The World Championships
By Les Holgate
Gary Costello on his way to becoming the new World F Class Champion
The third F Class World Championships being held for the first time ever in the UK at Bisley, also coincided with Round 3 of the GB F Class League so you would certainly get more ‘bang for your buck’ with this one! This was the one not to miss as we would not just be competing against the best in the country but also the best in the world - it was destined to be the largest gathering of F Class shooters ever with approximately 140 Open class shooters and 70 F/TR competitors in attendance. Of these, around half were from overseas. A bigger turn out also meant that there were a few suppliers who would rise to the occassion and sponsor the event with some excellent prizes. John Dean of Aimfieldsports.com ( a keen shooter himself but also a sponsor of the F Class League from day one) donated prizes of his shooting bags and mats to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in both Open and F T/R. He even managed to add to that by confirming that US scope manufacturer Sightron ( a scope John now imports) would kindly donate an 8 - 32 scope to the overall winner in the Open class.
The
competition would comprise a practice day on Sunday, then individual
championships would be contested over Monday and Tuesday and finally the Team Championships
would be Wednesday and Thursday but, as it followed the annual Imperial
Meeting, for some it would be three solid weeks on Bisley ranges.
Even though
the first day was Sunday, by mid afternoon Saturday most of the competitors had
arrived and could watch the impressive closing ceremony of the Imperial and take
the opportunity to renew old acquaintances.
For Sunday practice,
some individuals and national teams had booked their own practice targets and
the GB F Class Association had made a block booking of five targets for members. Once the shooting was over for the
day the official opening ceremony took place
on the lawn outside the Pavilion with each country raising its own flag.
Then the competitors adjourned to the Pavilion for a complimentary free drink
and buffet laid on by the GB F Class Association. Competitors then retired to
their accommodation or in the case of the touring Diggle Dollopers, off to Team
HQ - actually the caravan belonging to Stuart Anselm, GB F T/R Captain, complete
with all necessary refreshments - thanks Yvonne!.
On Monday, the
first detail kicked off at 8.00 am and the course of fire would be 2 + 15 at
800, 900 and 1000 yards with FT/R up first followed by two Open details, all preceded by the free sighting in session -
sorry that was a typo - I meant blow-off shots!
The weather
forecast wasn’t good but at 800 yards it was dry and winds were light.
Even though
the conditions were good, it is still a remarkable achievement to keep all your
shots in the five-ring with a 308 but that’s what two shooters did, Mike Miller
(USA) 75.9v and Dale Rathwell (Canada) 75.7v, with Paul Phillips (USA) not far
behind on 74.10v.
Conditions
remained pretty much the same for both Open Class details and it was hard to
see how much you could improve on those FT/R scores but no less than 35 Open
Class shooters hit the maximum 75 and that shows how much F Class has advanced
in the last few years, even though the target is smaller. Eventual Open Class winner
at 800 yards was Jeff Traylor (USA) with a 75.15v. I don’t care how good your rifle is and what
the conditions are - to hit a five-inch diameter V bull fifteen times at that
distance on a range you are not familiar with is something special. Jeff was
closely followed by Cheryll van Neikerk (South Africa) on 75.12v and Shiraz
Balolia (USA) on 75.12v.
At 900 yards
FT/R were again first up but now the weather was starting to change, the rain was
coming and the wind had increased but that didn’t seem to upset the F T/R guys and
Stan Pate (USA) put in a remarkable 75.7v to win the stage. It would have also
put him in 3rd place in Open! Not far behind him was Mike Miller
(USA) with a 75.1v and in 3rd place Andrew Penfold (GB) 74.2v. Highest
Open score went to Gary Costello (GB) with an outstanding 75.11v, with legendary
USA shooter Mid Tompkins in second on 75.8v and third Robert Bock (USA) on 75.3v,
these being the only three guys to shoot 75’s.
Back at 1000
yards, the wind had increased considerably, testing the limits of the 308
calibre and scores started to tumble as many shooters explored the 3 ring for
the first time. Some mastered it though
and top F T/R shooter was Ian Dixon (GB) 69.2v with Russell Simmonds (GB) not
far behind on 67.4v, closely followed by Paul Eggemann (Germany) 67.2v. In Open
Class, in similar conditions Grant Taylor (Scotland) won with an impressive
74.4v followed by Gary Costello (GB) 74.3v and USA’s Jeff Traylor in third on
73.3v.
