East Coast Championship and USGP
Article by Ashleigh Hafley
There are very few clubs throughout the United States that can boast of great tournament quality targets, expansive terrain, and what seems to be an endless supply of Promatic traps to choose from. Chuck and Lori Frazier, who operate Hunters’ Pointe in Washington North Carolina, is just one of the few that can lay claim to these types of assets. With an arsenal of close to 160 traps, and layouts that vary from the open fields covered in CRP grasses to the woods sprinkled with cedars, Mr. Frazier treated everyone to what were sure to be some of the best and most technical targets seen this year.
The gravel path that meanders through the forested front half would be the place of business for the Friday preliminary. The course was laid out nicely and played well to shooters of all classes and shooting ability. As usual, you never have to struggle with the visibility of Chuck’s targets. Whether they are arching across the blue sky or crossing the paddocks that are scattered throughout the course, he always makes sure to show you plenty of domes and bottoms. Every station was equally balanced allowing shooters to feel confident that at least one target out of the pair was well within their comfort zone. Station fourteen was probably one of the most difficult pairs for the preliminary. Two traps were set to the right of the shooter launching a simultaneous pair of standard targets from right to left about thirty five yards away at the break point. Many people would consider this a pretty average true pair, however, upon being launched both targets had a tendency of crossing your eyes and drawing them away from the target you wanted to shoot first. The half second or less that it took for you to sort out which one was which was all that Chuck needed to start the line of zero’s on your card. In your moment of indecision, the targets casually drifted further from you, and by the time you shot the first one the second was in a very hard transition about forty yards out. If a shooter didn’t pay attention, he was sure to get caught up in this fairly average pair. For station thirteen, Chuck utilized the fifty foot tower to throw a standard target from the left which was angling outward, followed by a closer twenty-five yard rabbit. Again this was an equally challenging, but fair pair of targets. The crosser was a hard read, because it was angling towards you it took less lead than expected, and the rabbit was by no means a give me target either.
When all the final calculations had been made at the end of the day, Wendell Cherry and Brad Kidd Jr. would be tied at 96. The shoot off left Wendell in the HOA position and Brad in the number two spot. Anthony Matarese took Master 1st, followed by Bill McGuire and Hub Johnson. In the Ladies concurrent, Ashleigh Hafley would take the win followed by Kristin Canale and Dee Orr respectively. Sub-Juniors found David Radulovich taking first place and W. Jacob Lawson would hold down the number two position. In Juniors, Hub Johnson took the lead, Brody Sikes was second, with Ashleigh Hafley taking third. Veterans ended in a tie with an impressive score of 91 split between Larry Corbett and Richard Lanzilotta. Mr. Corbett won the shoot off and Mr. Lanzilotta claimed the second place on the score board. Ken Kluttz secured the number three position. In Super Veterans, Bruce Ney boasted a one-target victory over Michael Taylor and Ronald Shafer both tied with an 81. Mr. Taylor ended up in the number two spot leaving Mr. Shafer in third. Last but not least, in the new concurrent of Super Senior Veteran, Mr. Ed Stroik took the win.
One event that always draws good participation from the shooters, and runs constantly for three days, is the five stand. Layout one had an interesting rabbit presentation set about ten yards from the shooting stations. The rabbit crossed the shooters in all five stands and continued to make it way across the grass eluding many of the shooters that tried to snare it. There were many tricky pairs on the first layout, and the shooter was often puzzled on which target to take first, it was evident that timing on the presentations was everything. One pair in particular was the six and five true pair, thrown from the fifth stand. The six propelled itself forward showing full black belly on its way upward, heading toward what would be eleven o’clock. The five target was a low crosser thirty to forty yards out, moving right to left of the shooter that died about mid field. If the shooter chose to take the six target first, the five was fading fast and vice versa.
The second layout was much more difficult for the majority of the shooters. The presentations had more distance and less line than the first layout. The number one and six trap were the two give me targets on the layout and every other X on your scorecard you had to fight for. If a shooter was not on his A-game, it would have been very easy to take a sub-par score on the second presentation. The number four trap was set about forty yards away from the stands and launched a target upwards and showing dome, but transitioning quickly, this was one of the toughest targets on the layout.
Curtis Mauldin would post an impressive score of forty five on the five stand layouts to take the HOA position followed by Joe Carey also with a forty five. Blake Besehlich would take the Master two spot followed by Jon Kruger.
The U.S Grand Prix started on Thursday and ran through to Sunday, throwing an exceptional two-hundred bird Fitasc event. Fitasc parcour number one was a pretty straight forward layout. The A target was a black standard held atop a scaffolding, set back and left of the first peg. It made its way out as a quartering target on the first peg, turning into a crosser from the second and the third peg. Target C was a hooking-in orange standard that was edgy from the first peg and showing full dome when falling in front of peg three. The D target was a standard chondel that showed full orange dome against the tree line and then made its peak into the sky and continued to fall downward.
