2023 Riverina Fly Championship Results.
Wagga SSAA was proud to run the 2023 Riverina Fly Championships.
We had 63 entries for Saturday in 500m Centrefire. Conditions were mostly readable but still enough to catch you out quickly.
LIGHT GUN
1st Matty Riches 268.02
2nd Bob Coulter 264.05
3rd Rob Valerie 255.04
Small Group was Bob Coulter with 1.381’
High Target was Bob Coulter with 58.02
HEAVY GUN
1st Dave Zucconi 268.01
2nd Matty Riches 258.04
3rd Vince Vaina 254.03
Small Group was Robert Dal Bon with a 1.020
High Target was Vince Vaina with a 59.02
Junior winner was Eli Groves with a 236.00
Overall Winner for 500m was Matty Riches (by fly count) who won 1kg of ADI 2209 proudly donated by Riverina Hunting and Fishing.
On Sunday we had 39 entrants and again some interesting conditions that were brutal on the poor old rimfire bullets travelling so slow.
1st Peter Gerholt 278.05 setting a new RANGE RECORD
2nd Mick Bell 278.02
3rd Vince Vaina 270.03
Small Group was Grant Groves with a 1.106 setting a new RANGE RECORD
High Target was Grant Groves with a 59.02
Junior Winner was Eli Groves with a 261.03
Overall winner for 200m was obviously Peter Gerhold who won 1kg of ADI 2208 again proudly donated by Riverina Hunting and Fishing.
TWO DAY WINNERS
1st Vince Vaina with a 524.06 and winner of a IBI 27 inch 6mm 1:8 twist MTU spiral fluted stainless barrel supplied by the Wagga SSAA.
2nd Matty Riches with a 518.06
3rd Dave Zucconi with a 515.05.
Junior winner was Eli Groves who won a $100 gift voucher donated by Riverina Hunting and Fishing.
Lucky door prize of a TESLONG bore scope proudly donated by RV Custom was Justin Everett.
Lucky door prize of a Benchrest Stock Blank proudly donated by Natural Edge Milling was David Dundas.
There were also some cool YETI products given away as door prizes. These were donated by Riverina Hunting and Fishing.
Our volunteer winner of a $100 Bunnings Gift Voucher was Craig McKee.
We had everyone on their way home by 1.30pm.
A huge thank you to all the volunteers behind the scenes for working bees, target crews, scoring, Range Officers and Catering that make these events possible.
A big thanks to all the entrants. It was great to catch up with familiar faces and to meet some newcomers to the sport. I can safely say that Rule 10 was observed by all !!!
Some tricky conditions certainly made for an interesting weekend. Sunshine to wind on Saturday with some storms Saturday night and onto some fairly strong winds that developed into another storm as we were finishing up on Sunday.
In lieu of trophies the club had individual chamber flags embroidered with the results in the Fly colours of Yellow and Red.
Before competition on Saturday we held a short send off for one of our long time members and fly winner Paul Deehan who passed recently. The Blue Heeler himself spoke about Paul’s time at the club and some of his accomplishments in the fly and other range matches over the years. Grant Groves fired a “last shot” to pay tribute to Paul which was followed by a minute’s silence.
This was made more special by having Pauls Wife and Daughter Tracey and Kiera present for the ceremony. They also stayed on for the match and even camped at the range on Saturday night. Whilst the circumstances were sae, it was enjoyable being able to chat to them during the day.
Thanks to Tracey and Kiera for visiting us. You are welcome anytime.
Saturday 500m Light and Heavy Gun
Matty Riches and Eli Groves duked it out most of the day with the lead changing a few times. Eli held on and picked his way through some tough conditions on the E target to clinch the win.
Heavy Gun
1st Grant Groves 258.04
2nd Matty Riches 256.03
3rd Mark Welsh 241.03
Small Group Ivan Wilson 1.673
High Target Simon Hore 58.01
Light Gun
1st Eli Groves (Junior) 263.06
2nd Matty Riches 260.02
3rd Tim Pavey 254.05
Small Group Glen Ross 0.716
High Target Dave Zucconi 59
Junior winner Eli Groves 263.06
It was also great to see Glen Ross pick up his first screamer patch with a 0.715 which was a cracking group in the conditions.
Junior Shooter Lawson Starr also shot his PB and earned his silver fly badge.
Well done to both shooters.
Sunday Custom and Factory 300m Fly
Father and Son Grant and Eli Groves were neck and neck with Dad Grant finally taking the win only on fly count. Grant also managed not one but two perfect 60.05 targets.
Factory
1st Matty Riches 261.01
2nd Anthony Hall 253.04
3rd Les Fraser 249.02
Small Group Alf Gugliemino 1.995
High Target Alf Gugliemino 56.03
Custom
1st Grant Groves 296.14
2nd Eli Groves (Junior) 296.12
3rd Matty Riches 295.12
Small Group Rochenda Moran 0.429
High Target Grant Groves 60.05
Junior Winner Eli Groves 296.12
The top three two day winers were separated by only 5 points
1st Eli Groves (Junior) 559.18
2nd Matty Riches 555.14
3rd Grant Groves 554.18
Eli won a 27 inch 6mm 1:8 twist IBI Stainless HV barrel for his stella performance over the weekend.
Richard L also picked up the same barrel in a draw from all shooters who shot both days.
Reports back are that everyone loved our hot water and pressure solutions in the showers and the new outdoor kitchen/BBQ was a big hit too.
A huge thanks to the volunteers who made this match what it was. The Target crew ran red hot all day, Range officer kept things ticking over nicely and the scorers were finding it tough to keep up with the target crew.
Our volunteers went into a draw and Bunnings Gift Vouchers were also given to Bruce M and Brett T for their efforts over the weekend.
Interestingly Bruce was also the reason we had a smooth freshly graded track into the range so thumbs up to him. Both Bruce and Neil had spent most of the week at the range undertaking an enormous amount of tasks pre match.
We thank all the competitors for their attendance and conduct during the weekend. On behalf of the committee we all hope you enjoyed the weekend and we will see you back in March.