It was a close race at the USPSA Limited Nationals.
As always, the competition gave Rob a run for his money. Rob
did not have a single penalty during the entire match. He shot
very deliberately, though sometimes a bit slower than some of the
hot rod, up-and-coming youngsters. It all came down to the
last day. Rob was only a few points ahead of Chris Tilley and
Dave Sevigny - yet they had three stages left to shoot. Rob
lost some ground on the first stage due to missing a few poppers and
taking an extra shot on the "spinner". Rob came back and shot
a solid, top-four finish on the next stage. He knew that he
was up 2nd on the final stage, so all he could do was shoot as good as possible
and wait for the others to seal their own fate. Rob, unfortunately and
mistakenly though, ran right by a target and had to back up to engage it.
This seemingly small oversight ended up costing him a lot of time, precious
time, as he had also activated another target sequence that he would not be able
to get to in time. When the smoke cleared, he had all of his hits,
but the time would prove too much of a penalty. Dave ran a smooth, fast
run, but had a miss penalty. Chris did the same ... and so the
waiting game began. When scores were finalized, Dave was on top!
So, the inevitable has occurred. Rob's six-year Limited Nationals winning
streak has been broken. "It was a
tough-fought, honorable battle, coming down, as always, to the last
stage. You shot a great match, Dave! Congrats again on a
job well done."
Rob