KEN WINS THE REGIONAL ABT TITLE

(L-R) Steve Kirby (Cambs), Ken Rimington (Notts), Lee Clements (Notts). 

For once the Regional ABT Championships again held at Nottingham were not blighted by the weather. Previous years have seen monsoon rains, hurricane winds, and snow so deep a bobcat had to be brought in to uncover the layouts, which was of course the scene of the famous snowdrift trick shot by our Lady Chairman.

All of the above is of course a great testament to you the East Midlands shooters that come out in all weathers to support the region, and not forgetting the team at Nottingham, who always keep the show running no matter what.

So for once good weather was welcomed for this event, with some summer sun and a light breeze, and of course the weather brought the improved scores to the 43 shooters who attended.

At the end of the day Notts regular Ken Rimington finished two shots clear of his nearest rivals, Chris Morris & Steve Kirby from Cambridgeshire and Lee Clements from Nottinghamshire, Kens consistent scoring of 22/23/23/23 enough to see him home with a score of 91.

The tied shooters had to then endure a 25 bird shoot off to decide the minor placing’s, with each raising their game to improve on their previous round scores. Sadly Chris was eliminated on 23, both Steve and Lee recording one extra kill, and it took another round of 25 to finally declare Lee as Runner up and Steve in the bronze medal position, Lee dispatching 24 targets to Steve’s 22.

(L-R) Hazel Whiten (Cambs), Tracey Bridge (Lincs), Jackie Houghton (Lincs).

In Ladies Tracey Bridge from Lincolnshire improved on last year’s runner up placing to win the Ladies title on 83, 4 clays clear of another regional regular Jackie Houghton also from Lincolnshire, who in turn was six clays clear of bronze medal finisher Hazel Whiten from Cambridgeshire.

More success for Lincolnshire came in the shape of Dick Cooper who won the Veterans title scoring 87 to give him victory. Tony Socket made the short trip up from Leicestershire and was duly rewarded with the Runners Up medal, and Mike Burton another Lincolnshire shooter completed the 1-2-3, by recording 76 to win him the bronze medal.

George Hurst (Nottinghamshire) - East Midlands Junior ABT Champion

Nottinghamshire junior George Hurst was the only one to dip his toe into the water, and takes his first regional title to follow in the footsteps of many junior stars of trap shooting that have emerged from the northern part of our region.

Once again many thanks to Carl & Team Nottingham, not forgetting Julia, who makes my life reporting these events so much easier ….thanks Jules.

Well just one more regional title to fight over, that of the Handicap by Distance, again at Nottingham, on October 12^th, but until then we get on with the battle over the Directors Trophy and Intercounties pride, the next round being the Intercounties FITASC at Kegworth on Sept 13/14^th.

Many thanks to KR Photography for the photographs.

PRIZE MONEY

1^st A – Nick Dean & Dave Kirk 96

1^st B – DW Wood 96

1^st C – David Wright 88

1^st D – Bob Firth 81

2^nd D – Rene Aas 79