LINC’S DOMINATE INTERCOUNTIES ABT

This event has traditionally been dominated by our north of the region cousins in years gone by and this year was no different with Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire again fighting for the bragging rights of the senior team title.

Sadly Bedfordshire, Northants and Leicestershire couldn’t manage to raise teams and it was left to a five way fight for the honours but their absence did not lessen the level of competition.

It was my first time at an ABT competition and I was mildly surprised when I arrived at the ground at around 9-30am that nobody was shooting, I soon discovered that ABT was an “all day thing” and you had to do a bit of reffing and scoring and someone had to blow a horn plus someone had to work the abacus – it all seemed slightly strange but everyone was enjoying themselves and I must say there was a great atmosphere around the ground and a real feeling of camaraderie in this discipline that you do not find in others.

The ground burst into life dead on 10am and the seventy shooters were reasonably happy about the conditions, mild with a slight breeze, cloudy with no rain on the horizon – we were set fair for a day’s competition.

As with this disciplines specifics there are no pace setters on the day but keeping an eye on the constantly updated scoreboard gives you an insight into who’s doing well and who’s not. It became obvious after the first couple of rotations of Carl’s squad board that it was going to boil down to the predicted straight fight between Nott’s & Lincs but it was going to be close with 4 scores to count from the 6 shooting. As the final scores of the day filtered in Lincolnshire recorded a very tidy 367/400 with Dave Sipling leading out on 95 ably backed up by Robin Wade 92, Nigel Watson 90, Brian Wilkinson 90, Nick Pearce 89 and Paul Aslett 86. A few moments later the home team of Nott’s returned to the clubhouse a mere five clays behind on 362 with Mick Feather and Lee Clements stand out scorers on the day with 91 and despite Paul Meakin, Russ Hufton and Luke Bartle all chipping in with a 90 and an 82 from Tim Hobbs they had to settle for runners up to Lincolnshire.

The Ladies team event between Camb’s, Suffolk and Lincs was all about Alison Dupree as she rattled up a superb 95 which was incidentally the joint top score on the day but Alison was well backed up by Jackie Houghton on 84, Tracey Bridge 77 and Janet Stennett 66 to give the Lincolnshire lasses the title a massive 19 clays in front of nearest rivals Cambridgeshire.

Sadly the Junior Team event was a two horse race and the familiar face of Curtis Woolley was the deciding factor rattling up a 92 to aid the Nott’s team score and also lift the High Gun trophy yet again, Joe Booth was on hand with a 73 to take the title twelve clays clear of the Camb’s duo, a quick word here for Jack Wilkinson from Lincolnshire shooting alone as a junior he was just one clay behind Curtis and the team title may have gone the way of Lincolnshire with another team member.

That just leaves the Vets title to wrap up and it was a familiar story with the Lincs foursome of John Winn 90, Bob Richardson 83, Dave Shepherd 80 and Derek Olivant 81 just doing enough to overcome runners up Suffolk by five clays to finish on 173/200.

This all means that Suffolk have taken a good lead in the Directors Trophy, and with two strong suits still to shoot namely the Skeet and FITASC Suffolk are now installed as red hot favourites in this the first running of the trophy and they know a top three finish in the Skeet in a few weeks time and the title is theirs – but the pressure will be on with many counties fielding strong teams and this team title has been well shared round over the years.

Finally yet again we have to thank Nottingham & District and its entire staff for a very enjoyable day, as always they are well organised and ready for just about any eventuality or crisis that could occur – but I have to report sadly they could not help me out when my camera’s batteries went flat, many thanks to King Kenny for coming up trumps – just remember my parking space at the skeet !!!