5-Stand NSW State Titles
30 July - 1 August 2010
Griffith F&G Club

Griffith shooters featured prominently on the winner's podium at the SSAA (NSW) 5-Stand State Titles held at the Griffith Field and Game Club on July 30 and August 1. With 55 shooters attending from around New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and two from New Zealand, all competitors had to work hard as the clay targets were blown around the skyline in the wild weather conditions.

Three separate 5-Stand layouts were in operation, with shooters facing 75 targets each day. Many of the clay target traps were set in the bush, giving everyone some excellent simulated field targets with a great variety of challenging targets coming from all angles to test the shooting skills of everyone. The 5-Stand layouts were provided by the SSAA Shotgun Trailer and local equipment and all layouts were computer controlled. There was a successful trial of an improved version of the SHOTPUT controller and this worked extremely well. The weather conditions varied from sunny to windy, then rain and even some small hail, and this affected many of the scores.

	The following SSAA competitors gained the competition points at the State Titles to be used towards their selection in the SSAA National Team at the National 5-Stand Championships.
	Bart Brighenti	20
	Darren Macartney	19
	Frank Tagliapetra	17
	Leo McIntyre	17
	Grant Powell	17
	Sid Gugliemino	15
	Greg Allen	13.5
	Shaun Krzus	13.5
	Michael Ling	11.5
	Laurie Redfern	11.5
	Victor Bowman	10
	Kevin Raymond	9
	Andrew Webb	8
	Alec Ceccato	8
	Brent Suprain	8
	Kerry Bryant	5.5
	John Collier	5.5
	Norman Redfern	4
	Anthony Pitt	3
	Shane Rinaldo	0.75
	Peter Jacka	0.75
	Jon Lloyd	0.75
	Milton Cartwright	0.75

There was an excellent response from many of the top Sporting Clay shooters who attended the shoot and the Griffith Field and Game Club was a superb venue to hold a State Titles. It was the culmination of a series of five State Selection Shoots held earlier in the year at various locations around New South Wales and led to the selection of the NSW 5-Stand State Champion and NSW 5-Stand State Team.

The shoot was generously sponsored by the SSAA, EXPRESS Cartridges, Casella Wines and Codemo Machinery of Griffith. All who attended enjoyed the excellent catering provided by Therese Allen and her helpers over the weekend.

With a tied score of 130/150 targets at the end of shooting, Griffith shooters Bart Brighenti and Adrian Emery shot off for the two top awards in very difficult conditions that included rain, strong winds and some hail. Bart Brighenti emerged as the SSAA (NSW) State 5-Stand Champion, while Adrian Emery secured the Overall High Gun Prize. Other winners were:

AA Grade: Bart Brighneti (Griffith) 130, Doug Osborne (Griffith) 128, Frank Tagliapetra (Griffith) 125, Grant Powell (Sydney) 125 (shoot-off), Kevin Raymond (Newcastle) 116

A Grade: Darren Macartney (Hay) 126, Leo Mcintyre (Leeton) 125, Greg Allen (Griffith) 121, Michael Ling (Newcastle) 120, Laurie Redfern (Forbes) 119

B Grade: 'Sid' Gugliemino (Griffith) 124, Shaun Krzus (Griffith) 121, John Collier (Sydney) 113, Norman Redfern (Forbes) 111, Anthony Pitt (Wodonga) 110

C Grade: Brent Suprain (Central Coast) 117, Shane Rinaldo (107, Anthony Blacker (104), Jim Krzus (Griffith) 103, Leroy Rossetto (Griffith) 103, (countback)

Veterans: Vic Bowman (Wagga Wagga) 118, Alec Ceccato (Griffith) 115, John Norris (Central Coast), David Brenton (Wollongong), Max Cavanagh (Wagga Wagga) 103 (shoot-off)

Ladies: Jan Jacka (Hay) 102, Shannon Palfreyman (Griffith) 84

Juniors: Mark Kocaj (Griffith) 86

Bart Brighenti (Griffith), Grant Powell (Sydney), Frank Tagliapetra (Griffith), Darren Macartney (Hay) and Michael Ling (Newcastle) were announced as members of the SSAA (NSW) 5-Stand State Team and will be competing in the National 5-Stand Championships held at Wodonga in October.

At the State Shotgun AGM, Warren Brown was re-elected as Shotgun Chairman, with Darren Macartney as Vice-Chairman. Greg Allen was re-elected Shotgun Trailer Manager with Andrew Webb elected to manage the second trailer that will be available shortly. It was decided to accept SSAA Hays Branch’s offer to hold the 2011 State Titles with a number of State Selection Shoots planned for various locations around the state.