NQRA Townsville Quens

[AlanF]

Just the last two ranges left at Townsville. As you will see HERE things are very close in all the F-Classes except Std A where Steve Lazarus is on fire. He's using a bipod and is rapt with the accuracy of his Hart barrel, not a fashionable brand in F-Class, but always highly regarded in BR.

F-Open watchers will notice that Peter Smith dropped back from the lead today - he would have had a magnificent 60.6 at 900m, but once again, felt sorry for the rest of us and plonked an X on the wrong target . Otherwise he would have still been leading. I didn't mention yesterday that Shane Green did the same thing in F/TR yesterday, his maiden experience of that type apparently. It seems to be catching - several others includng myself and Mark Fairbairn decided to put sighters on targets other than our own. At least mine was next door - Mark's was a full block of targets to the right! And then he went on to get a 60.6 .

No further ET issues that came to my notice today.

Weather was quite pleasant today, warm and humid but overcast, so no biting sun . Rain was expected after lunch but didn't happen. Predictions of rain for tomorrow are more confident, even with talk of shortening the program if necessary. Somehow I doubt that will happen.

Back tomorrow night (late) for a summary. I'm starting southwards and will try to find a place with reception.

Alan

[DaveMc]

Looks like being a great Queens all round. The few phone calls and texts I have had during the event and everyone seems to be having a great time. A couple of guys with " new" unproven gear seem to be going very well.

I believe Stevo's gear is FTR compliant. The x count difference makes his effort to date doubly outstanding, as did same in a few prizemeets up here. At this stage he is ahead of all the FTR shooters and right up in the open scores shooting 155 308 and 1kg trigger etc. It is a fantastic rifle but I believe Stevo has started to shine since he took on the role of coach for NQRA and the training squads up here. He has been working hard and showing dividends.

Best of luck to him for the last two and I hope he holds it together for an impressive show. Also bodes well for the upcoming TransTasman Match!



Good luck to all on last day and I hope the rain holds off. It is pouring here and I am about to hop in car and head down for the presentations and FCWC training squad practice. - Will try and catch you before you go Alan....

[RDavies]

Things e still quiet from FNQ but congratulations to Benn Emms for winning TR A grade.
A big congratulations to Steve Lazarus for his 7 point lead in F std A grade.
Congrats also to Marty Lobert for yet another NQ Queens win in F Open and to Mark Fairburn another F TR win.

[AlanF]

Just about to resume southward from Clermont, so will give a brief wrap-up.

Marty was the man again in F-Open. His barrel turned out to be good enough and he managed it well. Pete Smith has a hummer in his SAUM (see the X Count!) and if not for his costly wrong target he would have won. In the end I was relieved to hang on for second from some fast finishers.

Steve Lazarus went a bit conservative on the last day as you'd expect with a lead like that, but his performance was an eye-opener for F-Std I think. It showed that a bipod used well gives very little away to a pedestal rest, and with the weight allowance favouring bipods, I know what I'd be using in F-Std. In fact I'm going to flirt with a bipod in F-Open after seeing that.

I intend to keep making transparent reports about ET performance. There was a further hiccup yesterday, which brought about a 10 or 15 minute cease-fire. A cable was cut by a shot on a target, and with the Kongsbergs, there is no redundancy. But in general I didn't hear negative comments about the ETs. It could be because it was significantly better than last year (or because scores were better with the easier conditions!). And I know they really put some emphasis on having the targets in excellent condition at the start, thanks to Peter Smith and Dave Stewart's good testing work.

In conclusion, one of, if not the friendliest Queens I go to, good well maintained facilities, and the most entertaining MC in the sport. Bruce Scott never fails to get the audience chuckling. So despite the 2700km there and 2700km back, it'll be on my calendar as long as I enjoy driving.

Catch you later.

[Josh Cox]

Unfortunately I only had the opportunity to shoot Saturday and Sunday, was an awesome shoot, plenty of big names, other than a shot out cable, et performed well.

The new CRO did an awesome job. Well done John.

[AlanF]

...The new CRO did an awesome job. Well done John.

I'll second that.

Just a footnote to my trip. A couple of hours ago I crossed the border at Hebel. Despite having a good light bar and bull bar, I slowed down to about 90 because there were roos about every 200m, then out from the roadside came a kamikaze pig, about 3/4 grown, straight under the front before I had time to react. Fortunately no obvious damage except a deceased porker.

[Josh Cox]

Some one made a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzFOvdgZS-I