Susan Knox Wilson
The PebbleCreek Gun Club’s First annual Skeet Classic, held Saturday, April 9 at the Phantom Skeet Club was, well, classic! A few shooters showed up an hour or so too early, a few shooters who bothered to pre-register forgot to show up at all; one of the two fields was down due to mechanical problems and the trap machine in the low house on the working field was randomly throwing targets straight up (instead of on a gentle arc over the field).
Unfazed by field conditions or the assembled squads, the competitors collectively decided to implement new tournament rules for the 50-target event, allowing a shooter to try hitting an errant flying bird and, if successful, score a hit. If unsuccessful, the no bird rule was enforced, allowing the shooter another chance (we also promised never to tell the officials at the National Skeet Shooting Association).
It is generally agreed that Al Gardner deserves kudos for hitting the most wayward birds (saving the club money on extra targets) and Jim Belina earns the “hang in there award” for getting the most consecutive no birds before hitting a correctly thrown target. Del Sullivan successfully demonstrated his ability to break targets by ricocheting shot off the high house a number of times and Joe Scalzo amazed everyone by successfully hitting doubles on station six – in the wrong order! It was classic.
The participants and their scores:
Tim Hamilton 40
Tim Horetsky 38*
Bill Casey 38
Sue Wilson 36
Al Gardner 35*
John Doolittle (guest shooter) 35
Del Sullivan 31
Jim Belina 30
Joe Scalzo 28
Kevin Christian 24 (28 gauge)
*Tie scores broken by the shooter with the longest run of hits before a miss