Thompson wins Tasmanian top gun title

Cobar Clay Target shooter Robert Thompson recorded an outstanding performance at the 2019 Tasmanian DTL Championships in Launceston recently to finish as the Overall High Gun winner. Photo contributed

Cobar Clay Target Club shooter Robert Thompson looks set to be inducted into the Australian Clay Target Association’s NSW Hall of Fame.

Thompson’s recent win of the 2019 Tasmanian Down The Line (DTL) Championships has earned him enough points to be considered for the honour.

He put in an outstanding performance at the DTL State Championships in Launceston over the Australia Day weekend to claim the Overall High Gun title finishing with a near perfect score of 472/475, just missing three targets all carnival.

Thompson also finished seven points clear of the rest of the field to win the title.

He claimed the Overall titles in Double Rise (shooting 50/50 in the event and then 10/10 in the shoot off) and the Handicap off 25 metres (with scores of 50/50 and 32/32) and finished as the runner-up in the Champion of Champions event with a score of 123/125.

Thompson qualified for the shoot-offs in both the Single Barrel and Double Barrel events with scores of 50/50 and was second in the AA Grade Pointscore (with 149/150) but missed these titles in the shoot-offs.

Cobar Clay Target Club president Bryan Manns said the Tasmanian State title was another great effort by Thompson.

He said Thompson’s State Championships win will earn him 10 points which will go towards his accumulated tally. (A shooter needs a total of 100 points to be considered for the sport’s NSW Hall of Fame.)

“This is a great honour as there are only about 20 shooters in the Trap NSW Hall of Fame,” Manns said.

Thompson will join other Cobar shooters Pud Burgess, who was inducted in 1999, and Arthur Turner, who joined the NSW Hall of Fame in 2001.