Steel Challenge National Titles
28-29 November 2009
Blacktown Pistol Club, NSW
Held over the weekend of November 28 and 29, 2009, the Inaugural Ken Carter Memorial SSAA Steel Challenge Handgun National Championships has been won by Craig Ginger, a long-time close friend of Ken Carter.
Blacktown Pistol Club in western Sydney was the venue for the match and 53 competitors from across New South Wales and Queensland endured trying conditions on both days to shoot the eight stages of the Steel Challenge.
Steel Challenge is the ultimate test of speed and accuracy. Competitors shoot eight separate configurations of five plates (a ‘stage’), four of which are primary plates and one is designated the stop plate. Competitors shoot each configuration five times, discarding their worst time. Each plate must be hit once during each of the five attempts or ‘runs’, with the stop plate hit last. It is up to the competitor to choose which order they engage the plates. There is a three-second penalty for each missed plate. The competitors aggregated time is their score for the match, so it pays to shoot fast and accurately!
There are six divisions designated by handgun type (Open, Open Revolver, Metallic, Production and Metallic Revolver) and four categories (Junior, Lady, Senior over 50 and Senior over 65). Scoring of the match is tracked at squad level, so each competitor knows exactly how far they are in front of or behind their competitor. Pressure builds as the match progresses and the lead can see-saw right up to the last stage.
Overall winner of the inaugural championships Craig Ginger (shooting in the Open division) managed to get away to an early lead, which became more comfortable as the match progressed, beaten in only one stage by Dave Bartlett from Queensland. Dave and third place overall winner Robert Vlakic were close all the way. with Dave eventually getting in front by .48 seconds.
In the other divisions, Glenn Land won the Open Revolver division, placing fourth overall, hot on the heels of Robert Vlakic. Glenn, a Blacktown member, was very happy to place in front of so many of the semi-auto competitors.
Metallic had three competitors vying for first place, however, SSAA St Mary’s member Joseph Panganiban pulled away towards the end of the first day to leave Shane King and Scott Tuckey to fight it out for second and third respectively. In the end, the difference between Shane and Scotts’ scores was only .21 seconds!
Production Division saw Gary White and myself in a tight battle to take out the honours. I got ahead early, but a bad run on the third stage, called Speed Option, put Gary back in the lead for two more stages, until I snuck ahead and managed to hold on to and consolidate a lead.
Six ladies shot the match in various divisions. The Top Lady was won by Jodi Lyall. Jodi finished 13th overall shooting in Open division and has recently enjoyed success in a number of other shooting disciplines.
The Top Junior was taken out by Aydan Docwra, another local Blacktown member, on only his second excursion into the Open division. Aydan finished 27th overall, convincingly beating his father and using his father’s gun!
In the United States, Steel Challenge is very well supported by the industry and the Inaugural Ken Carter Memorial Championships was fortunate enough to achieve sponsorship from a number of industry suppliers, including Grycol International, Tasco-Safariland, Top Score Projectiles, Wiley X Eyewear, Strikeforce International, C&R Firearms and Accessories, Cut-n-Chop Safari Outfitters and Pulver Barrels. The magnificent prize table supplied by the generous sponsors will definitely be talked about for a long time.
The outstanding success of the Inaugural Ken Carter Memorial Steel Challenge Championships is a fitting testament to Ken’s contribution to the sport in Australia. The next Nationals will probably be held a little earlier in the year.
