize with 68/75 from Ward (67/75).
Estcourt’s 45/50 was enough to win A-grade from Allan Kidd (44/50).
Wood earned B-grade (45/50) while Marty McLaughlan had to fend off Kirsten Chinn and Kaylene Estcourt in a shoot off to eventually win B-grade second (82/100).
C-grade was a stroll in the woods for Steve Howlett (43/50), with Balcombe second again on 41/50.
The final event was the Howqua 15 Pair Double Rise Championship – two targets released simultaneously, only one shot allowed at each target.
A bit of a breeze had sprung up so conditions were tricky as shown by the scores.
Andrew Estcourt was in the fore again with a good 23/30 to take the sash outright.
Trevitt won AA-grade (21/30) from Chinn (34/50) after a shoot off with Ward.
Estcourt won the A-grade prize with Russell Brill second (17/30) while Wood had another win in B-grade (19/30) from Kaylene Estcourt (15/30).
Howlett and Balcombe again battled it out for the C-grade prizes with Howlett again winning (18/40) from Balcombe in second place (17/40) – a bridesmaid all day.
The overall High Gun sponsored by Kirsten and Daniel Chinn was well won by Andrew Estcourt (96/110) with a return to AA-grade handicap thrown in.
A busy day, good tucker, keen competition, good company and the constant hum of friends catching up, made the May competition another successful day at the point.
The club’s next shoot is the Tear Arse Gull Championships on Sunday 23 June, starting at 9.30am.
