Perfect Day for Down the Line

2022 Manx DTL Championship

The IOM DTL Championship sponsored by Sadler Agricultural Supplies was held at Meary Veg Santon in near perfect conditions.

The joint leaders after the first round were reigning champion Alan Wade and James Bradley with perfect 25/75 scores, in third place was Peter Kelly with a 25/74 straight followed by Steven Craine in forth place with a 25/73 straight and making up the top six were John Moore 25/71 and junior Arran Wade on 71/24.

Alan Wade was in the lead on his own after round two with fifty straight for 149 points, in second place on also with a fifty straight for 148 points was Steven Craine with Peter Kelly third on 145 followed by junior Arran Wade on 144, fifth place went to James Bradley on 143 and making up the top six were John Moore and Mark Riley on 140.

We had a new leader after round three in Steven Craine who lead by three points on 220 from Alan Wade on 217 followed by Arran Wade in third place on 213 with Mark Riley and John Moore next on 212 with James Bradley in sixth place on 211.

In the fourth and final round Dave Corlett finished in first place in B class with 90/269 with Calum Craine taking second place on 91/264. In A Class John Moore was in second place on 97/282 with Arran Wade claiming first place on 97/283 who also took the junior prize with Joe Faragher second on 95/274, these prizes were sponsored by Pro Fab Welding. Mark Riley was third overall on 98/284 but we had a tie for first place between Alan Wade and Steven Craine who both scored 98/290 with Alan having a straight in his last round and it looked like Steven would as well to take the championship by three points  but he missed his last target out, so a shoot off was required to find a winner.

In the shoot off Craine got off to a shaky start second barrelling his third target and missing his fifth target out, it was all first barrel kills till the twentieth target when Wade missed his target, so it was down to the last five targets to find a Champion and Wade was the victor hitting his targets first barrel to take the championship by one point from Craine.

Results

High Gun

  1. A Wade (98 / 290 + 72)
  2. S Craine (98 / 290 + 71)
  3. M Riley (98 / 284)

Class B

  1. D Corlett (90 / 269)
  2. C Craine (91 / 264)
  3. S Cross (92 / 262)

Class A

  1. Arr Wade (97 / 283)
  2. J Moore (97 / 282)
  3. P Kelly (95 / 280)

Juniors

  1. Arr Wade (97 / 283)
  2. J Faragher (95 / 274)
J Moore, M Riley, D Corlett, A Wade, Arr Wade, C Craine, S Craine

Sporting Finish Leaves Shooters Misty-Eyed

Fabrizio Spring All-Rounder

The annual Fabrizio All-Round Cup was this weekend’s hot competition at Meary Veg, Santon, where 13 competitors battled driving fog, gusting wind and variable light to shoot 125 targets across five disciplines. Even clay target shooters have their strengths and weaknesses, which makes for interesting competition and great banter during these mixed events of Trap, Skeet, and Sporting, with each of the five rounds carrying a maximum score of 75 points.

The first discipline was English Skeet, and resident specialist Paul Mihailovits made his mark with the only straight 75, closely followed by Micheal Cross, Peter Kelly, and Giulio Fabrizio all on 72 points thanks to just one miss, which in Mikey’s case was the last target – an unfortunate occurrence. Trap expert Stevie Craine failed to find his groove during this first round, but more than made up for it by scoring a perfect 75 in the second discipline, Down The Line (DTL), where he was pursued by Brian Faragher on 71 and John Moore on 70.

Our third discipline was Olympic Skeet, which differs from English Skeet by virtue of much faster targets, a random delay of up to three seconds, and only being allowed to raise your gun once the target has been spotted. The need to quickly mount the gun from a lowered position places lady shooters at something of a disadvantage, but that didn’t stop Nicky Barnett from putting in a respectable 36, highlighting the beauty of all-round competitions by staying three points clear of the last round’s winner. At the other end of the field, blessed with youthful reflexes and unencumbered by female anatomy, Micheal Cross led the pack with a healthy 69 points, closely followed by Giulio Fabrizio on 66 and Jeff Corkill on 57.

Just as Olympic Skeet could be called an evolution of English Skeet, Automatic Ball Trap (ABT) is very similar to DTL, but now there’s a random vertical component added to the unseen trap’s left-right swing. Once again Stevie Craine was in his element, joining ABT veteran John Moore at the top of the pack with 63 points apiece, closely followed by Micheal Cross, Jeff Corkill, Stanley Cross, Peter Kelly, and Mark Barnett with 57 points each.

The fog thickened outside while competitors were re-grouped in order of merit over mugs of tea and hot baps, before being released to face a final round of 25 very variable targets. Designed to mimic what one might encounter at a game shoot, Sporting targets can differ tremendously in their speed and trajectory, with individual easy ‘birds’ often combining to make challenging pairs. Jeff Corkill’s recent focus on Sporting paid off during this round, bagging him 48 points alongside Brian and Joe Faragher, Mark Barnett, and Stan Cross. Micheal Cross stayed a few points ahead of Dad with 54, but the undisputed victor of a very challenging round was Giulio Fabrizio with 57.

