SUFFOLK TAKE AN EARLY LEAD IN THE DIRECTORS TROPHY

SUFFOLK - SENIOR TEAM CHAMPIONS

Forecasts of heavy rain in Northamptonshire never materialised, and the day’s proceedings were thankfully left to go unhindered in what was a fully booked East Midlands Intercounties Skeet and Round 2 of the Directors Trophy at Northampton Shooting Ground.

In Seniors its historically a head to head between Northants and Suffolk and once again that was the case. Most of the Northants team shot early and held the lead the majority of the day, the only deciding factor on the final team score was that Jo Smith and Roy Tyler were scheduled to shoot later in the day, and a couple of good scores might stretch the lead out further giving reigning Senior Team Champions Suffolk a bigger task

Team Suffolk shooting in the afternoon were not daunted though and were soon making inroads on the current Northants total, and with the final squads out shooting took the lead. Jo Smith responded for Northants with a cracking 99 to finalise the calculations, a 96 from Roy Tyler would force a shoot off, 97 would win it, and of course 95 or less would mean victory for Suffolk, and unfortunately for Roy and Northants it was the latter scenario that prevailed, and Suffolk were Champions leaving Northants having to settle for the runners-up berth.

So, its many congratulations to the Suffolk team of Stuart Smith 97, Bernie Polley 95, Pete Bloomfield 97, Robbie Manning 98, Team Captain Darren Parsons 98, Barry Lock 97, John Shaw 90 and Michael Hermitage 94, and commiserations the Northants team of Mick Russell 99, Neil Faulkner 98, Dave Morgan 96, Roy Tyler 95, Jo Smith 99, Greg Pawlusek 91, Stuart Lobley 94 and Bob Meadows 91.

In Ladies it was the Nottinghamshire girls that took the title with a superb team score of 185/200 with Rachael Parish who is probably better known for her trap shooting leading the way on 94, she was ably backed up by Ami Fitzpatrick 91 and Karen Donnelly 85 to give them a two-target victory over nearest rivals Northants who had Isabel Russell as top scorer on 95.

Just 3 counties entered Junior teams, but that didn’t detract from the level of scoring with several 90+ scores being recorded, and for the second week running and fresh from his JHG success at the Intercounties Sporting, Taylor Hedgecock again better known for his shooting exploits in another discipline took the JHG Trophy with a superb 98. In the Junior team competition Taylor’s score gave Cambridgeshire a good foundation and scores of Archie Bowman 90, Ethan Lord 76 and Julian Berridge 77 gave them a three-target victory over a luckless Northants who had Sonny Bowman top scoring on 94.

SHOOT OFF VICTORS - BRETT AISTHORPE & RICHARD GRAY (LINCOLNSHIRE VETS)

In Veterans it was an exciting end to the day as Suffolk, Bedfordshire and Lincolnshire finished tied on 192/200, so it was a shoot off to decide the winners. Unfortunately, nobody was available from Beds for a shoot off, so it was down to the Lincs pairing of Brett Aisthorpe and Richard Gray to go head to head with Fulton Mcintosh and Steve Denny from Suffolk and alternate pairs off the centre peg to decide it. Brett matched Fulton scoring three each, but Steve let two slip by leaving the door open for Richard, he cleared the first pair up, and made no mistake with the first target giving Lincs Vets victory. So, we must offer our congratulations to the Lincolnshire quartet of Brett Aisthorpe 97, Richard Gray 95, Norman Smith 94 and Richard Pettitt 92, and our commiserations to the gallant losers from Suffolk.

Wrapping up proceedings we also have to give a mention to our 2-ton scorers Andy Harvey from Lincolnshire and Neil Howard from Nottinghamshire, well shot Sirs in not the easiest of conditions.

Many thanks to all at NSG for a good days shooting, the Intercounties now moves on to Sporting Targets for the FITASC later in the month.

The Directors Trophy leader board is shown below.

	ESP	SKT	FIT	DTL	AR	ABT	TOTAL
BEDS	4	4					8
CAMBS	6	6					12
LEICS	0	1					1
LINCS	3	5					8
NOTTS	2	3					5
NORFOLK	7	2					9
NORTHANTS	5	7					12
SUFFOLK	8	8					16