Wednesday, July 18, 2007

R&R Racing: Stage 5 - "The Corridor"

Featuring a long walk down a narrow alley engaging shotgun targets (including 'flippers', which launch Clay Pigeons straight into the air), then a rush to pick up a rifle at the end of the corridor to engage a plethora of "Metric" targets, this stage challenges the shooter at every step.

The early shotgun targets are monolithic, until the US Poppers begin flinging hunter-orange pigeons. These are NOT "extra credit" targets; if you miss them, you add precious seconds to your stage time.

At a crook in the corridor, the competitor is obliged to discontinue shooting the shotgun.

(Note: a painted white line on a gravel surface does NOT constitute a legal Fault Line. Nobody had a problem knowing when they could no longer engage shotgun targets, though, because the 'fault line' was sited at the bend in "The Corridor". This "Box B" was carefully delineated by brightly painted 2x4 boards.)

After depositing the shotgun in a box, the shooter was free to pick up his rifle and engage all rifle targets as they became visible ... which involved a lot of backing up. Although the shooter never moved downrange of the grounded shotgun, some competitors decided that they had to 'safe' the shotgun by unloading it. This is probably a good illustration of "World Series Nerves", as is often seen in the most important baseball games which are characterized by the most awkward errors in judgement of the competitive season.

I was able to watch only two shooters on this stage: Phil Brodahl (a "local hero" and winner of the Heavy Metal Division" and Ryan Richardson, who is unknown to me. I was impressed by their aggressive approach to the stage. You will be too, when you watch the video.

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