Nothing re-shuffles the pack like a well designed Sporting layout, and today’s final round was no exception – great shooting Mikey!

Results

High Gun

  • Micheal Cross (316)

Class A

  1. J Moore (295)
  2. P Mihailovits (291)
  3. J Corkill (290)

Class B

  1. G Fabrizio (313)
  2. S Cross (293)
  3. M Barnett (286)

Class C

  1. P Fabrizio (233)
  2. N Barnett (183)
P Fabrizio, P Mihailovits, G Fabrizio, N Barnett, S Cross, M Cross, J Moore, J Faragher, J Corkill

Summer Leagues Continue in Fine Weather

Down the Line

The third round of the Tower Insurance DTL league was held at Meary Veg Santon with twenty competitors taking part in near ideal conditions.

The joint leaders after the first round were A class shooters Mike Walker and Mark Riley with perfect 25/75 rounds in equal third place were John Moore and junior Arran Wade also with 25 straights but for 73 points, another junior Joe Faragher also had a straight but for 72 points. The leading B class shooter was Calum Craine with 72 points . The leading C class shooter was lady shooter Allana Wade with 62 points.

After the second round Allana Wade finished in third place in C class with 120 points with Rob Marshall taking second place on 125 but taking C class with 128 points mainly thanks to a second round of 24/71 was Mark Sweetman. In equal second place in B class were Dave Corlett and Stan Cross with 134 points but winning B class with 140 points was Calum Craine. We also had a tie for second place in a class between Alan Wade and junior Joe Faragher with 145 points but winning a class and overall high gun was Mark Riley with 147 points.

Results

Class A

  1. M Riley (50 / 147)
  2. J Faragher (50 / 145)
  3. A Wade (49 / 145)

Class B

  1. C Craine (48 / 140)
  2. S Cross (46 / 134)
  3. D Corlett (46 / 134)

Class C

  1. M Sweetman (43 / 128)
  2. R Marshall (43 / 125)
  3. A Wade (L) (41 / 120)

Automatic Ball Trap

In the afternoon the third round of the Sadler Agricultural Supplies ABT league was held with the Faulkner highgun cup and the Kelly handicap cup up for grabs.

Mark Riley was the first round leader on 24 with Rob Watterson and Alan Wade in equal second place on 23. After the second round Mike Parr finished in third place on 45 with Alan Wade taking second place on 46 but piping them all with 47 points and winning the Faulkner cup was Rob Watterson. Winning the Kelly handicap cup with 54 points was Mike Parr.

Results

Handicap Cup

  • M Parr (45 + 9 = 54)

Overall

  1. R Watterson (23, 24 = 47)
  2. A Wade (23, 23 = 46)
  3. M Parr (21, 24 = 45)

Olympic Skeet

Also in the afternoon the third round of the Manx Petroleum’s Olympic Skeet League was held with the Cannell Crossing cup up for grabs. The leader after the first round was Dave Corlett with a score of 23 in second place on 21 was David Clague with Jeff Corkill third on 19. After the second round Jeff Corkill finished in third place overall with 39 points, in second place with 42 points was Dave Corlett but top of the shop with 45 hitting 24 in his second round was Dave Clague who also won the Cannell Crossing cup .

Results

  1. D Clague (21, 24 = 45)
  2. D Corlett (23, 19 = 42)
  3. J Corkill (19, 20 = 39)

On Saturday afternoon a Sport trap selection shoot was held for selection for next years Islands Games. Michael Cross,Neil Parsons and Marty Kneen finished in equal first place with 79 points, Ben Richards was forth on 76 with Jack Kneen and Mark Riley in equal fifth place on 75. Many thanks to Stan and Brian for setting up the four layouts with some very interesting targets.

M Sweetman, D Corlett, A Wade, S Cross, M Riley, R Marshall, J Faragher, C Craine, A Wade

Moore and Wade in DTL Shoot-off

DTL Round Two

The second round of the Tower Insurance DTL league was held at Meary Veg, Santon, with 20 competitors taking part in dry calm but cool conditions. It also included the IOM Goats highgun cup and the Jack Harrison handicap cup.

The leader after the first round was ever green John Moore with a perfect 25/75, in equal second place also with straights but with one second barrel kill were Mark Riley, Alan Wade and junior Arran Wade. The leading B class shooter was Dave Corlett with Will Rand leading C class with 66 points.

After the second round Mark Sweetman was third in C class with 120 points with Rob Marshall taking second place on 132 but taking C class with 135 was the first round leader Will Rand. We had a tie for second place in B class between Rob Corlett and Stan Cross on 135, Rob had a perfect 25/75 in his round, but pipping them by one point and taking B class was Calum Craine with 136 points.

