Shaun Barnes returned to the top of the podium last Sunday at the second staging of the Jamaica Gun Club’s Sporting Clays Classic at Jamaica Skeet Club in Portmore.

Defending champion in the Ladies category, Wendy McMaster retained her trophy at the end of the competition.

A big field of 98 shooters took to the 17-station course for the competition, which had a 10:30 am shotgun start under bright blue skies. They competed in classes A to E, hunters or beginners, ladies, junior and sub-juniors.

At the end of the 100-bird shoot, Barnes (86) led all competitors. However, the shooters with the top six scores were entered for the Super Six, with the highest scorer being declared the overall champion. Seven shooters qualified for that section.

They were Robert Yap Foo (81), Ian Banks (81 — 2018 champion and nine-time national champion), Cameron Pang Sang (82 Class C shooter and a junior shooter), Geoffrey Ziadie (82), Nicholas Benjamin (83), Robbie Subaran (85), and Barnes (86).

At the first station, Robert Yap Foo was the only shooter to pick off six of six birds. However, Barnes was still ahead of all shooters after scoring five of six birds.

At the second station Robbie Bubaran was the only one to bag all six birds. That drew him level with Barnes, who shot four of six birds.

The third and final station saw Subaran getting just two of the six birds, while Barnes held his nerve to bag four of six and the top spot in the competition. Barnes was very pleased to be back on top of the podium.

He said, “The course was very challenging. It was very fun though. I enjoyed it a lot.”

In terms of being on top, he said, “oh God, it has been a while. I live for situations like this and this is the reason why I compete, but it’s sad to say I enjoy not only winning but when I am not on top there is a lot of lessons to learn — so I take every competition seriously and if my results are not what I hope for, I carry it back to the drawing board and try and make corrections to make myself better”.

Subaran and Robert Yap Foo had to enter another shoot-off to determine the runner-up spot. Yap Foo then shot five of six to take the runner-up spot, while Subaran shot three of six to cop the second runner-up position.

McMaster outshot the females after being the only female shooter to get a score in the seventies. She shot 72 while former national champion Marguerite Harris posted 65 to take the second spot. Third went to the 2018 champion Toni Barnes (58). McMaster was also pleased with her win.

She said: “I started on a very rough path but I feel very good; I feel good to know that I shot 72. The tournament was a challenging tournament, and it really feels good to be on top of the podium just the same and on top of the women’s class.”

The top three in the various classes were: A Class — Nicholas Benjamin (83), Geoffrey Ziadie (82) and Ian Banks (81). B Class — Danzell Knight (82), Jordan Samuda (76) and Jeffrey Panton (73). C Class — Cameron Pang Sang (82), Alex Cunningham (75) and James Chen (75). D Class — David Wong (76), Richard Todd (74) and Jonathan Ralston (73). E Class — Kirk Lalah (64), Steve James (60), and Renee Rickhi (56). Hunters or beginners — Simon Levy (67), Justin Samuda (58) ahead of Savannah Miller (58) by long-run. Juniors — Cameron Pang Sang (82), Roman Tavares-Finson (77) and Jonathan Ralston (73). Sub-Juniors — David Wong (76), Richard Todd (74) and Noah Azan (50).

Four shooters who won their classes for the second time moved up in classes. They are Danzell Knight to A Class, David Wong to C Class, Kirk Lalah to D Class, and Simon Levy moves out of hunters class to E Class.