FT Blog: BFTA’s GP series

The Grand Prix has been the mainstay of summer FT shooting for more years than I have been shooting at field targets, which is a lot, and it has changed a lot too over that time. The changes haven’t always been welcomed, but the thing is the GP series has remained popular as I believe the idea of a national league has an irresistible draw on shooters with a competitive nature such as me. No doubt the format will continue to change and whether or not I think the changes good or bad I’ll be there competing despite my occasional urges to cut back on the travelling and shoot locally.

For this season the format remained the same as last year; that is seven rounds in total with individual shooters best 5 scores to count toward their grand total. There are sound reasons behind this but it doesn’t somehow feel right. Despite my wish to cut down on the amount of travelling, (even though I am a passenger most of the time, cheers Jonathan) I’d like to see a return to nine or ten rounds. Let me explain!

BEST OF THE BEST

Nine or ten rounds in the season means having to shoot against the best shooters in the country once a fortnight and that is good for competition. You also get to see more of your friends on the circuit which can’t be a bad thing. My main dislike is the disjointing nature of the series. We have had seemingly random three week and two week gaps between rounds so there is no sense of continuity for me and then the last two rounds were scheduled (a fortnight apart) in the school summer holidays. The chances are many people are going to miss one of those as they cannot move their holidays away from this period.

We are I think stuck with seven rounds for the foreseeable future as it becomes harder to find clubs that are both willing and able to host a round of the GP. As this is the case I think it might be better to have those seven rounds at fortnightly intervals and the series finished before the summer holiday period. One off competitions could then perhaps be held in the July and August. This may sound a little like sour grapes, especially as I missed the penultimate round for the above reasons, but I do believe it would make for a more intense competition with the fewer seven rounds.

GET ON WITH IT!

Shut up and tell us about this year’s GP series I hear you saying, and you are probably right. Well I didn’t win, as I bet you guessed, but there were a few twists and turns to keep our interest in the developing league tables over the season. My own bid for the title didn’t get off to a great start down in the South West where Avon Hawks put on a superb event. My shortcomings were highlighted as I happened to partner a certain FT superstar, Mr Ian Taylor (the winner of only three World titles). He missed just one target that day where many of us struggled not to miss ten. If I were a betting man my money would have gone on him to win the series.

A few rounds in, and Ian was still putting in strong performances, but it was another former World Champion Daniel Eley leading the competition and looking unstoppable. Last year’s champion Andy Calpin, usually so reliable, was struggling as were some others who you would normally expect to be chasing the title down. Unfortunately Dan’s title hopes were put to an end by a nasty mountain bike accident (get well soon Dan) mid season and it looked like a certainty for Ian.

IT AIN’T OVER UNTIL…

But as is so often the case in sport, it wasn’t yet quite over. Jack Harris had been putting in good strong scores after a slow start to the season and when it came to shoot the last round he and Ian were effectively tied for the lead. Somehow they were paired to shoot together in that final round, fantastic stuff, the old master against the arrogance of youth, winner takes all. The result? A very solid score of 46 ex 50 from Ian just wasn’t enough as Jack coolly pumped in the days top score of 48.

From my point of view this was excellent news. My Air Arms team had lost the team event to the Rowan Engineering line-up, and with Jack an Air Arms team member, I could bury the bad news beneath his personal glory, when I had to report back to Air Arms!

Of course it isn’t just about those at the very top of the FT game, the GP series contains competitions in many grades; all equally hard fought as the ‘AA’ grade competition. A-grade was won by Keith Gilyard who continued his excellent form from last winter into the summer, and I see no reason why he won’t be pushing for the higher places in AA grade next summer.

PISTON PLEASURE

I had the pleasure of shooting with the winners of the Piston Class and B-grade at shoots this year, and they both impressed me mightily at the time so I am not surprised they won their respective grades. Steve Privett is a master of the spring gun. When I shot with him, I put in what I considered a good score with all the help my equipment offers, and he pushed me all the way beating most of the field with his score. B-grade was won by Redvers Gallagher, a young man relatively new to the sport. I had the pleasure of his company while shooting the tough course Tawd Vale had laid on for us. While he struggled with the evil wind, his standing technique was second to none and will certainly be a name to look out for in the future.

Just to complete the picture, C-grade was won by NEFTA shooter Gavin Hopps and in the Open class Ian Challis took top honours. Full results and further information on FT shooting can be found at www.thebfta.net