WILL CEMIS won the Stratford & District Airgun League’s Whitbread Individual competition for the first time thanks to an impressive series of performances at Binton Social Club.
Last year’s winner Lester Langford was drawn to shoot in one of three preliminary rounds and was knocked out by Michelle Dale when she shot a mini-possible to score 25.2 points.
Dale went on to shoot another mini-possible 25.3 in the next round and eliminated Binton team-mate Collin Hayes to secure her place in the semi-final against Chris Reed, who had knocked out TJ Hooker in his quarter-final match.
Reed was in good fettle and with five bulls shot 33. Alhough Dale shot two clean bulls, she had to make do with 31.2 points as she exited the competition.
The second semi-final found Ben Chamberlain, who had knocked out Derek Powers in a quarter-final match, shooting against Cemis who had narrowly defeated Binton team-mate Andy Smith 24.3 to 24.1 in the previous round.
Cemis had his eye on the centre of the target and he missed only one bull for 34.3 points, which saw off Chamberlain’s challenge.
The final between two Binton shooters saw both Reed and Cemis in fine form as, although they both started with a four, they both went on to shoot six bulls. A clean bull which leaves no mark on the target plate counts as 5.1 and it was a close match as Reed finished on 34.3 and Cemis on 34.5.
In the latest league matches both Avon and Binton A had eight shooters and each started well with 33 and then 34 from their first two shooters.
Binton kept the bull ringing rather more than Avon to finish with not only the highest team score of the week but also the season as they prevailed 231-224 to remain joint top.
Andy Smith shot 34 and Chris Reed, Collin Hayes, Andrew Radbourne, Alan Dyer and Will Cemis all shot 33. Bill Fleming topped Avon’s scorecard with 34 and Nick Williams and Steve Ray both shot 33s.
A solid win for Binton keeps them in joint first place.
Wilmcote’s shooters had one three but mainly bulls on the scorecard to give them a 226-207 win over hosts Binton B. Lester Langford topped the visitors’ scores with 34.
The home team had just two threes but seemed to have problems finding the bull. Their top shot was Steve Hodges with 33 but, with mainly fours, Binton had to settle for second place.
MEB had eight shooters but visitors Home Guard only six and the latter were beaten 216-212.
Gareth Morris started with 33 for Home Guard and their final shooter Andy Morris missed only one bull for 34 but the A N Other score did them no favours.
The MEB team shot consistently well with 32s from Derek Powers and Paul Onions and 31s from Steph Ford and Alan Stewart to win the match by four points.
