New Zealanders foil Aust. trap shooters

Press, 26 March 1980, Page 36

New Zealanders foil Aust. trap shooters

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

Observers watching the shoot-off for the double rise title at the New Zealand trap shooting championships at the Yaldhurst range yesterday might ,be forgiven for thinking that the two finalists were both Australians. In fact, there was a shooter from each country, but the New Zealander was camouflaged under the disguise of an Australian uniform. Joe Wilson, from Southland, was well-known to many of the large Australian contingent at the national championships and for the double rise event he donned an Australian jacket and cap, borrowed from one of

the visitors, and to add insult to, injury, he borrowed some ammunition. •Wilson and Telford were the only two marksmen to break 29 of the 30 possible targets and in the shoot-off, Wilson succeeded with 16 hits from 20 shots to the 14 of Telford. Hours after the event Wilson was unaware of how many targets he had broken: the taste of success was sweet and he knew that he was the champion. For Wilson, a former president of the Southland association, it was his first national title after seven years of competition. He has held Southland and Otago

titles and last year was run-ner-up in the 1979 South Island single barrel championship at Timaru. Fourteen shooters who shot 28 targets were involved in the shoot-off for

third. After a further 10 targets, John Power (Australia), and George Shaw (Waitemata), were still tied, each having broken nine targets. They fired a further 10 shots, but Power emerged a comfortable winner. Two other titles were decided yesterday and, after shoot-offs were needed in both events, the champion-

ships went to New Zealanders. After firing 25 targets off 16m in the clay sparrow championship, 27 marksmen in a field of 374 had recorded possibles. The light

held long enough for the shoot-off to be finished and victory, after having destroyed 31 extra targets, went to Roger Wasley, of Manawatu.

Wasley has competed at the last 12 national championships and only recently took part in the New Zealand team for the South Pacific regional championships

on the same range. It was an extremely popular win for the Palmerston North shooter and his yellow floppy hat was thrown high in the air when Paul Thomson (Australia) succumbed first to the pressure. It was'. Wasley’s first national title.

The skeet championship was won for the seventh time by the remarkable veteran Southland shooter, Jim McKenzie. His first success was in 1957 and he won it for a sixth time at Yaldhurst two years ago. In the five-man teams shoot between Australia and New Zealand, New Zealand won for the first time since

1973, although there have been three ties in the intervening years.. Results:—

Skeet championship.—J. McKenzie (Southland! 1, J. Elliott (Hawke’s Bay) 2, M. Cook (Ashburton) 3. Glenn Trophy.—New Zealand 123 (Elliott 25. McKenzie 25, Cook 24, M. Pratt 25, B. Lassen 24) beat Australia 122 (K. Lowry 25, B. Smith 23, W. Iles 24, I. Hale 25. B. Rooke 25). Bearman Trophy (association team shoot). —Waikato 238 (Pratt, G. Lamb, W. Counsell, J. Jeffcote, H. Fyers). Lewis Trophy (two-man teams). Amberley 100 (M. I. Boyce and J. C. Streeter). Double rise championship.—J. Wilson (Southianad) 1, P. Telford (Australia) 2, J. Power (Australia) 3.

Clav sparrow championship.— R. Wasley (Manawatu) 1, P. C. Thomson (Australia) 2, K. Lowry (Australia) 3.