The match is still a few days off, but I wanted to let you know, that I plan to do a "day by day" match report from this year's Nationals. In the past, these day-by-day reports I have done were well received and appreciated so I will make the effort to do it again. I leave for the USA on Monday and the match begins on Wednesday the 20th of June, so my first report will be that day. Enjoy!
PS - We will be producing a new Super Squad DVD at this years Open and L10 nationals. The new DVD will include both Open and L10 shooters in one DVD. Also planned is a "Tactical Coaching" DVD based on the stages of the match, with instruction by top Open shooter Saul Kirsch, and L10 champion shooter Angus Hobdell. More info available soon!
Wednesday June 20th, 10pm - DAY 1
Well, it has been a long day, even though we shot only 3 stages... I am busy
making a new Super Squad DVD which will include both the Open and the L10
Super Squads, so once we are done shooting, I must follow the L10 squad and
film them. Makes for a much longer day, but well worth it to get both squad.
All shooters had to register this morning at the match hotel - and that lead to LONG lines, and some waiting. But spirits were high, everyone meeting old friends, so the wait was not too bad. The well staffed team of the USPSA got everyone through quickly after they opened the doors at 8:30. then it was off to the range.
The range in beautiful, and the weather was good most of the time as well, although it did rain for a couple of minutes later in the day. luckily that cleared up quickly.
The stages fun, fast, but not as simple as they may seem at first glace, and many of our squad got caught out on some of the clam-shell targets or partials. Most targets in the match are very close, 5 to 10 yards, but then most are not full size. Many N/S and partial targets. Tomorrow morning, for instance, our first stage is a 30 round long course, with ALL head shots only targets! they are very close, so one is temped to go fast, but... it takes only a small laps in concentration for things to go south...
So how did things go today? Chris and I shot clean. He leads by 2 or 3 points a head of me. Max got off to a terrible start with a miss and N/S on the first stage, but after that he looked very sharp and put up the fastest times on all stages, pulling closer to the lead. he trails me by 11 points. Most of the others on the Super Squad had their share of problems and mistakes. I am sure things will shuffle up somewhat tomorrow...
On the L10 Super Squad I hear that TGO shot great, and in fact pulled out a lead already over all the others in only 3 stages. But as Taran pointed out today - you cannot call an 18 stage match by the first 3. Tomorrow is another day...
Off to bed, more to follow tomorrow,
Saul
Thursday June 21th, 7pm - DAY 2
Today was in fact our first full day of shooting - 6 stages shot in a half
day format. The Super squad in fact, shot only 5 stages, as the Chrono
counted as a stages as well, and both squads went through that. Most got
through without incident, but for Henning it was a disaster! he went Minor,
with 164 power factor. Not good for him, as the match is full of partial
targets and NS, so we are all shooting lots of C's...
Chris continued to shoot control and carefully taking full advantage of his superb ability to shoot on the move when possible, and picking up some stage wins thanks to that. He is not pushing too hard, and making no mistakes. Max is looking very sharp, and winning many stages, but he has had a couple of mistakes, picking up a miss or two along the way. I shot well, except for a poor performance on our first stage of the day, and a trigger jam on the 2nd which cost me plenty, as it was on a activator in a sequence of activators... As things stage now, Chris leads Max by about 27 points, and I am behind Max by 9. JJ is behind me about 15 points back.
In the L10 super squad no one was having a clean run. Dave picked up a foot fault procedure, Robbi fumbled a reload and lost time retrieving a "token" when had to be dropped in a bucket ( he misses the toss, as did Michael Voigt later on in our squad). But rather than taking the one procedure, Robbi chased the token and placed in the bucket, loosing more time in the process. I am not sure what the points are in the L10 squad, so I wont comment on that.
The weather today was flawless, blue skies all day, and 80-90, with little humidity. I was out all day - filming the L10 squad in the morning, and later shooting with the Open Super squad until the late afternoon. so it is good to be back at the Air Conditioned hotel room.
Tomorrow is another full day, 6 stages, which will leave only 3 for the last day. so much will be decided tomorrow. I will report! (if I can get online - internet access is not great here....)
Off to dinner,
Saul
Friday June 22th, 10pm - DAY 3
Today was a day of upsets in the Open Super squad. Chris who was firmly in
control stumbled badly on stage 16, picking up a miss and 2 NS. Max on the
other hand shot strong, although he too had a mistake or two along the way.
Todd made a huge comeback, coming back to shoot today line a new man. He own
a couple of stages, and made up lots of points.
I had a tough day, not only missing several steel and requiring extra shots,
but having 2 malfunctions to boot, on stage 18 and 2, each costing me 1.5
seconds or so, and some serious points.
All this served to shake things up in the lead, and so at the moment, Max leads from JJ and Chris is in 3rd. I'm 4th some 15 points behind Chris, and Todd is some 20 points behind me. So all to play for tomorrow on our last 2 stages...
In the Limited 10 TGO has stamped his authority, opening up a lead over the other, most picking up more than a few misses a long the way. In fact, there seems to be a consensus amongst the shooters, that the stages look misleadingly simple and somewhat easy, but they are not... there are plenty of partials and NS targets which catch many up, on top of some tight leans around barricades and tough body positions, So even though most targets are not very far off, still it seems there is risk, and mistake happen a lot. 3 more stages to go tomorrow - and at least in the open, there are sure to be changes...
Saturday June 23th, 10pm - DAY 4
well, the match is over by now, and I guess you have seen the results on
the USPSA website.
In Open, Max won, JJ 2nd at 98%, Chris 3rd at 96%, and I was 4th, less than
ONE POINT behind Chris...Todd Jarrett 5th.
I shot well today, no mistakes or problems, and in fact was the only shooter
in the top 16 to finish the match without any penalty. In fact Robbie, in
his speech, asked for a show of hands of those who shot clean - only 4
raised their hand. So the match looked easy, but was not. There were no
shoot targets on every stage, and the short distance really made it tempting
to try and go fast - and well, sometimes that bites you...
I am not done yet on the range. Angus and I were reshooting the stages and will continue to do so tomorrow, as we work together on a new DVD entitled "Tactics of the 2007 Nationals", in which we analyze each stage and teach the tactical considerations of each position. This DVD as well as the new Super Squads DVD's will be available in 6 weeks or so from Double-Alpha Academy.
Its been a great match. My congratulations to Robbie and Max - two deserving champions.
I hope you enjoyed these brief updates,
Shoot well,
Saul
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
