The 2005 Double Tap Championship

The first annual Double Tap Championship was held 19-20 March in Wichita Falls, TX and hosted by the Double Tap Ranch. Robert Porter is the Match Director, as well as the owner/host of the competition. Robert has been working on the range for a couple of years now. I remember a few years back at the Area 4, he approached me about it and here we are shooting matches at his location. I think it is great for someone to see a dream and then go after it! Since this was the first year for the competition, not knowing what to expect, Robert put a cap on the match at 200 competitors. Just over 200 people signed up for the match months before the competition! I must say, I was definitely looking forward to this one.

I arrived at the Dallas airport (DFW) on Friday morning sometime. If you can help it, avoid flying into DFW! I had the hardest time getting out of that airport. Not to mention it was another 2-3 hour drive to the range. Luckily I had my personal driver, Travis Tomasie. (Just joking!) We finally got out of the airport and then we couldn't find the range. It was a very frustrating first day to say the least but everything fell into place.

On Saturday morning we got to the range and our squad began to form. The squad consisted of my self, Adam Popplwell, Travis Tomasie, Julie Goloski, Dave Sevigny and more. Most importantly my dad was in the squad with all of his buddies. I love shooting with those guys. It's so much fun and very relaxing. We began the match on stage 6 and shot 8 stages on day 1. The targets in the entire match were very close making every stage extremely high hit factors. I knew the importance of this and tried to remain consistent and not make any big mistakes. Even small mistakes would cost you big time at this match! I started off great and remained that way during the duration of the match. I would go on to win all 12 stages and win the match by 10%! It was approximately 305 rounds and I only took 2 extra shots. I was very pleased with my performance and plan on continuing this throughout the year. It was nice to see positive results after my disappointing performance at the Florida Open.

Travis Tomasie struggled early on in the Limited division. Dave Sevigny shot his glock in Limited and shot it well! Dave pulled ahead of Travis by more than 70 points after only 4 stages. Like I said, hit factors were a big issue at this match and they played against Travis in the beginning but later went in his favor. After the first couple of stages, Travis said to me, "I'm gonna get this one back". The way he said it, I actually believed him. I see so many people giving false motivation to try and get themselves back in the game but his statement really hit me. I knew he was going to get it back by that comment alone! Sure enough by the end of the first day he was back even with Dave. Day 2 was very exciting for them. They went back and forth by less than 5 points throughout the day but Travis held on to win the match by 10 points. It was close but Travis shot better than I had ever seen him shoot when the pressure was on. Besides, he couldn't let a glock beat him! Just joking, Dave shot well and he deserves recognition as well. Great race guys!

Here are the results.

Results Open:
1. Max Michel, Jr. 100%
2. Adam Popplwell 90.07
3. Lee Dimaculangan 85.15

Results Limited:
1. Travis Tomasie 100%
2. Dave Sevigny 99.37
3. David Weers 93.01

I had a great time at this match! Not only did I enjoy the stages but seeing the people was great as well. I was able to see my family and every chance I get to shoot with my dad it's always a great time. I recommend this match to anyone who just wants to have fun. It was an extremely fun match and was run very smoothly. Good job to Robert and his staff for all the hard work that not only went into the match but also into building the facility! Nice range and I will definitely be back next year!

Until next time,
Max Michel, Jr