In A class Phil Ward finished in third place on 144 but we had a tie for first place between John Moore and Alan Wade and because there was a cup on it a shoot off was required. In the shoot off Alan missed his first target but that was all and finished on 72 points while John also missed a target but had two second barrel kills for 70 points so Alan was the winner of the IOM Goats Highgun Cup. In the handicap section Rob Marshall was third on 160 with Will Rand taking second place on 162 but the winner with 175 points was Mark Sweetman.

Results

IOM Goats High Gun

  1. A Wade (148 + 72 = 220)
  2. J Moore (148 + 70 = 218)

Class A

  1. A Wade (74, 74 = 148)
  2. J Moore (75, 73 = 148)
  3. P Ward (70, 74 = 144)

Handicap

  • M Sweetman (120 + 57 = 177)

Class B

  1. C Caine (67, 69 = 136)
  2. S Cross (63, 72 = 135)
  3. R Corlett (60, 75 = 135)

Class C

  1. W Rand (66, 69 = 135)
  2. R Marshall (66, 66 = 132)
  3. M Sweetman (66, 54 = 120)
J Moore, S Cross, A Wade, C Craine, R Corlett, P Ward, M Sweetman, R Marshall

ATB Round Two

In the afternoon the second round of the Sadler Agricultural Supplies ABT league was held and leading after the first round was the man in form Alan Wade along with Rob Watterson who both shot  25 straights, in third place on 23 was Mark Riley With the light getting duller the scores were not as high in the second round but Alan Wade defied that and scored 24 to finish in first place on 49, Mark Riley finished in second place on 47 with Rob Watterson taking third place on 46. The handicap winner with 49 points was Phil Ward.

Results

Overall

  1. A Wade (25, 24 = 49)
  2. M Riley (23, 24 = 47)
  3. R Watterson (25, 21 = 46)

Handicap

  1. P Ward (42 + 7 = 49)

Olympic Skeet Round Two

The second round of the Manx Petroleum’s Olympic skeet league was also held and the winner was Stan Cross with 47 points in second place on 46 was James Bradley with Giulio Fabrizio taking third place on 41.

Results

  1. S Cross (24, 23 = 47)
  2. J Bradley (22, 24 = 46)
  3. G Fabrizio (23, 18 = 41)
  4. M Barnett (23, 16 = 39)

Windy Start to Summer Leagues

DTL Round One

The first round of the Tower insurance DTL summer league was held at Meary Veg, Santon, with 21 competitors taking part in very windy but dry conditions.

The leader after the first round was B class shooter Calum Craine with the only 25 straight of the round scoring 74 points beating his dad Steven Caine by three points who was the leading A class shooter in second place on 71 points. In equal third overall were Arthur Hayes, junior Arran Wade and leading C class shooter Michael Cross on 70.

After the second round we had a three way tie for first place in A class between Steven Craine, Mike Parr and Arran Wade all on 138 points. Calum Craine claimed B class with 137 points with Rob Corlett second on 136 and dad David third on 133. In C class Mark Sweetman finished in third place on 116 points, in second place on 131 was Rob Marshall but beating them all and claiming overall high gun was Michel Cross with 143 points who shot the only 25 straight in the second round – well done Mike!

Results

Class A

  1. S Craine (47 / 138)
  2. M Parr (48 / 138)
  3. Arr Wade (J) (47 / 138)

Class B

  1. C Craine (47 / 137)
  2. R Corlett (46 / 136)
  3. D Corlett (47 / 133)

Class C

  1. M Cross (49 / 143)
  2. R Marshall (45 / 131)
  3. M Sweetman (41 / 116)

ABT Round One

In the afternoon the first rounds of the Sadler Agricultural Supplies ABT and the Manx Petroleum’s Olympic skeet leagues were held. Robert Watterson was the winner in the Sadler Agricultural Supplies ABT league scoring 45 with Alan Wade second on 44 and Mark Riley third on 41. Junior Arran Wade was the handicap winner with 45 points

Results

Overall

  1. R Watterson (23, 22 = 45)
  2. A Wade (20, 24 = 44)
  3. M Riley (21, 20 = 41)

Handicap

  • Arr Wade (J) (37 + 8 = 45)

Olympic Skeet Round One

In the Manx Petroleum’s Olympic skeet league James Bradley was the winner with 46 points with Stan Cross second on 39 and taking third place with 38 points was Jeff Corkill. David Clague was the handicap winner with 49 points.

Results

Overall

  1. J Bradley (22, 24 = 46)
  2. S Cross (20, 19 = 39)
  3. J Corkill (19, 19 = 38)

Handicap

  • D Clague (37 + 12 = 49)
R Marshall, S Craine, M Sweetman, M Cross, R Corlett, A Wade, D Corlett, C Craine, M Parr