Sunday, March 30, 2008

Knocking the Rust

Yesterday was the first match of the year at TVR and it reminded me of 2 things. CAS is fun, and you'll never get better without practice.

Jose picked me up at 7:30 and the new guncarts only took about 2 minutes to load up. So we were on the road earlier then usual and I was looking forward to spending a little extra time at Mikey D's drinking coffee. Unfortunately Jose forgot one of the things you just can't compete without...his hat, so we had to drive all the way back to his place to pick up the size 8 monstrosity. We still managed to wolf down some breakfast and make it in plenty of time to the range.

I picked up my '87 from Vaquero and was very happy with the work. The action was much smoother then before and the drop 2 looked to be well done. The new guncarts made the big hill much easier to navigate and after the safety briefing we found ourselves with a very full posse of guests from Illinois and a great day of shooting in front of us.

The stages had a lot of movement and some of the older shooters struggled with moving and shooting. We had to DQ 2 right off the bat for moving with the shotgun actions closed. After everyone settled down the day went pretty smooth. I was frustrated for shooting everything in the low 30's when I had finished last year shooting everything in the mid to high 20's but 4 months and a new shotgun will do that to you. The drop 2 in the '87 works well, but you can't baby it and I found myself struggling because it was so different then last year. With practice I know it will work just fine, which means by November I should be back in form.

The big surprise of the day was Copper. He proves yet again the practice is the key. He's been working hard on his transitions and his shotgun. He managed to finish 5th overall and first in his category which is the best he has ever done. He also beat Jose and I both for the first time. He was better then last year and his shotgun work was awe inspiring. He's getting no breaks from me this year because he's finally gotten better then me. I guess I'll have to start practicing...nah.

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