The 2006 USPSA Open/Production Nationals

Greetings all,

At the World Shoot last year I did a day-by-day match report from the event. The response was overwhelming, and  I have decided to do it again.

The USPSA Open begins next week. Shooting starts on the 11th of October in the afternoon. I leave for the USA on the 7th, and I intend to begin reporting from the range on the 10th, the day before the match starts. I hope to get you some pictures of the stages, and maybe speak to some of the shooters before the match starts.

I will be shooting on Squad 6, with champion shooters the likes of Max Michel, JJ Racaza, Henning wallgren, Chris Tilly and Spanish sensation Jorge Ballesteros, to name just a few. I will try my best to keep you posted daily with ranking, stories, and videos from the match. I will try to get some info on the Production race as well, but since I will be shooting with the Open guys, that may be tough, I will do my best though.

Of course, if I cant get online - non of this will happen...:(
Lets hope the communications gods are smiling on us!

Tuesday October 10th, 21:00

I arrived in Tulsa this afternoon, and after checking in to my hotel, made the short drive out to the range to check things out. I always like to head out to the range the day before the match starts, if possible. I knew that stage inspection and registration is only possible starting tomorrow morning, but still, it was nice to get out there, find the place, and get a feel for it.

The new range is very impressive. Although it is obviously very far from complete, it is a huge area - and will be, without a doubt, one of the largest shooting ranges in the world! At the moment is is mostly a vast open field, with several very large back stops already in place and cover with grass, which is still taking. We could not get anywhere near those back stops and stages, so we had we to view it all from a distance. Not much to see from there. In addition to the stages set up, there were several huge tents set up to host the match. A large vendor tent and an even larger main event tent where registration and the awards will probably take place. you can see some photos from today below. The earth movers were still hard at work, building up the range.

The weather was not good, but I hear it is expected to improve tomorrow. Today it was gray and rainy all afternoon, and the ground seems rather soaked. I certainly hope the weather improves. It will be a lot more pleasant in the sunshine I am sure.

Not too much more to report, I am sure I will have more for you tomorrow. Our squad is scheduled to start shooting at 1pm, and we have 3 stages to shoot tomorrow, then 6 on Thursday and Friday, and the last 3 on Saturday, with the awards in the afternoon. Four days of shooting, albeit in half day schedules.

I was able to complete my new DVDs, the 3GM coaching DVD and the the MultiGun Nationals in time, so we will be launching them here. I will have a TV set up to run a promo clip, and I expect a lot of interest in these new titles. You can view them online by clicking the links to the right.

Off to clean my guns, more tomorrow...
Saul

Wednesday October 11th, 21:00
Hi All,
Beautiful weather greeted the shooters this morning, perfectly blue skies and warm sunshine. A fantastic day to be out on the range. We had only 3 stages to shoot today, so it was a short affair.
The Open Super Squad, squad 6, shot stages 6-8, all large stages of over 20 rounds. The match seems to be pretty straight forward, not too complicated tactically, nor is it too physical a match. it is mostly a test of shooting skill, with lots of mid to long range targets. The shooting range is huge, most of the bays wide and long, and so placing mini poppers at at 20m or more, is possible on most stages. there was plenty of aiming to do today!

As expected, the battle was fierce in the Open Super Squad, as I hear it was also on the Production top squad.. After all, the best of the best are all here... In Open, Max has taken the early lead, followed closely by Chris Tilley. In fact, they are less than 2 points apart. I am 15 points behind them, and Jorge Ballesteros 7 points behind me. JJ, who was shooting well but had a huge mistake on the 3rd stage is 35 points behind Jorge... Henning is in the mix too, although I do not have his points.

most of the shooters in our group shot solid, not making any major mistakes, and all stages were won with fewer than 4 points down... So not much room for error. Some video clips and pictures from our squad are available below.

In production I hear that Robbie is in the early lead. Todd Jarrett is also shooting Production, so the competition is fierce... As this is a shooting skill test match, Robbie is sure to do well.

Tomorrow we shoot 6 stages. Our squad shooting in the afternoon, so I have a late start, we are expecting the weather to be colder, hopefully not rainy.

enjoy the clips. More to follow tomorrow.
Saul

Interview with Max
Saul images/us06_jj06.wmv
Saul images/us06_max07.wmv
Saul images/us06_saul07.wmv
Saul images/us06_chris08.wmv

Thursday October 12th, 21:30
Hi All,
Well, as expected this is turning out to be one hell of a race!
The Open Super squad shot 6 stages today, including many of the "most dangerous" ones, including the 35 yard targets with the no shoots on stage 11...
That bay which housed stages 10 and 11 become a huge bottle neck, creating a 2 hour delay, for some reason, So after shooting stage 9 we had to wait for some time before we were up to shoot. These 2 speed shoots were tough - long distance with mini poppers and no shoots, and as predicted they shuffled the rankings more than a little within our squad.
Max, who was leading to that point had a good number of extra shots and finished both stages with slow times, allowing Chris Tilley who shot solid all day to take over the lead.

My match was going very well today, until unlucky stage 13... I had a 3-4 second failure to extract jam, which cost me over 30 points, and dropped me from 2nd to 6th place in our squad's ranking at that point. I was really upset with that, as I was mostly error free until then. A malfunction can really hurt in this game. Later I battled back to 4th.

But my wows were nothing compared to Mike Voight's misfortune. He had been shooting a fantastic match until our last stage of the day, stage 15, where he clipped his gun on the frame of the window, and it went cart wheeling out his hands to the ground. He graciously accepted his DQ, but he was understandably very disappoint indeed.

