TWO-time national shotgun champion Christian Sasso and current national female champion Wendy McMaster overcame a massive field of 147 shooters to win the fifth staging of the Driftwood Sporting Clays Challenge at the picturesque Murphy Hill Estate in St Ann (overlooking the town of Ocho Rios).

Sasso, who broke 90 targets, was the only shooter to get into the nineties. Sasso described the competition when he said; “Today actually the conditions were very windy so it made a lot of the birds unstable; however, with the wind, we had good climate. It was actually very cool today so things worked out well in terms of (the) weather. The birds — some of them were tough (and) some of them were soft but overall it was a good day of shooting clays.”

Regarding him being the only shooter they made it into the nineties, Sasso said, “it feels good but there is always room for improvement. I missed a lot of birds that I could have hit. Just little mistakes but that’s a part of the shooting, that’s what keeps us coming back.”

The runner-up spot went to Toby Hugh, who is a “C” Class shooter as well as a junior (Under-18). He shot 88. Hugh was lauded for his outstanding performance by president of the Jamaica Skeet Club Evan Thwaites. Hugh came out ahead of top shooters such as nine-time national champion Ian Banks and six-time national champion Shaun Barnes.

National female shotgun champion McMaster continued her good form by winning the shoot for the first time when she topped the ladies category after posting 67 ahead of Renne Rickhi with 62 and defending champion Toni Barnes, who took the third spot ahead of junior Savannah Miller, who ended the tournament on the same score (based on long-run where the shooter who got a better score on a pre-selected station is declared the winner if there is a tie).

McMaster was pleased with her win. “It’s really a marvellous feeling to know that I can stay on top. It’s not an easy sport and you have to maintain certain discipline and focus when you are shooting. I really intend to excel more this year because I am in “C” Class now. I am the only female in “C” Class and my competitors are not backing off the pedal at all.”

McMaster said that the wind did affect her but she worked out how to handle it. “The wind really did put a challenge on the target. Honestly, I tried to maintain a certain focus. I kind of blocked out the wind. I was on station seven and I felt the wind coming, I just paused until it calmed down and then shoot and execute.”

Robert Yap-Foo with 86, copped first place in “A” Class. while the second and third spots were decided in dramatic fashion. Three “A” Class shooters ended the competition on 84. They had to engage in two rounds of shoot-offs in order to determine the second and third place spots.

Roman Tavares-Finson, defending champion Bruce Duquesnay and Ray McMaster took to the selected station on the back of a Nissan pick-up on the edge of Murphy Hill where they had to shoot six targets. Tavares-Finson and Duquesnay busted four of the six targets to McMaster’s three. This led to an additional shoot-off between Tavares-Finson and Duquesnay where Tavares-Finson bagged all six birds to Duquesnay’s five, to take the third spot.

Tavares-Finson was pleased with his performance ahead of some of the best shooters on the island. Roman Tavares-Finson became the youngest shooter in 2018 to get into “A” Class at 14 years old.

The top three placements in the classes were: “B” Class — Danzell Knight (82), Mark Desnoes (76) and Jeffrey Panton (76). “C” Class — David Thwaites (84), Cameron Pang Sang (83) and Alex Cunnigham (81). “D” Class — David Wong (78), Richard Todd (76) and Dale Delapenha (76). “E” Class — Andrew Dunbar Jr (70), Gordon Bucknor (66) and Lenin Thompson (63). Hunters Class — David Campbell (67), Kevin Chin Sue (65) and John Brennan (63). Juniors — Toby Hugh (88), Roman Tavares-Finson (84) and Cameron Pang Sang (83). Sub Juniors — David Wong (78), Richard Todd (76) and Jordan Vaz (59).

Nari Williams-Singn, a member of the organising committee was pleased with the high turnout of shooters for the tournament. He said that the returns garnered will be used for the Driftwood Gun Club’s charities which are dominated by educational support in the Treasure Beach area in the parish of St Elizabeth.

In 2018 the club helped several basic schools to become fully registered with the Early Childhood Commission. He said that the tournament is the club’s biggest fundraiser.

Sponsors for the shoot were JNBS, Fidelity Motors, Supreme Ventures, Mayberry, Marksman, Greast Construction, Rituals, Ting Grinners, Master Mac Enterprises, Pure National Ice, Spectrum Systems, Chadad, Real Power Diesel, Tankweld, Zoukie Trucking, Marco Polo, Lowers Farms Dist, VIP Attractions, Gas Investments, Video Access Solutions, National Rums, Camcorp Industrials, Iron Rock, Art & Photo, Worthy Park Rums, CB Machines Service, Marckpac, Securipro, Lillian Ltd, Cumberland Medical and James Quarry Machinery.