To all:

There are so many stories to tell about this years Arizona State BPCR Silhouette Championships that I don’t know where to start.

I guess the best thing to do is start with who is the 2009 Arizona State Champion.

Surprise, it’s NOT Mike Rix!!

Butch Ulsher made the trip from Montana with his shooting partner Mark Griffis and worked his way back into the winners circle by putting together back to back 32X40s to secure the match win.

Saturday was smooth sailing with almost perfect weather conditions and the scores showed it but Sunday morning greeted everyone with gusting winds and chilly temperatures by Arizona standards. Most thought this was going to be a repeat of last year with the strong north winds blowing the targets down but by the end of the first relay everything was back to normal and the wind flags were hanging limp on their poles.

Keeping Butch honest were three Arizona shooters. Ron Calderone, Chip Mate and Jerry Cambern all had their eyes on the “Cactus Trophy” and the first ever Arizona resident win, but Butch is at his best when the competition is tough. Although he gave up the Sunday match win to Ron he managed to secure the overall championship with an aggregate score of 64X80.

Butch’s partner Mark Griffis did an excellent job of making the right wind calls and was awarded the special trophy for “Best Spotter” but I really think the award should have gone to someone else. Sorry Mark, no offence, but we all overlooked the fact that Jerry Cambern’s son, WHO IS ONLY ELEVEN YEARS OLD, made all the wind calls for his dad! Calls good enough for Jerry to shoot a 28X40 on Saturday and a 31X40 on Sunday as well as keeping Jerry on target during the shoot-off for Third Place Overall! This father-son combination will definitely be a force to deal with in the years to come.

Our other big winner for the weekend was the lucky competitor who had his name drawn for the Shiloh rifle, Darrell Tonn from Idaho. Darrell’s name was drawn by Ms. Shiloh herself Heather Bryan and the rifle was presented by Mr. Shiloh Kirk Bryan. We were lucky enough to have the Bryan family donate a rifle again this year and a special treat was to have Kirk and Heather come to Arizona to shoot our match and do the honors by awarding the rifle to Darrell. There are some really nice people in the BPCR sport but they don’t come any better than the Bryans.

The match ran really smooth again this year and the reason that happens is the help I get from some special people.

First on the list are the target setters from the Maryvale High School ROTC. These kids bust their butts for us and the shooters rewarded them with tips in excess of $1000.00 for the two days of shooting.

Next I have to thank my Carolyn and her daughters Steph and Whitt along with granddaughter Reilly who expertly handled the score keeping as well as putting on the BBQ for everyone Saturday after the match.

Sherrie Taylor also went out of her way to help me on Friday with the score keeping for the scope match and then did the same with Carolyn for the Saturday and Sunday iron sight matches.

Don Petersen provided support for the target setters and also filled in with the match calling duties and with help from Bob Delatorre handled the raffle during the BBQ.

Though the quantity of prizes for the raffle were down slightly this year I want to thank the following companies for their support:
AZ. Sharpshooters Supply-Birchwood Casey-Brooks Bullet Moulds-Brownells-Buffalo Arms-Cheaper than Dirt-Coonies Black Powder-CPA Rifles-DGL Lube-Jim Dorrell-Kermit Tool-King Machine-Lee Precision-Midway USA-Mike Venturino-Mike Whitesell-Montana Vintage Arms-Redding Saeco-Sinclair International-Shooter 2-SPG-Starline Brass-Titan Propane-Treebone Carving-Walter’s Wads-and especially Shiloh Rifles from Big Timber, Montana for their donation of a #3 Sporter 45-70 rifle.

If you were the lucky recipient of one of the prizes please take the time to drop a note or email the contributor and thank them for supporting our match.

The quality of a match is determined by the quality of the shooters who attend and you are all responsible for making the Arizona State Championships a GREAT match.

Thank you for attending!

Steve Rhoades
Match Director