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