Parcour five was one of the tougher layouts for the weekend with targets that were both distant, quick, and some that were short and deceiving. The A target was a standard that was thrown midfield showing full orange dome and fading about twenty yards out. The B target would be the make or break target for many of the pros. It was a quick midi that was thrown from a man lift left of the shooter about fifty yards away, for many it continued to zoom on to the tree line on the other side. The neat part about the layout was the elevated platform peg three was located on. This was a fresh change to the grounded pegs that shooters often shoot from in Fitasc, and making a clean move on the targets below your feet was challenging for many.
Parcour 8 was the only layout this weekend where the shooters were treated to a presentation that has almost become extinct in the United States. From peg three, a Rafael pair of C targets were thrown into the open sky. The following pair was a set of incoming targets thirty yards out that showed bottom all the way into the shooter. The A target was another challenging setup. It was an easy premounted shot that became much more challenging from the low gun position. The mixture of hand speed to mount the gun and the fading line of the target made it easy for the shooter to shoot in front of the target.
Wendell Cherry took the lead on Saturday and was able to seal the deal with an outstanding twenty four on layout one and delivered another shattering blow to the scoreboard with a twenty five on Parcour two. Jon Kruger took the runner up position following a shoot off with Will Fennell. Hub Johnson would take Master 2nd, followed by Brad Kidd. Ladies saw Ashleigh Hafley at the top of the board and Diane Nelson secured the runner up spot. Darby Fennell would round out the top three. In Juniors, Hub Johnson would edge out David Radulovich for the win and Ashleigh Hafley would take the third position. Veteran was won by Mark Kiddie and Jack Concannon would hold down the number two position, followed by Michael W. Harris. Ed Couture would pop back up on the radar winning Super Veteran and Bruce Ney would take runner up followed by Ronald Shafer.
Over three hundred and thirty entrants would begin the main event on Saturday. Sprawled across fifteen stations, the course was radically different from that of the preliminary set on it the previous day. Starting off on an elevated platform on station one, the shooters were shown a report pair of standard targets. Thrown from the left was a standard orange target that quartered outward followed by an eye-level standard from the left that at maximum distance was twenty five yards away. The first target was easy to shoot over and the second was easy to swing past. This was just another example of how even the easy target presentations at Mr. Frazier’s are not always easily added to your score card. Station fourteen was the station the separated the cream of the crop from the rest. With a standard thrown off of the very top of the tower and quartering outward followed by what was the most deceiving target on the course. The battue target that followed the standard was thrown around fifty yards away from the shooting station. The battue flashed a small slice of orange against the back drop of the tall pine trees then flared and quartered outward. This presentation looked as if it took a great amount of lead for distance and speed; however, this was not the case. The battue was already through the majority of its flight path by the time it flared, and most shooters shot in front of it. Following this station Chuck helped ease the bruised egos of the shooters by setting a fairly straight forward pair the shooter shot from an elevated platform. A mini was thrown from below the platform straight out, in conjunction with a standard set off directly to the left of the platform. As soon as the shooter executed the shot on the mini, the standard was just on the left side of your barrel. This was a great leave for the second shot.
At the end of the day, Joe Carey would be leading the main event with an impressive 95 followed by Wendell Cherry and David Radulovich both sitting firmly on their 93s. Sunday was sure to be an interesting day, with a fight for the top of the leader board.
On Sunday, station two started off with a set of crossing belly birds. Both targets were showing black bottom and met in the middle then continued to separate and fall downward. Station eight was a battue crossing left to right that was fairly quick and orange across the dark background, followed by a high incoming shot that was around thirty yards out. Station fifteen was a great presentation, that the shooters again shot off the elevated platform, but instead of shooting anything under your feet when the button was pushed a Promatic chondel machine positioned in front and to the slightly to the left of the shooter threw a target into the air. It cascaded forward and peaked about thirty five yards out, and on report a standard was launched from the right. Joe Carey would hold tight to the top position, backing up his 95 with a 90 on Sunday’s course. Anthony Matarese would come up to challenge him, shooting a score of 94 to tie Mr. Carey. With the absence of Mr. Carey, Anthony claimed the victory adding this to his previous win at Cajun Elite. Bill McGuire earned Master 1st with a 183 followed by David Radulovich at 182 and Wendell Cherry claimed third with a 180. In Ladies, Ashleigh Hafley would take the number one position, followed by Deborah Fleming with a 154 and Kristin Canale with a 153. David Radulovich would secure the Sub-Junior win, followed by Brady Simms and W. Jacob Lawson. In Juniors, Hub Johnson would lead the event. Travis Carroll finished strong on Sunday with an 86, which was enough to take the runner-up position, and Ashleigh Hafley rounded out the top three. In Veteran, Larry Corbett was the primary leader, and in Super Veteran Mike Taylor would take the win in a shoot off against Ron Shafer, both with 163s respectively. Ed Stroik would make a sweep of the weekend, winning the Super Senior Veteran concurrent yet again in the main event.
It is easy to see that Chuck and Lori Frazier are doing something right just judging from the attendance of their event. As we take a look at the dwindling number of shooters attending events due to rising gas prices, it’s easy to tell which shoots do a great job looking at the numbers in attendance. It is obvious, based on this year’s output, that they put on a great tournament with targets that are superior in quality, and enough excitement to hold the interest of so many. In the coming years, I only see this shoot growing from its large number of entrants this year and continuing to set the standard for tournaments across the board.
