Greetings all,

Ok - I'm going to go out on a limb and say THIS IS THE BEST MATCH IN EUROPE!

That's right. This year's STI Open, was the best yet, and that is saying something. It can be difficult to get a slot for this match, as it is always over booked - but, if you can, try and sign up early next year - you won't be disappointed!

So what makes this match so fantastic, you may ask? well, it's not one particular thing, it's many: from the excellent location - the Philipsburg range, one of the best in Europe, to the clock-work management of the stages and whole event, to the top-class ROing, catering, sponsor's area, competitors field - and last but certainly not least - stage design and construction.

The Stage designs this year were truly exceptional, and that takes many weeks of planning and days of construction. Congratulations to Herbert Jakob and to his team of hard working helpers. I have no doubt they put in a tremendous effort. Well done!

The match required almost 400 rounds and we shot 18 stages. Most were medium and large stages, with just a few 9 rounders, which too were interesting and offered a challenge.

In this match there were some props not often seen in Europe. we had several "Bear Trap" type targets - common in the US, but rarely seen in European competition. This type of activating target, has a Penalty placed in front of a shoot target, and when activate the Penalty opens up allowing full view of the target for only a second or two, this creates many tactical choices and options, and adds great interest to the stage.

The stage which had everyone talking was stage 12 - in which two huge wheels with small shooting ports were set up, and set in motion by knocking down poppers. As the wheels spun, the targets behind them became visible and then closed up again. it was extremely difficult to shoot through these fast moving windows - which were edged with Penalty targets, to make things worse. Nothing easy about this one! Most shooters opted to activate the windows and then leave them to shoot through last, as they wheels did slow down. Many had a tough time on this stage, see clip to the right.

It seemed that most stages has something moving, either sliders, swingers bear traps or all of the above. great stuff!

I had the pleasure to shoot on a really good squad. Most of the STI Euro team could shoot together, except for Emile who had to shoot with the French National team, as for them this was a qualifier for Bali. On our squad we also had several top German and Czech shooters, which added to the serious competition. But the atmosphere was great, with everyone cheering for a good run, and supporting each other.

I shot a good match, but had a minor disaster on stage 13: I picked up my gun off a table - and when I tried to pull the trigger, I couldn't get the gun to shoot.. the trigger kept getting stuck, it would not reset! I shot an 8 second stage in 14 - and lost a ton of point because of it. Off I went to the safety area to see what had broken - and was surprised to find that the two back frame screws had worked loose - and that had caused the problem. well, I thought, that's a lesson to learn! I couldn't remember the last time I tightened those up, and you should! Check them each time you clean your gun! I know I will, from now on...

World Champion Eric Grauffel claimed top spot in Open, I was second at 96% with Martin Kamenicek close behind me. Gregory Midgley chalked up another win in Standard, and Adam Tyc won Production. These were the top results:

Open Top 10:

Production top 10:

Standard top 10:

As always I have my sponsors to thank for their support
STI International
Fiocchi
Hornady
Competitive Edge Dynamics (CED)
Aimpoint
Vihtavuori
MSA Sordin

Until the next time I wish you all excellent shooting.
Saul Kirsch

Pictures

Gregory Midgley and his wife Angie. match winner in Standard

The ever growing DAA booth.

A great squad

No one went home! not with the huge prize table being raffled.

Dees Van Noord won Open Ladies! And was awarded with the bubbly!

Top 3 in Open

Movies:

Saul
Gregory
Irene
Fab (stage 12)