Chris has edged out a lead, and is now in 1st place, on 730 points. Max is 2nd with 696, Jojo who has been shooting an inspired match is 3rd with 686, I am 4th with 682. Henning is just behind me with 679. Then there is a little gap back to Jorge who has 640 match points. these are the top 6 on our squad as of now. of course, there may well be others up there whom we are not tracking.

I have absolutely no information about the Production match. our squad finished late today, and by the time we left our last stage, we were alone on the range...

Tomorrow we start early. It is expected to be as cold as it was today - which was COLD...
Enjoy the pics and videos below.
Saul

Saul images/us06_henning09.wmv
Saul images/us06_chris13.wmv
Saul images/us06_jojo13.wmv
Saul images/us06_saul14.wmv

Friday October 13th, 20:30
Hi All,
3 days done, and 3 more stages to shoot tomorrow, as the match enters it's final stages. The Open Race has certainly been interesting and it is far from over!
Chris came into today with a solid lead, and protected it most of the day, as Max did his best to cut that lead down. You could see Max was beginning to get frustrated, thinking "what do I have to do to take points off Chris". Chris has been just that good. But, the tide changed, as it so often does in this game, in the final two stages of the day. Max shot these perfectly, while Chris was a little off the pace, and the gap shrunk considerably.

As things stand now in Open, it's a 2-horse-race for the top spot, with Chris leading Max by 10 points. Then, some 70 points back are Henning, Jojo and myself, with only 5 points between us. So the race in on for the 3rd spot as well. Behind me, only 20 points back are JJ and BJ Norris, so things can certainly be shaken up tomorrow!

We have 3 stages left, 29, 24 and 19 rounds. So there are plenty of points yet to have. It will truly be decided tomorrow.

I hear that in Production Robbie is leading the Pack. Dave has not had a good match, he says, having made a handful of errors. Angus has not been error free either, and of course, in this match, with a Production gun, shooting clean would be real tough. Lots of N/S and far shots. As you can in the 3rd picture below - max shooting stage 16 - which had us shoot at 35 yard poppers with N/S targets right behind them. Ouch! that could really hurt if you go too fast.

I'm off to dinner. Enjoy the clips, and one more report coming your way tomorrow!

Saul

Saul images/us06_chris15.wmv
Saul images/us06_max15.wmv
Saul images/us06_saul18.wmv
Saul images/us06_saul1.wmv

Friday October 13th, 23:30

Hi All,

Well, time for one last report. A late one, as I just got back from the awards ceremony, followed by dinner.

As many of your have seen, the overall results are now known, and already online. you can also see the top 16 in each division listed below. Congratulations to Robbie Leatham for yet another National title and win in Production, and to Chris Tilley, for winning what I am sure will not be his last US Open title.

Chris Tilley is a young man, just 21 years old, but he is as focused and as dedicated a shooter as you are likely ever to meet! And a great talent to boot. Chris came into today with a slight lead over seasoned champion Max Michel, and we were all curious to see how he would hold up under the pressure. Some had doubts. And Max was certainly putting all his considerable skills into trying to close up that gap...
But Chris hung in here, protecting and even increasing his lead, as he once again out shot all the members of the Super Squad, and stamped his authority on this match. Well done Chris, you are a true a champion!

For me, our last last day, last three stages are not something I will choose to remember. I did not do well. after having a clear match, I stumbled and picked up my first N/S on our opening stage, followed by a miss on the 2nd. Perhaps trying too hard to make things happen... Bad luck on the last stage. clipping a steel, which I heard "ding" but did not knock down, forcing me to step back and loose valuable seconds. So in total, my performance today did me no favors, and I finished 7th overall. Realistically, with a good run today, I could have, and should have finished 3rd or 4th. But, with so many great shooters in this match, you pay for your mistakes every time. Still, I was pleased with most of my shooting, and honored to be recognized among the top shooters in the match. I look forward to coming back to Tulsa again. This fantastic range is sure to host many of the big shooting events in years to come.

Thinking back on the last 4 days, I also realize that this super squad was the friendliest and most relaxed super squad I can remember shooting on. Everyone was so supportive of one another, congratulating good performances, and there was a positive atmosphere throughout. it was a real pleasure.

I hope you enjoyed these reports. I've had fun posting them.
Be safe and shoot well!
Saul

Open Top 16:

Top 16 Production:

New from DAA:

3GM is a fantastic new coaching DVD, including Max Michel, Angus Hobdell and Saul Kirsch. It covers many of the most important technical topics, and runs almost 3 hours on a double disc set. click the image for more info.

In this competition DVD we follow squad 1 at the 2006 USPSA Multi gun Nationals held this past August at the Albany Rifle and Pistol range. Great 3-gun action is this fast past production. multiple cameras, cover the action form every angle. click the image for more info.

3GM is a fantastic new coaching DVD, including Max Michel, Angus Hobdell and Saul Kirsch. It covers many of the most important technical topics, and runs almost 3 hours on a double disc set. click the image for more info.

In this competition DVD we follow squad 1 at the 2006 USPSA Multi gun Nationals held this past August at the Albany Rifle and Pistol range. Great 3-gun action is this fast past production. multiple cameras, cover the action form every angle. click the image for more info.

3GM is a fantastic new coaching DVD, including Max Michel, Angus Hobdell and Saul Kirsch. It covers many of the most important technical topics, and runs almost 3 hours on a double disc set. click the image for more info.

In this competition DVD we follow squad 1 at the 2006 USPSA Multi gun Nationals held this past August at the Albany Rifle and Pistol range. Great 3-gun action is this fast past production. multiple cameras, cover the action form every angle. click the image for more info.