Shooters,
The 2014 Arizona State Long Range Championships are now indelibly engraved in the history books of this storied facility. Over the last 57 years countless battles such as was fought this holiday weekend have been waged in our desert arena and as one would expect there were many stories of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (especially if you walked to the pits
) and here are just a few of them.
In F Open, Allan Rosenthal again proved unstoppable despite some impressive scoring in that division, most notably from our recently crowned 2014 National F-Open Womens Champion, Christine Harris. One standout score in the division occurred in the first string of day one when local rising star Dan Bramley shot a superb 199-16X score! The story from the pits was that Dan's 9 was less than an eighth of an inch away from securing him the coveted sole holder status of a new National record, ah my kingdom for a .35 cal projectile!
Speaking of new National Records the FTR division saw Devon Harris not only set a new National Junior Record in the first match of day one, he then tied his own record in his second go of the day and the strength of such great shooting landed him in the day one aggregate winners circle by a mere three points over his Father Scott! Fine shooting by a very nice young man indeed. Now day two was just a bit windier than the first day and this is where the cunning and experience of the elder Harris paid off as he relentlessly went about mastering the conditions to secure his first State title in this match. Congratulations Scott, I know few people who work harder than you at perfecting their game!
The Palma divison saw the 2014 National Fullbore U-25 Champion Ryan Hayes go to work early and lock down the day one victory by two points over yours truly and a solid lead over the field. However as we all know, 1000 yard shooting always has a potential train wreck lurking and sadly the middle match of day two proved the undoing of the young shootist; handing him a disappointing 3rd place divisional ranking. But on a day when the wind could just as easily hand you and X or a 6 Justin Skaret became a wind god and amassed not only the division day two victory but the overall as well with a monstrous 595-33X total! Stick that in your mess kit and smoke it, any rifle any sight shooters!! Congratulations on your come from behind victory Justin and good luck on your upcoming Elk hunt.
The final chapter in this story is the Any Rifle division and a lady who need no introduction, Nancy Tompkins, sailed to the div and overall victory with a masterful 1193-52X, besting California hard holder Randy Tessiedre by a full 10 points. Congratulations to a lady with the kindest heart one could ever meet!
Thanks to all who came out and those who have expressed interest in our events. I've always said that the nicest group of people one could ever know are in the shooting sports! Also full results plus some photos of the winners can be viewed by clicking http://proneshooting.blogspot.com/2014/12/113014-basf-2014-arizona-state-long.html. Looking forward to seeing many of you tomorrow for our State Palma Championship.
Yours in sport.
Rick Curtis
NRA High Power Rifle Director
Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association
The 2014 Arizona State Long Range Championships are now indelibly engraved in the history books of this storied facility. Over the last 57 years countless battles such as was fought this holiday weekend have been waged in our desert arena and as one would expect there were many stories of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (especially if you walked to the pits
) and here are just a few of them.In F Open, Allan Rosenthal again proved unstoppable despite some impressive scoring in that division, most notably from our recently crowned 2014 National F-Open Womens Champion, Christine Harris. One standout score in the division occurred in the first string of day one when local rising star Dan Bramley shot a superb 199-16X score! The story from the pits was that Dan's 9 was less than an eighth of an inch away from securing him the coveted sole holder status of a new National record, ah my kingdom for a .35 cal projectile!
Speaking of new National Records the FTR division saw Devon Harris not only set a new National Junior Record in the first match of day one, he then tied his own record in his second go of the day and the strength of such great shooting landed him in the day one aggregate winners circle by a mere three points over his Father Scott! Fine shooting by a very nice young man indeed. Now day two was just a bit windier than the first day and this is where the cunning and experience of the elder Harris paid off as he relentlessly went about mastering the conditions to secure his first State title in this match. Congratulations Scott, I know few people who work harder than you at perfecting their game!
The Palma divison saw the 2014 National Fullbore U-25 Champion Ryan Hayes go to work early and lock down the day one victory by two points over yours truly and a solid lead over the field. However as we all know, 1000 yard shooting always has a potential train wreck lurking and sadly the middle match of day two proved the undoing of the young shootist; handing him a disappointing 3rd place divisional ranking. But on a day when the wind could just as easily hand you and X or a 6 Justin Skaret became a wind god and amassed not only the division day two victory but the overall as well with a monstrous 595-33X total! Stick that in your mess kit and smoke it, any rifle any sight shooters!! Congratulations on your come from behind victory Justin and good luck on your upcoming Elk hunt.
The final chapter in this story is the Any Rifle division and a lady who need no introduction, Nancy Tompkins, sailed to the div and overall victory with a masterful 1193-52X, besting California hard holder Randy Tessiedre by a full 10 points. Congratulations to a lady with the kindest heart one could ever meet!
Thanks to all who came out and those who have expressed interest in our events. I've always said that the nicest group of people one could ever know are in the shooting sports! Also full results plus some photos of the winners can be viewed by clicking http://proneshooting.blogspot.com/2014/12/113014-basf-2014-arizona-state-long.html. Looking forward to seeing many of you tomorrow for our State Palma Championship.
Yours in sport.
Rick Curtis
NRA High Power Rifle Director
Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association