by Jim Staader
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| Some of the competitors at the SSAA Steel Challenge National Titles. | SSAA Steel Challenge National Champion Craig Ginger and Top Lady Jodi Lyall. |
Legend: Open Semi-Auto (OSA), Open Revolver (OR), Production (PRO), Metallic Semi-Auto (MSA), Metallic Revolver (MR)
| Name | Class | Accelerator | Roundabout | Five to Go | Pendulum | Speed Option |
Outer Limits |
Smoke & Hope |
Showdown | Total | |
| 1 | Craig Ginger | OSA | 12.26 | 10.71 | 13.7 | 12.75 | 11.23 | 15.04 | 8.83 | 10.17 | 94.69 |
| 2 | Dave Bartlett | OSA | 12.05 | 18.35 | 14.23 | 14.44 | 12.62 | 17.06 | 10.9 | 12.05 | 111.7 |
| 3 | Robert Vlackic | OSA | 13.87 | 13.1 | 13.97 | 14.28 | 15.44 | 18.43 | 11.4 | 11.69 | 112.18 |
| 4 | Glenn Land | OR | 14.28 | 13.07 | 15.57 | 15.94 | 16.78 | 17.16 | 10.68 | 12.33 | 115.81 |
| 5 | Greg Van Borssum | OSA | 15.23 | 12.64 | 16.13 | 15.4 | 15.3 | 17.98 | 13.1 | 13.79 | 119.57 |
| 6 | Bruce Dickey | OSA | 13.55 | 14.22 | 17.09 | 17.21 | 14.53 | 18.03 | 12.16 | 14.34 | 121.13 |
| 7 | Paul Vardanega | OSA | 14.73 | 12.85 | 15.53 | 18.2 | 14.41 | 16.49 | 11.68 | 17.63 | 121.52 |
| 8 | Craig Mc Kay | OSA | 15.64 | 14.22 | 16.46 | 16.91 | 16.08 | 18.31 | 12.35 | 17.97 | 127.94 |
| 9 | Jim Staader | PRO | 15.22 | 11.92 | 18.08 | 18.19 | 20.88 | 18.44 | 11.33 | 13.91 | 127.97 |
| 10 | Alex Turner | MR | 16.79 | 15.86 | 16.37 | 19.89 | 18.1 | 18.57 | 13.53 | 14.93 | 134.04 |
| 11 | Gary White | PRO | 17 | 12.37 | 16.94 | 20.87 | 15.52 | 21.02 | 12.49 | 18.04 | 134.25 |
| 12 | Matthew Harriman | OSA | 16.67 | 14.81 | 17.09 | 21.55 | 17.56 | 19.08 | 12.61 | 15.73 | 135.1 |
| 13 | Jodi Lyall | OSA | 16.09 | 14.72 | 17.42 | 17.88 | 18.58 | 20.11 | 15.77 | 16.09 | 136.66 |
| 14 | Joseph Panganiban | MSA | 16.5 | 13.73 | 18.9 | 21.43 | 18.63 | 22.1 | 11.8 | 14.65 | 137.74 |
| 15 | Anita Mackiewicz | OR | 17.58 | 15.73 | 18.25 | 19.87 | 18.22 | 22.04 | 13.36 | 16.12 | 141.17 |
| 16 | Shane King | MSA | 17.01 | 15.12 | 18.07 | 22.35 | 20.41 | 20.12 | 12.09 | 16.25 | 141.42 |
| 17 | Scott Tuckey | MSA | 18.1 | 15.26 | 16.96 | 21.58 | 20.27 | 21.8 | 13.22 | 14.44 | 141.63 |
| 18 | Dickie Seibert | OSA | 18.83 | 15.15 | 19.73 | 21.01 | 16.65 | 20.84 | 14.11 | 15.71 | 142.03 |
| 19 | Ray Gray | OR | 16.03 | 15.72 | 17.86 | 16.53 | 18.65 | 33.41 | 14.15 | 15.2 | 147.55 |
| 20 | Peter Williams | OSA | 17.8 | 15.39 | 18.21 | 17.11 | 18.28 | 21.77 | 13.91 | 25.54 | 148.01 |
| 21 | Diana Williams | OSA | 17.05 | 17.21 | 21.66 | 24.14 | 20.39 | 20.73 | 13.07 | 14.46 | 148.71 |
| 22 | Tony Drabsch | MSA | 20.81 | 17.21 | 21.07 | 18.04 | 21.67 | 21.46 | 15.85 | 16.58 | 152.69 |
| 23 | Julian Hilser-Ritter | PRO | 19.55 | 13.57 | 21.35 | 23.34 | 20.42 | 24.7 | 13.16 | 18.46 | 154.55 |
| 24 | Adrian Keed | PRO | 19.3 | 19.43 | 22.06 | 20.3 | 20.25 | 23.03 | 15.72 | 18.56 | 158.65 |
