By John Wood
Under leaden skies, competitors started arriving early for the Woods Point Gun Club’s King of the Mountain (KOM) Championships.
A slight drizzle persisted most of the day and the bitter cold kept the scores low.
The eye opener is the preliminary event that blows the cobwebs out of the gun’s barrels and hopefully earns the shooter a cash prize.
Daniel Chinn was the sole winner in AA-grade, 5/5.
Allan Kidd and Ken Skinner shared A-grade with 4/5, while Laurie Poile received the B-grade cash on his own, 5/5.
In C-grade, Justin Broderick, Jodie Stockdale and Ron Press all made 4/5 to share the moolah.
The first KOM Championship for the day was the 20 targets single barrel – one target, only one shot allowed.
Allan Kidd was the first King of the Mountain, taking the event, the championship sash and the A-grade prize with a great 19/20.
Phillip Desmond’s 18/20 won him AA-grade with Jim West second (17/20).
Ken Skinner with an uncharacteristic 15/20 still took A-grade second place.
Laurie Poile again showed his mettle by winning B-grade with 18/20.
Kirstin Chinn was second (15/21) from Peter West (14/21).
In C-grade it was a great win for Tom Apps (17/20) from John Desmond (15/21).
Event three was the KOM 30 target handicap, with shooters ranging from 15 metres to 25 metres handicap.
Ron Press, a C-grade/15 metre shooter, returned a surprise 27/30 to head into a shoot-off for the championship against Daniel Chinn (AA/21) and Chuck Lay (B/19).
Press was calmly smashing his targets and after another round of six he proudly wore the KOM single barrel sash for his 33/36.
Lay was second (32/36) and Chinn third (27/31).
Justin Broderick’s fine 26/30 gave him fourth place outright.
A 20 target KOM tower finished the day, with Robert Bevis and Daniel Chinn (20/20) shooting off for first and second places, while Phillip Desmond and Peter West (19/20) competed for third and fourth.
The weather conditions brought another small shoot-off, with Yarra Valley’s Bevis becoming the Tower King of the Mountain (22/22) and Chin second (21/22).
Desmond and West’s shoot-off only lasted one target, Desmond third (20/21), West fourth (19/21).
Daniel Chinn capped off a good day by winning the overall high gun sash with 63/70.
The club’s next shoot is the Maori Creek Championships on Sunday 22 September, starting at 9.30am.
For information about the Woods Point Gun Club or to learn how to shoot, call John Wood on 0417 513 011 or Daniel Chinn on 0409 140 642.
