Race for the Directors Trophy Hots Up

The Winning Senior Team - Suffolk

From an organising point of view I don’t think we could have asked for a better conclusion to the season with three counties separated by just one point with the Intercounties ABT still to come next month at Nottingham.

Notts were the leaders of the Directors Trophy after the DTL last week, but from a Lincolnshire and Northants prospective the cards could not have fallen any better in the All Round at Northampton on Sunday, but more on that later.

The day for the 117 shooters was a mixed one in terms of weather, not particularly warm early on, leading to some lovely warm spells and a pretty heavy rain shower early afternoon, to a freshening wind late on, all of this with a backdrop of a Lancaster bomber, and its honour guard of a Spitfire and a Hurricane making several sorties around the ground.

Once again it was a very special atmosphere around the ground, the Intercounties and the sideshow of the Directors Trophy has really increased the feeling of friendly rivalry between opposing county shooters this season, the banter is all in good spirit and it certainly adds an enjoyable edge to the day’s competition.

Beds and Northants were first out and pretty much as expected Northants with a rich history in this event set a target for everyone to aim at. Again it was Northants junior Henry Collins who set the standard, and again drafted into the Senior team he made his mark recording an excellent 92.

Northants ended up on 528 / 600 with only Lincolnshire hungry for Directors Trophy points getting close, some 12 points behind, and it came as no surprise to see Suffolk, another county with a good record in this event overtake Northants to take the victory, Pete Mayhew, Darren Parsons and Rob Butters all on 92 doing the bulk of the damage.

Of course whilst all this was going on, Notts and mainly Lincs shooters were trying to do calculations from the scores coming in to see what effect this all had on the Directors Trophy standings. Lincs needed to score well, and they needed other counties to get in front of Notts to give them a fighting chance in the Intercounties ABT next month.

Later in the day we crunched the numbers, and it became apparent just how close it was, Lincs are now leading on 28 points, and Notts and Northants are tied on 27, the rest unfortunately cannot now win including current holders Suffolk, although it is mathematically possible, it is highly unlikely, with Lincs needing to come last and Notts to come next best to give Suffolk a chance, but doubtless they will have an effect on the final result.

Directors Trophy Points (Scores from the top 8 shooters)

Suffolk 705 – 8 Points

Northants 695 – 7 Points

Lincs 680 – 6 Points

Bedfordshire 679 – 5 Points

Cambridgeshire 679 – 5 Points

Leicestershire 664 – 3 Points

Nottinghamshire 644 – 2 Points

Current League Table

	FIT	ESK	ESP	DTL	AR	ABT	TOTAL
BEDS	6	2	6	0	5		19
CAMBS	0	3	8	4	5		20
LEICS	8	1	5	2	3		19
LINCS	5	6	4	7	6		28
NOTTS	7	7	3	8	2		27
NORFOLK	0	5	0	6	0		11
NORTHANTS	0	8	7	5	7		27
SUFFOLK	4	4	2	3	8		21

Lincolnshire - Junior Team Winners

In the Ladies team event there was at least some good news for Nottinghamshire with a victory over nearest rivals on the day Cambridgeshire. Jenny Hilton top scored for Notts on 75, and Megan Gamble just one point behind that on 74, Hayley Denoon and Andrea Jex completed the winning quartet.

In veterans Bedfordshire dominated with John Stanton scoring 95, which was the High Gun score on the day, Jim Munday backed that up with 89, and Phil Coxall rubbed it in with an 85 to give them a team score of 184/200 and victory.

In Juniors Tom Mead took the Junior High Gun Trophy plus the James Hinkins Trophy for top scoring on 84. His score also helped the Lincolnshire Juniors to victory, George Cheer 77 and Saira Boardman 69 competed the winning line up.

So that’s it, just the remaining leg of the Directors Trophy to come at Nottingham next month in the East Midlands Intercounties ABT…...if you shoot ABT expect a phone call very soon.

Many thanks to all the team at Northampton for such an enjoyable day.