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Ben Kelly hit a perfect 100 as the defending Winter League champions Port St Mary cemented their perfect run with three wins out of three in Division 1 against visitors Sulby.
There was strong scoring all round but even at this early stage of the season it may take some special performances to usurp PSM.
Port St Mary beat Sulby
100 Ben Kelly Mark Boyde 98
99 Gary Knight William Quayle 97
98 Ashley Gardner Julian H Teare 96
97 Derek Kermode Peter Webb 96
97 Juan Clague Mark Cain 96
491 483
There were also strong showings from the home side with wins in Divisions 2 and 3.
Laxey dig deep to see off Sandsiders
Consistency was the key to Laxey's home win over IOMSC Sandsiders at Laxey Glen. Terry Green got the highest score on the night with a 98 for the visitors who made amends with a big win in Division 2 due to strength in numbers on the night.
Laxey beat IOMSC Sandsiders
96 Harry Creevy Terry Green 98
96 Gemma Kermode Andy Traynor 96
96 Andrew Jessop Bill Jones 95
95 John Wood Matthew Roosen 92
95 Stephen Curphey Tony Kneale 91
478 472
IOMSC Douglas fend off brave Kirk Michael
Kirk Michael are playing the numbers game these days, simply battling to field teams every week, but they put on a brave show here, with bizarrely most of their shooters on one detail under the bright lights at St John's against the favourites IOMSC Douglas who won by six points.
Suzanne McKnight has been nursing an injury for months now and yet not only was she the club's top gun on the night for the second week running but she matched Douglas' Mark Osborn with a 98. There was a close result in Division 2 with just five points separating the sides but the home side still took the points.
IOMSC Douglas beat Kirk Michael
98 Mark Osborn Suzanne McKnight 98
97 Nick Brown Perryn Watson 97
97 Michael Duncalf Alex Trafford 95
95 Christian Fenton (J) Matthew Wernham 95
96 David Humphrey Kevin Quinn 94
485 479
Visit http://iomra.net/www/PAGES/Results.html for detailed results.
Fixtures for your diary
With the Winter League back from the half-term break, next week's fixtures Sulby take on IOMSC Douglas, Castletown play host to Laxey and Kirk Michael take on Port St Mary. IOMSC Sandsiders have a bye.
Are you happy with the format of the winter leagues? Some people are of course comfortable with it, but others feel it can be a long journey across the island just to fire ten match shots plus a few sighters.
In the UK most shoulder to shoulder matches take up two cards for 20 match shots and the evenings take on more of a social aspect where competitors can swap stories, get the skeet on what's happening here and share a decent brew and even some food.
Travelling to opposition ranges traditionally allows shooters new to the pressure-cooker of a match to savour the atmosphere and raises their skills a notch.
What do you think? Would a change next season help new people take up the sport?
Drop Colin Watson kolwatson67@gmail.com a line if you feel strongly about this. It is, after all, your sport.
The Easter Shoot is famous fixture in the island's sporting calendar and attracts competitors from across Europe. With next year's event featuring an all-electronic air weapons range at Onchan, the NSRA's On Target magazine has commissioned a piece on it. Written by Michael Duncalf, it's likely to appear in the Winter edition.
More news on the Easter Shoot means Eley ammunition will be back to stage batch testing for shooters.
