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Greetings all, Wow! What a great week of shooting I have had! For years in this sport I have dreamed of competing in the US Open Nationals. IPSC Started in the USA, and the USPSA is still by far the largest most advanced region. Not to mention that most of the best shooters in the world are Americans, legends like Robi Leathan, Todd Jarret and Jerry Barnhart, to name a few. Last year the tragic events of September 11th prevented me from participating in the 2001 Open Nationals, as the match was held one week after that day, and all flights from Europe were still canceled. This year, I had been eagerly anticipating the chance to compete with some of the worlds best, in one of the most prestigious events in our sport. As an International competitor I am often asked what the differences are between shooting IPSC in Europe or in the USA. There certainly are many differences, as the USPSA do not follow IPSC guide lines on things such as stage design, and this leads to a slightly deferent style of shooting. But I think the main deference is the depth and quantity of quality shooters and match personel. The shear number of professionals and semi professionals in this sport in the USA is far greater. We certainly have good shooters in Europe, but in the US there are more of them. The US Open is more like the world shoot, in that, if you put one foot wrong on a stages, you can easily find yourself ranked 30th or worse. There are just so many great talented shooters who take this sport very seriously. This was a 4 day event, with the shoot-off's and prize table on the 5th day. The match was held in Bend Oregon, on a big range, with plenty of space, and pleanty of dust too. The team there did a fantastic job on stage design, and the 18 stages of the match, with an average round count of 24 rounds per stage, were some of the most interesting and challenging stages of fire I have even shot. There was not so much as one stage that made me think "how did this one get in?!"". All stages were simply good. Shooting with and against the likes of Todd Jarrett, Jerry Barnhart, Max Michel, Adam Poppwell,Travis Tomasie, Jojo Vidanes and all the other great shooters was an experience I will not soon forget. It was amazing to see the speed and ability of young upcoming shooters like Blake Miguez and JJ "the Razor" Racaze, or 14 year old GM shooter KC Eusebio. These young kids are so fast, they make the rest of us 30 year-old (and older) guys look like we are moving in slow motion.. Fortunately for us, they've not yet gained the control to be consistent throughout the match, but when they do, look out! JJ was too fast for his own good, and was DQed on the 3rd day, for an AD (Accidental Discharge) on the draw, which hit the ground no more than 2 inches from his right foot! He very nearly put himself out of the world shoot too. But in a grand display of sportsmanship and heart, JJ stayed on the range after being DQed to watch and support his friends. Anyone who has experienced a DQ in a big match, knows how tough that is to do. This was a super match for me. I shot consistently well for the 4 days, in good control, making only a few errors along the way. In fact, Stats informed me that I was the only shooter amongst almost 500 competitors who finished the match without a single penalty miss or no-shoot! I am particularly proud of that, as all stages were studded with N/S and partial targets, many swingers and turners, and a good amount of shooting on the move. Our squad didn't have it easy either, as we were forced to reshoot 2 stages, both of which I had shoot really well, and was forced to shoot twice, once improving my performance, but once loosing some very valuable points. Stage 7, the "Barbeque" stage was one of those we had to reshoot. We, and 3 other squads were called to reshoot it, as they said a popper had moved slightly out of position. This was critical, as there were 2 stacks of 3 poppers hiding each other, and this back popper was more visible than it should have been that day. This was a whopper of a stage: the shooter started standing over a grill, holding cooking utensils. On the beep, moved forward to the left side of a long wall built across the range. Well, that is how we shoot it anyway, there were other options, as there always are in a well designed stage... This wall had picket fences on each end, 2 open ports, 2 closed doors that opened inwards, and a window opening outwards, which had to be held up to shoot. In all positions targets had to be engaged, for a total of 28 rounds. 6 steel, 2 swingers, and a bunch of partial targets. Also, those picket fences on each side, though which one had to shoot 2 targets on each end, tripped up more than a few shooters, as any round which went though one of the wooden sticks was scored as a miss, and this was strictly enforced. The challenge was, there didn't seem to be anywhere to make a reload! There was only one step from port to port, and on many of those you were busy using your left hand to open doors or windows.. So where to reload? After much thought and deliberation, I decided to shoot the stage without a reload. I was able to cram an extra round into my long mag by removing the inner base pad plat (never tried this before...) and start with 29+1, 2 extra rounds for a complicated stage. But I believed I could do it, and I did, shooting the stage, using my 2 extra shoot,and finishing with an empty gun, in 15.5 seconds. I was so happy and relieved to have shoot so well on that tough stage - I was not too please to hear we had to reshoot it again. On the reshoot, I shot even better, all the way through to the last position, not firing any extra shoots this time (ran the big stick again). But, alas, I had to fire an extra shoot, about 0.8sec after the last shot, since I realized my very last shot went though on of those pesky sticks of the picket fence, and I was not willing to accept the miss. So I ended up with a 16.6 on that stage, still a top 10 finish on the stage. I was in a position to win the US Open Nationals, and did infact lead the match for most of the event. But in the end, I was edged out by former world champion Todd Jarrett, who finished with an amazing string of stages on the last day. While I was disappointed not to have won, I can only be content with a 2nd place finish in such a great field of shooters. Mine is the highest ever finish in the US Nationals by a non-American competitor, so I am proud of that too. I look forward to competing again with all these great guys in the World shoot in SA, in only 2 weeks time. The end results were: 1. Todd Jarrett 100%
2. Saul Kirsch 99.0%
3. Max Micheal 98.2%
4. Jerry Barnhart 97.5%
5. Adam Poppwell 95.6%
6. Travis Tomasie 95.4%
7. Jojo Vidanes 95.3%
8. Chris Tilley 92.3%
9. Blake Miguez 91.6%
10. Doug Koenig 88.1% What a grand experience this has been. This certainly will be a match I will always remember. And I have my sponsors to thank for it: The Makoff-Reifman Foundation Arredondo Accessories Rescomp Handgun Technologies Vectan (Nobel Sports) Aimpoint Winchester Ammuniti Bul Transmark Ltd Drummen Custom Guns Well, now I begin the long journey back home. I have one week to train and get back into my time zone, and then it's off to the world shoot, where all the top shooters in this sport will meet for what will certainly be the biggest IPSC event of 2002. Until then, I wish you all good shooting. DvC, Saul Kirsch Movie File: Stage: 4 Movie File: Stage: 9 |
