The 2004 Area 5 Championship took place on September 3rd-5th in Sellersburg, IN. There were a total of 228 shooters competing in various divisions. I was hoping to make it to this range for the KY State match a few months back, but was unable to do so due to scheduling conflicts. So, I was anxious for this one as I have never been to this particular range before. I always love going somewhere new. Another reason I wanted this one badly was because it was a World Shoot selection match for the Open division. Chris Tilley and Matt Burkett came out to try and claim the 100% and it was my job to defend it!
The match consisted of 10 stages and the chronograph. As I walked through the stages on Thursday they seemed very easy as the targets were placed close. The more I looked at the stages I realized they were all close but covered in hard cover and no-shoots. Stage 5 was definitely the hardest stage of the match with a total of 32 rounds spread out all over the bay. They placed barrels around most all of the targets to make them partials, ranging in distance from 10-25 yards. The 2 targets at 25 were surrounded by no-shoots which didn't help the situation. I have learned to love these kinds of stages and was happy to see it. I knew this was going to be a big help to my overall score!
Chris Tilley and I were squadded together and Matt Burkett was on a squad directly behind us. The match web site did not post a competitor list so we really didn't know who was coming but I knew most of the top Open guys were shooting Friday. The very first stage of the match I shot a pretty good score and was happy with it. A couple of shooters later Julie Goloski shot and had troubles with one of the ports. The port was cut out very high making it extremely difficult for shorter people to see. The Range Master made a call to open the port bigger and make the first few shooters re-shoot the course. I really didn't want to re-shoot as I was happy with my first score but didn't have a choice. I looked at it as a test and I PASSED! I beat my first score by nearly 2 seconds! From then on I shot one of the most aggressive matches I have ever shot and walked away clean with out any penalties or major mistakes. I did take a few extra shots and had a few more C's than I would have liked but it felt great. I won 6 out of the 10 stages including a 20% stage win on stage 5! As I wrote above, I knew that stage was going to help me in the overalls. With my 6 stage wins it was enough to capture the 100% and further increase my lead in the World Shoot selection.
The results are as follows:
1. Max Michel 100%
2. Brad Balsley 89.66%
3. Chris Tilley 85.55%
Brad Balsley is a junior shooter that I met at the Area 8. He is fast and definitely someone to keep your eye on. Chris is the Junior World Champion and Brad is doing his best to fight for that title. It will be interesting to see how he progresses before the 2005 World Shoot. Great finish Brad!
Overall the match was great. We had decent weather that tried to rain but really never came down. Perfect weather for dot guns! I did have a couple of issues with some of the officiating calls that were made throughout the match but I guess that is all part of our sport. I always tell everyone that you need to be 5% better than the competition and you never have to worry about it. I would like to thank the Range Master and the staff for hosting this match and I look forward to shooting it again next year.