With the
shooting over for the day some went home to lick their wounds but others could
pat themselves on the back for a job well done.
Day One
results:
F/TR
1st
Russell Simmonds (GB) 213.15v
2nd
George Barnard (GB) 212.14v
3rd
Mike Miller (
4th
Terry Perkins (
5th
Stuart Anslem (GB) 208.10v
Open
1st
Gary Costello (GB) 223.25v
2nd
Jeff Traylor (
3rd
Grant Taylor (
4th
Middleton Tompkins (
5th
Des Parr (GB) 219.21v.
(Please
note that first place man Gary Costello had only dropped 2 points all day!)
With
Monday’s shooting over but the competition only half way through, the evening
was left to individuals to make their own entertainment which for some meant a
visit to the local ‘eat as much as you can’ Chinese restaurant. It would be an
early night though as several in the party were well placed in the competition.
Tuesday’s
forecast didn’t look good but amazingly, the rain didn’t trouble us all day.
Pity the same couldn’t be said of the wind!
FT/R were
first off again at 800 yards and after the blow-offs it certainly wasn’t as calm
as the previous day with the wind ebbing and flowing and pushing many out into
the 4 ring in both FT/R and Open Class but not Monte Milanuk (USA), using a
standard factory Savage F/TR rifle, he shot a stunning 75.9v - a score that was
good enough for third place in the Open Class! Peter Scott (Wales) took second on 73.8v and third
was Gary Rasmussen (USA) 73.7v. Conditions remained similar for the Open guys and
again, those who could avoid the odd ‘four’ would finish close to the top of
the board. Eight shooters put in 75 or better and top spot went to Brian Otey
(USA) with 75.13v, with Martin Townsend (GB) in second on 75.11v and Rick Jensen (USA) third with 75.9v.
When we dressed
back to 900 yards, the wind had noticeably picked up and was also changing
direction considerably thus dropping the scores for all but a few of the top
shooters. In F/TR, John Weil (USA) was ahead by two whole points with an
excellent 73.7v, again shooting a factory Savage, followed by Matthew Wolf
(Canada) 71.6v and Jeff Rorer (USA) third on 70.4v. Conditions didn’t improve
for Open Class but that didn’t seem to make any difference to John Campbell
(GB) who put in a 74.6v. Next best would be Martin Lobert (Australia) 73.7v followed
by John Carmichael (GB) also with 73.7v.
The final
shoot of the competition was at 1000 yards with the round-count increased to 2
and 20. The wind was even stronger now and 2’s and 3’s were not unusual for
FT/R shooters. Highest placed was Stan Pate (USA) with an 85.2v, with Russell
Simmonds (GB) second on 85.1v and George Barnard (GB) taking third with 83.3v.
These three
were in close contention for the overall title and it was not initially clear
who had won until the official scores were posted. The first ever FT/R World
Champion is Russell Simmonds. Russell had won the GB F Class League the
previous year and has now proven that he is truly world class.
The top
five places in F T/R are:
1st
Russell Simmonds (GB) 437.23v
2nd
George Barnard (GB) 432.23v
3rd
Stan Pate (
4th
Jeff Rorer (
5th Ian Dixon (GB) 424.18v
It was equally close in the Open Class and the whole Championship could
be won or lost at the final distance. It was still tricky and the best at
mastering the wind was John Carmichael (GB) 94.6v, with second place going to
Dan Brough (GB) 93.8v with Des Parr (GB) on 93.7v. in third spot. If you
remember, the previous day’s overall leader was Gary Costello and with
The top fve
Open Class competitors were:
1st
Gary Costello (GB) 458.44v
2nd
Des Parr (GB) 456.36v
3rd
Grant Taylor (GB) 455.30v
4th
John Carmichael (GB) 454.37v
5th
John Campbell (GB) 453.36v.
But the
drama for Gary and the rest of us didn’t end there. There are trophies for the 800,
900,and 1000 yard aggregate of the two days and the aggregate score for 800
yards was a tie between Gary Costello and Larry Bartholome (USA) on 149.20v.
The shoot-off provided a perfect dramatic end to the whole competition as both
competitors made their way to the 800 yard point for a ‘one sighter and five to
count’ shoot-off.
