Lining up at Bywell
Lloyd Pattison reports from the big DTL weekend at Bywell that saw the Perazzi Grand Prix and Laporte Challenge
The Perazzi Grand Prix and the Laporte Challenge shot ahead under glorious sunshine
After hosting the European, the English, and the British DTL already this year, Bywell weren’t done just yet.
The August Bank Holiday weekend saw another three days of DTL and Double Rise – and with only the lightest of breezes and temperatures soaring into the upper 20s on all three days, it proved to be a lovely weekend for everyone.
The weekend’s shooting started on Friday with the Prelim events to get everyone warmed up. Each day has 50 pairs DR, and 100 DTL, and many shooters shot both disciplines. Local shooter Tony Gradwell told me: “There’s no excuses this weekend. The targets look like bin lids,” and looking at the superb conditions all weekend, the only likely impediment for shooters was heat exhaustion.
The DR Prelim showed no surprises with Mullarkey, Chaplow and Coxhead in the top spots, while the top three in the DTL were Coxhead, Martin Jeminson and Kevan Smith. Austin’s 100/299 was just half a bird short of perfect after shooting a second barrel on the third layout. Saturday marked the first day of full competition for the Perazzi GP, which was shot over 200 birds on both Saturday and Sunday. The Laporte Challenge was shot as 2 separate days of 100 birds with cash prizes on both days. Finally, the Bywell 400 was an aggregate competition based on shooters’ total score in both disciplines on both days of competition.
Saturday’s DR saw Ian Mullarkey take High Gun with 96, followed by both Paul Chaplow and Marty Smith tied on 90. In A Class, Shaun Gardener and Matt Sheldrake tied for the lead on 89, followed by Lee Gundry on 87. B Class was Scott Masson on 85, Keith Ritchie on 82 and Eddie Jedan, 79. Tom Burns won C class with an 81, followed by John Sinclair, 78 and David Stanbrook, 75.
Colt Leah Southall, who also placed second in the Ladies overall, won her class followed by Corey Doble and Lizzie Williams. Junior Tom Burns shot an excellent 81 to win his class followed by Flett Marsham and Jack Ruane. Charlotte Kitchen beat the aforementioned
Leah by only one clay on 74, with Clova Rennie in third on
64. Ted Phillipson won the Vets prize purse with an 88, followed by Marin Clark on 83 and David Bell on 80.
Over on the DTL line, the Day 1 scores looked promising for Richard Greenlaw of Scotland with a perfect 100/300, followed by Scott Masson and Austin Coxhead, both of whom were on 100/298. Austin’s score was notable as the Friday had been his birthday, and I understand he enjoyed a wee tipple in the evening and was feeling particularly refreshed on the Saturday.
Sunday was if anything the hottest of the three days, and sun cream and cold drinks were much in evidence as the competitors took to the field for the final day of shooting. Bywell, still very much a working farm, was in full harvest mode with the men of the Henry clan visible from the shooting line toiling away in the fields around the ground all weekend, making the most of the dry weather after many days of rain leading up to the Bank Holiday weekend.
Back at the ground, Day 2 of the Laporte Challenge saw Ian Mullarkey joined at the head of the field on 93 by Scott Masson. Paul Chaplow on 92 took AA with Austin Coxhead on 90 and Lee Gundry on 89. In A Class, Shaun Gardiner led the field on 91, followed by Matt Sheldrake, 87, and George Turnes, 85. In B Class Stephen Corner won on 87, followed by Jack Ruane, 86, and Steve Petch,
82. C Class winner was tied with Flett Marsham and Norman Scott on 81, with Andrew Marsham on 79. Only two Colts competed on Day 2, and Corey Doble won with 76, followed by Lizzie Williams on 59. The Juniors were led by Jack Ruane, with Flett Marsham and Tom Burns in second and third. Ladies winner was Leah Southall on 76, with Charlotte Kitchen and Gilly Naisby tied on 73.
In the Veterans, George Turnes won on 85, followed by John Bradnam on 84 and Norman Scott on 81.
Richard Greenlaw, continuing to shoot strongly after the perfect Saturday, took High Gun for the Perazzi GP with a 200/597, dropping three half birds in the last
50 on Day 2. Scott Masson took first in AA, with Austin Coxhead taking second after a shoot off with Don Mackay. Eddie Jedan finished top of A Class followed, by Alisdair Mcdonell and Mervyn Turkington.
Tom Di Murrow led B Class with Peter Johnson in second and Sean Macdonough in third. C Class winner was Alex Wishart with Andrew Marsham and Andrew Anderson taking the second and third spots.
In Colts, Corey Doble won, with Lizzie Williams Runner up. Juniors Jack Ruane, Tom Burns and Grant Stewart put in some very respectable scores to make up the top three, with Jack on 197/581 taking the win.
Ladies winner Charlotte Kitchen scored 196/572, with Leanne Powell 192/563 in second and Clova Rennie 192/562 third.
In the Vets, Mike Hartley on 199/591 was victorious, with Mervyn Turkington 197/587 and Gordon Shankland 199/586 runners up.
“There’s no excuses this weekend, the targets look like bin lids”