SSAA National Action Match Championships

The 2014 SSAA National Action Match Championships were held at the Blacktown Pistol Club in New South Wales on October 26 and 27 in unseasonably hot conditions, with the temperature getting to almost 40C on the Sunday.

Competitors from all over Australia and New Zealand vied for the National Title. The 2014 Championship was won by Craig Ginger, with Glenn Land second and Jim Straader third, to produce a home range trifecta.

Craig also won the Metallic division, narrowly over Queenslander Nigel Gordon, who had shown great consistency over the weekend. Greg Van Borssum placed third.

The Open division and therefore the National Championships was won by Mark Blake from Victoria, who continued his excellent form from the latter part of 2014 to shoot a perfect score of 1920/1920 at the championships. “It was a tough two days with the match handing the balance between some of the best shooters in Australia,” said Mark after his win. “I now look forward to the preparation for the 2015 Bianchi Cup as part of the SSAA Australia Team.”

The Open division was hotly contested and although Mark emerged victorious, it was a very close race with only 10 points separating first and 10th place. Traditionally, the Moving Target event is the final event to be shot by the higher ranked shooters and the order of shooters is determined by their current score going into the final event in a deliberate attempt to build pressure on these competitors. Although six of these shooters were sitting on perfect scores going into the final event, and a number only two points down, a surprise emerged from the shooters in the other rotation. Ken ‘Chooky’ Fowles, a long-time senior shooter, had shot a personal best of 1918/1920 and was sitting in the box seat to take out the championships. As the High Master grade shooters commenced their final event, Chooky started to slide down the places in an unbelievable situation where a 1918 was not going to win the championships. Mark Blake, closed out the Moving Target event without dropping any points, however the others yet to shoot, including Craig Ginger and Brent Millard, from New Zealand, could still win on the X-count if they shot a ‘clean mover’. When the dust settled, Mark was victorious, with Brett Foster, Nigel Gordon, John Beck and Chooky all shooting 1918 and only being separated on the X-count. It was a great finish to a tough day of shooting.

The Ladies division, although not producing the scores the shooters were hoping for, was also a tight competition, with Cherie Blake winning the Ladies National Championship by only one point from the ‘comeback queen’ (ex Bianchi Cup and World Champion) Robyn Ginger. Tiffany Piper, from New Zealand, placed third.

These National Championships were the final shoot for selection of the 2015 SSAA Bianchi Cup Team. The team members include Mark Blake, Craig Ginger, John Beck, Steve Schrader and Cherie Blake. The 2015 National Championships will be in Adelaide and will include the Open, Metallic and Production divisions contended.

Open Class by Grade
Grade	Place	Name	Bar	Bar-X	Prac	Prac-X	Mov	Mov-X	FP	FP-X	Total	Total-X	Category
High Master	1	Mark Blake	480	45	480	42	480	29	480	48	1920	164
	2	Brett Foster	480	46	480	44	478	31	480	48	1918	169
	3	Nigel Gordon	480	43	480	36	478	38	480	48	1918	165
	4	John Beck	480	41	480	36	478	27	480	48	1918	152
	5	Ken Fowles	480	42	480	29	478	28	480	48	1918	147	Senior
	6	Brett Millard	480	48	480	42	476	29	480	48	1916	167
	7	Adrian Berthelsen	480	43	478	28	478	33	480	48	1916	152
	8	Steve Schader	480	46	476	35	478	29	480	48	1914	158
	9	Craig Ginger	480	46	480	44	470	32	480	48	1910	170
	10	Geoffrey Matthews	480	45	474	41	476	33	480	48	1910	167
	11	David Bartlett	480	46	480	37	468	20	480	48	1908	151
	12	Brenton Hayes	476	33	478	31	474	31	480	48	1908	143
	13	Leon Ovens	480	40	470	35	475	30	480	48	1905	153	Senior
	14	Richard Siebert	478	45	474	40	471	28	480	48	1903	161
	15	Robert Perry	480	39	478	29	463	26	480	48	1901	142
	16	Allan Harriman	480	44	478	36	460	23	480	48	1898	151
	17	Tony Drabsch	478	44	480	46	469	29	470	47	1897	166
	18	Cherie Blake	470	34	462	25	476	27	480	48	1888	134	Lady
	19	Robyn Ginger	470	40	464	34	473	33	480	48	1887	155	Lady
	20	Chris Mathiou	478	36	474	27	465	25	470	47	1887	135
	21	Josh Sweeny	480	48	478	37	446	31	480	48	1884	165
	22	Iain Buchanan	474	37	478	34	460	25	470	47	1882	143	Senior
	23	Greg Van Borssum	480	38	453	20	461	21	470	47	1864	126
	24	Karl Piper	480	45	480	44	452	31	450	45	1862	165
Master	1	Ray Pulver	480	42	470	31	470	22	480	48	1900	143	Senior
	2	Trevor Wilkin	478	40	471	28	465	29	480	48	1894	136	Senior

Metallic Class
Grade	Place	Name	Bar	Bar-X	Prac	Prac-X	Mov	Mov-X	FP	FP-X	Total	Total-X	Category
Master	1	Craig Ginger	476	33	478	36	465	30	480	48	1899	147
Master	2	Nigel Gordon	462	23	476	39	476	27	480	48	1894	127
Master	3	Greg Van Borssum	442	18	470	25	456	25	480	48	1848	116
Master	4	Chris Mathiou	439	21	469	24	468	14	470	47	1846	106
Master	5	Brenton Hayes	431	20	448	16	450	12	450	45	1779	93
Expert	6	Leon Ovens	437	13	443	18	428	14	439	43	1738	88	Senior
Master	7	Richard Siebert	460	17	411	11	426	17	429	42	1717	87
Expert	8	John Beck	414	19	405	8	425	13	420	42	1664	82
Sharpshooter	9	Kevin White	386	12	399	9	413	13	329	32	1518	66	Senior
Sharpshooter	10	Robert Jones	409	13	352	6	403	9	320	32	1484	60	Senior
Expert	11	Trevor Wilkin	352	14	419	13	378	11	210	21	1359	59	Senior
Sharpshooter	12	Robert Perry	447	19	380	8	429	14	0	0	1256	41

Metallic Production Class
Grade	Place	Name	Bar	Bar-X	Prac	Prac-X	Mov	Mov-X	FP	FP-X	Total	Total-X
Expert	1	Craig Ginger	460	18	450	17	472	27	400	40	1782	102
Marksman	2	Glenn Land	426	15	424	18	457	29	430	43	1737	96
Sharpshooter	3	Jim Staader	413	12	423	17	440	19	440	44	1716	92
Sharpshooter	4	Greg Van Borssum	443	16	426	29	437	18	400	40	1706	94
Sharpshooter	5	Richard Siebert	415	11	381	12	423	13	360	36	1579	72
Expert	6	Tony Drabsch	448	12	429	14	450	18	0	0	1327	44