Both
sighters were ‘fours’ and with Larry shooting much quicker than Gary it was
becoming difficult to figure out who was actually winning. Larry had put in a 24.2v ( 2 v’s, 2 5’s and a
4). When
So the
individual championship was over and for some the Team event was still to come.
All in all there were some stunning performances and it boiled down to what it
usually boils down to – consistency. So congratulations once again to both
Russell and Gary making it a clean sweep for GB shooters.
If you
recall, this started off as an article on the GB League shoot, so where does
that put them League points wise? Who knows and I doubt they care bearing I
mind that they had both just become World Champions!
The final accolade
must go to Mik Maksimovic and his team at Bisley for arranging a comp this big
that went off without any incidents – well done guys. If you are wondering who
shoots what I can tell you that all the top GB shooters had 7mm’s with third
placeman Grant Taylor building his own gun! Bearing in mind the conditions we usually
shoot in, this proves what many GB shooters already suspected ‘a good big ‘un
generally beats a good little ‘un!’
If you live in the UK and shoot F Class but didn’t manage to make it to Bisley - you should have! But if you want to attend the next GB League shoot it will be held at Diggle Ranges 19th and 20th September. Just email me at mrmister@tinyonline.co.uk and I will send you an entry form. But don’t hang about entries are limited. Who knows, you could be shooting alongside the world champion.
WORLD F CLASS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
By Vince Bottomley
The new World F Class Champions
The F Class World Championships are held every four years, with the inaugural event held in Canada in 2001. This was followed by South Africa in 2005 and four years later we are now at Bisley.
Following a day of practice on the Sunday, the event opened with the World Individual Championships on the Monday and Tuesday followed by the Teams event which was contested on the Wednesday and Thursday.
Six nations fielded a Team in the Open Class – Great Britain, Ireland, USA, Germany, Netherlands and South Africa. Disappointingly, no Australian Team and Canada, who’s George Faquharson invented the discipline, did field a four man F/TR team but not an Open Team. Encouragingly, Spain bravely entered an F/TR team, the country’s first foray into the sport of long-range rifle shooting. What they lacked in equipment, they made up for in enthusiasm. We hope to see more of them in the future.
Coming into the shoot, the American Team were favourites having won in Canada in 2001 though the host team took the honours in South Africa but America’s Mid Tompkins had won the individual championship. The Americans were posting a daily ‘blog’ and pre-championships, they sounded pretty confident. The ‘Individuals’ on Monday and Tuesday was a good indicator of who’s hot and who’s not and although USA had some impressive individual results, it must have come as something of a shock to see that the top ten places in the World Individual Open Class were occupied by GB shooters. In the F/TR Class things were a little more encouraging with USA having six shooters in the top ten, though GB shooters Russell Simmons and George Barnard took first and second places with America’s Stan Pate in third.
Team America hosted a soiree on Tuesday evening in the Canadian Lodge which was well attended and gave competitors an opportunity to mix and socialise before the main event got underway the following morning. For me it’s great to meet and put a face to those internet ‘nom de plumes’ and I got the opportunity to speak with Darrell Buell, Captain of the US F/TR squad. With all the development we have recently put into F/TR, I was surprised to learn that two of the Team - John Weil and Monte Milanuk - would be shooting standard factory Savage FTR rifles as part of the Savage sponsored team.
The course of fire for the Teams was exactly the same as for the Individual event – 800, 900 and 1000 yards on each day with two sighters and fifteen to count at each distance. For those unfamiliar with World F Class team shooting, this is a coached shoot and individual shooters will string-shoot with the help of their wind-coach and a plotter. For Day One on Wednesday, it was dry with a testing wind but nonetheless some impressive scores began to appear. It soon became apparent that the battle for Gold would likely be between GB and the USA though South Africa were staying in touch. After 800 yards only one point separated GB and USA with South Africa 9 points adrift.
Team work from Great Britain
After 900 yards, GB opened up a useful six-point lead which had increased to 19 points by the close of shooting. Day One scores were:
Great Britain 1719.116v
USA 1700.126v
South Africa 1688.110v
Germany 1631.98
Ireland 1618.80
Netherlands 1569.82
Barring an absolute disaster, the fight for Gold was going to be between GB and the USA. The GB team uses the 7mmWSM whereas the USA prefer the 6.5-284. The ideal Open cartridge has been the subject of much debate.