| 25 | Kevin White | MSA | 21.15 | 12.32 | 22.71 | 25.86 | 25.13 | 29.5 | 12.54 | 20.26 | 169.47 |
| 26 | Ewan Cameron | PRO | 20.33 | 18.06 | 19.89 | 22.58 | 25.02 | 22.27 | 20.12 | 22.71 | 170.98 |
| 27 | Aydan Docwra | OSA | 22.92 | 18.88 | 19.97 | 30.62 | 23.67 | 21.44 | 14.37 | 21.38 | 173.25 |
| 28 | Bryan Liang | MR | 20.12 | 19.67 | 29.37 | 21.53 | 22.6 | 29.97 | 15.74 | 20.7 | 179.7 |
| 29 | Jason Knox | MSA | 23.35 | 20.45 | 27.72 | 24.8 | 26.84 | 22.12 | 15.79 | 18.64 | 179.71 |
| 30 | Cherie May | OSA | 22.29 | 20.66 | 23.31 | 24.23 | 21.07 | 27.58 | 21.01 | 21.76 | 181.91 |
| 31 | Ben Skea | PRO | 25.59 | 18.62 | 21.57 | 25.24 | 24.64 | 36.14 | 15.63 | 17.9 | 185.33 |
| 32 | Glenn Alit | PRO | 22.46 | 18.77 | 29.21 | 26.49 | 21.61 | 26.69 | 16.5 | 27.79 | 189.52 |
| 33 | Franjo Santalab | MSA | 20.51 | 22.26 | 31.99 | 31.09 | 20.33 | 26.26 | 17 | 21.17 | 190.61 |
| 34 | Blake Williams | OSA | 35.28 | 20.45 | 22.98 | 23.43 | 29.95 | 22.99 | 14.97 | 20.84 | 190.89 |
| 35 | Andrew Moore | PRO | 20.88 | 23.24 | 24.37 | 27.31 | 25.28 | 28.43 | 15.81 | 26.24 | 191.56 |
| 36 | Brad Cronberger | OSA | 32.03 | 17.28 | 20.71 | 23.33 | 46.38 | 21.7 | 16.59 | 16.26 | 194.28 |
| 37 | Alexandra Thompson | MSA | 23.73 | 20.85 | 28.93 | 27.37 | 27.28 | 28.63 | 17.79 | 20.12 | 194.7 |
| 38 | Josh Wilson | PRO | 24 | 19.33 | 23.43 | 29.18 | 28.72 | 36.33 | 16.9 | 20.81 | 198.7 |
| 39 | Daniel Tan | PRO | 24.76 | 19.61 | 28.39 | 31.76 | 23.32 | 30.28 | 17.95 | 26.35 | 202.42 |
| 40 | John Cooper | MSA | 23.71 | 20.61 | 29.12 | 31.15 | 27.61 | 33.64 | 18.16 | 24.33 | 208.33 |
| 41 | Ray Docwra | OSA | 23.16 | 19.11 | 24.73 | 54.56 | 23.7 | 36.61 | 16.37 | 24.77 | 223.01 |
| 42 | Frank Tait | OR | 23.84 | 28.41 | 27.57 | 37.02 | 23.42 | 38.16 | 18.28 | 28.57 | 225.27 |
| 43 | Stuart Cameron | PRO | 27.77 | 40.04 | 31.54 | 28.88 | 23.3 | 38.97 | 17.33 | 23.11 | 230.94 |
| 44 | Tony Corkett | PRO | 25.99 | 24.36 | 28.74 | 36.29 | 27.88 | 36.55 | 23.74 | 28.04 | 231.59 |
| 45 | Perry Ferro | PRO | 29.14 | 26.07 | 34.27 | 33.53 | 33.87 | 37.62 | 18.06 | 23.96 | 236.52 |
| 46 | Robert Tucker | MSA | 31.88 | 23.42 | 38.92 | 33.18 | 35.14 | 47.34 | 17.71 | 24.78 | 252.37 |
| 47 | Joshua Skea | MSA | 30.12 | 24.78 | 43.3 | 39.8 | 29.46 | 50.67 | 15.97 | 35.31 | 269.41 |
| 48 | E G Daley | MSA | 35.08 | 28.62 | 34.35 | 37.31 | 35.72 | 42.32 | 27 | 31.2 | 271.6 |
| 49 | Robert Conway | MSA | 33.89 | 53.87 | 39.95 | 41.38 | 34.61 | 45.98 | 18.93 | 27.5 | 296.11 |
| 50 | Emilio Liquete | PRO | 27.21 | 28.12 | 37.92 | 89.27 | 41.44 | 43.07 | 20.61 | 30.92 | 318.56 |
| 51 | Alan Dwyer | MSA | 39.36 | 41.67 | 41.49 | 49.9 | 38.62 | 54.98 | 30.89 | 36.86 | 333.77 |
| 52 | Audrey Vallens | PRO | 59.44 | 42.92 | 46.31 | 88.28 | 52.14 | 74.55 | 33.75 | 45.39 | 442.78 |
| 53 | Alex Turner | OR | 120 | 0 | 120 | 0 | 120 | 0 | 120 | 0 | 480 |