The 2005 Area 6 Championship

The Area 6 Championship was held on 13-15 May in Conyers, GA and hosted by the South River Gun Club. The match was completely full with 367 competitors and 27 of them being Grand Masters. Limited was the biggest division with 139 competitors, making up half of the GM's in the match!

I was very pleased to find out the Area 6 was going to be held in the Atlanta area. The club is only about 2 hours from my house and very easy to get to. The entire team was able to make it out to this one; myself, Travis, Steve Collins, and Greg Wilson. For a moment we weren't sure if we were going to make it as we had a rather large training class during the week. Our NCOIC, SFC Hampton, helped us find a way to get some practice time throughout the week and we all felt pretty confident.

I was definitely looking forward to this match after what happened to me at the SC State. It seemed like it was taking forever for the match to arrive, but a few practice sessions later, there I was. We arrived on the range late afternoon on Friday and decided to check out the stages. WRONG! They were very strict about not letting anyone on the stages until it was your 5 minute walk through. As you can imagine, a lot of people were very upset. I didn't think it was that big of a deal at first and decided to head back to the hotel and rest up. Once we got on our stages that next day I realized that 5 minutes on a stage with 15 people in a squad is not much time; especially, when some of the stages were rather small in size and very complex. This was the talk of the match but I decided that it was out of my control and I would prepare for each stage as best I could. Maybe I didn't shoot every stage the right way, maybe I did, but I was pleased with the outcome and won't complain. I will say that next time I would like to know in advance if the stages are going to be blocked off or not. This would save me a trip to the range and I would be able to be better prepared for the match. Also, the only problem I had with this situation is how can we be for sure that others didn't walk the stage when they were alone. I personally found a few shooters walking the stages and later were told to get off but the damage was already done. They had a free look! No worries, I just think if they want to run a match like this, that's fine, but come up with a better plan of attack.

On Saturday morning we got to the range and our squad came together on stage 1. In the Open division, Adam Popplewell and Chris Tilley were the top competitors. It was interesting to see Chris shooting a new pistol as he is now sponsored by SV. I know, I thought he was STI for life too. Soon after we said our hellos, the match began. We started on a few quick little speed shooters for the first 4 stages or so. I shot very well and really never looked back. I had one of those matches that everything clicked and went my way. I won the first stage and went on to win all of the remaining stages, winning the match by 12%. That is pretty hard to do against Chris and Adam, so I was very pleased with my performance to say the least.

Travis Tomasie shot a clean, solid match. We all thought he had the win and then they called him as first GM, which we all know is 2nd overall. I was shocked. Shannon Smith, an up and coming shooter out of Florida, took the overall for Limited. I guess he shot a great match and that's how it goes sometimes. That is the great thing about competition; people strive to get better and better! I congratulated Shannon on an outstanding match but man; he sure has a mark on his head now. The Limited guys are watching him and I know Travis is ready for a re-match at Area 4!

Results Open:

1. Max Michel 100%
2. Chris Tilley 88.73
3. JL Hardy 86.86

Results Limited:
1. Shannon Smith 100%
2. Travis Tomasie 98.83
3. Taran Butler 97.73

I had a great time this weekend! I was able to make it a family trip and invited my parents to stay with me before and after the match. That's always a good time! The match staff was amazing. On almost every stage we didn't have to paste or set steel. I felt like I was doing something wrong but the RO's kept telling us to go sit back and relax. You don't see very many matches like that anymore and it is nice to see every now and then. Again, great to job to the staff and everyone that helped to make this match possible. We had a blast and I look forward to seeing this match held here again next year!

Until next time,
Max Michel, Jr.