Individual yardage winners:
800 yards John Brewer, USA 75.11v
900 yards Adam Brough, GB 75.5v
1000 yards Cherryll van Niekerk, SA 71.4v
So how was the F/TR going? Answer – a bit better for America – here’s how they finished day one:
USA 807.40v
Great Britain 785.43v
Canada 755.35
Germany 737.16v
Ireland 736.24v
Spain 646.10v
Individual yardage winners:
800 yards Matthew Wolf, Canada 74.6v
900 yards George Barnard, GB 73.4
1000 yards Jeff Rorer, USA 67.2v
Day One passed without rain and the forecast was good for the final day. Conditions were indeed good for the 800 yard stage and GB increased their overnight lead to 36 points. South Africa were still fighting and matched America at 800 yards, both with 571 points.
At 900 yards, going into the lunch break, GB pulled further ahead and were now leading by 42 points with only one yardage left. The F/TR teams were still battling and GB had pulled back seven of the 22 point over-night deficit with a cracking 900 yard shoot scoring 267.11v to the USA’s 250.10v and strong shooting by Ireland had hoisted them into third place, leap-frogging Canada and Germany.
We had a short rain-shower at the end of the morning detail and more rain over the lunch break but the final 1000 yard stage started in sunny but blustery conditions – it wouldn’t last.
Again, GB took a whopping 17 points out of America on the final 1000 yard stage which was hampered in the final stages by a heavy shower and although it lasted only a few minutes, teams could not afford to stand down for too long.
Here’s how it finished:
Great Britain 3436.240v
United States of America 3377.234v
South Africa 3337.188v
Republic of Ireland 3218.158v
Germany 3188.154v
Netherlands 3134.160v
Individual stage winners:
800 yards Jeff Traylor USA 75.10v
900 yards Gary Costello GB 74.6v
1000 yards Larry bartholome 74.6v
The GB Silver Medal FTR Team
Could the F/TR Team salvage some glory for the USA. With a healthy 15 point lead it looked likely but in F/TR at 1000 yards, it’s not too difficult to be blown into the two-ring and big points can easily be dropped. Well, the Brits did manage to pull back a few points but the US Team were strong and John Weil’s score of 69 was better than several of the Open Class shooters managed at 1000 yards – and that’s with a factory Savage!
Final scores were:
United States of America 1581.76v
Great Britain 1569.74v
Republic of Ireland 1508.47v
Canada 1502.59v
Germany 1423.33v
Spain 1258.19v
Individual stage winners:
800 yards Jeff Rorer USA 72.8v
900 yards Dale Rathwell Canada 70.6v
1000 yards John Weil 69.0v
Prize giving was carried out on-range under a clear blue sky and warm sun – the best weather of the week. A Gala Dinner wrapped up proceedings and everyone I spoke to was well impressed by the way the Championships were conducted. Chief Range Officer Doug ran a pretty tight ship on the point but with good humour and I heard few complaints regarding marking and the hard working butts crew were warmly applauded by shooters at the end of each day.
No event of this size is down to one man but there is always a driving force and full credit must go to Mik Maksimovik. He can feel proud of the GB Team and of Great Britain’s World F Class Championship. The next one will be in four years time at Raton New Mexico but the GB F Class Association continues with its League shoots throughout the year – visit the 'Calendar' page for further information.
For a full
list of results please visit the NRA UK website www.nra.org.uk
F/TR Shooters
Stuart Anselm (Captain)
Russell Simmonds
Ian Dixon
Steve Donaldson
Steve Rigby
Paul Dobson
Coach: Tim Kidner Plotter: George Barnard
OPEN Shooters
Greg Thompson
Dennis Groom
David Kent
Mik Maksimovic
Dan Brough
Gary Costello
Jim McAllister
Des Parr (Captain)
Lee Tomlinson
John Campbell
Mark Daish
Peter Wilson
Adam Bough
Coaches: Bill Richards, Martin Townsend, Matt Ensor
Plotters: Peter Hobson, John Carmichael
Register keepers: Gordon Waugh, Daoud Rhouma
Congratulations to all these shooters - Des Parr