THE CLOCK TICKS FOR THE 2012 CLAY SHOOTING CLASSIC!
It’s that time of year again and Clay Shooting magazine is already making preparations for our 2012 Clay Shooting Classic. Teaming up with EJ Churchill for the second year running, the event will be staged on the fabulous 5,000–acre West Wycombe estate in rural Buckinghamshire. This year sees the 20th anniversary of the event and it promises to be bigger and better than ever with over £50,000 worth of prizes up for grabs.
The residence of the Dashwood family, West Wycombe Park boasts one of the country’s finest shooting grounds within its boundaries – EJ Churchill. The park is currently the seat of 18th Baronet Sir Edward Dashwood, a passionate shooter, and the plan is to use part of the estate that shooters have never seen before. All this makes for a true festival of shooting – for which the Classic has become known.
Prize Fund
Winner: Perazzi MX12 Sporter worth £7,500*; 2,000 Eley cartridges.
Runner–up: Bremont ATL1-Z watch (SRP £3,495); 1,250 Eley cartridges.
Each class winner will receive a Bremont BC–S2 watch worth £2,495. Across the classes and categories are additional Eley cartridges (1st place 1,000; 2nd place 500; third place 250).
| AAA | AA | A | B | C | Ladies | Juniors | Veterans | Colts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Watch | Watch | Watch | Watch | Watch | £300 | £300 | £300 | £300 |
| 2 | £700 | £700 | £700 | £700 | £700 | £200 | £200 | £200 | £200 |
| 3 | £500 | £500 | £500 | £500 | £500 | £100 | £100 | £100 | £100 |
| 4 | £400 | £400 | £400 | £400 | £400 | £75 | £75 | £75 | £75 |
| 5 | £300 | £300 | £300 | £300 | £300 | ||||
| 6 | £250 | £250 | £250 | £250 | £250 | ||||
| 7 | £200 | £200 | £200 | £200 | £200 | ||||
| 8 | £140 | £140 | £140 | £140 | £140 | ||||
| 9 | £120 | £120 | £120 | £120 | £120 | ||||
| 10 | £100 | £100 | £100 | £100 | £100 | ||||
| * Terms and conditions apply | |||||||||
Last year’s event was a resounding success, with Ben Husthwaite emerging as the winner after a tense three–way shoot–off, winning in front of some 200 spectators. This year’s Classic repeats a similar format to last year’s, though the Services shoot on the Wednesday is to be extended to include a new Gamekeepers category, in partnership with our sister magazine, Modern Gamekeeping.
Two courses will be set again, the red course and the blue course, each with 75 targets over 14 stands. Each course will test shooters’ skills at distance, speed and angle, all amidst the rolling Chilterns. The event kicks off for the Services and Gamekeepers shoot on Wednesday 6 June, with the main event taking place on Thursday to Saturday, 7–9 June.
Regular sponsors CCI International, Promatic, and Eley Hawk are this year joined by a name that needs little introduction to competition clay shooters: Perazzi. Renowed as a top competition shotgun, Perazzi has moved away from its Trap and Skeet roots in recent years – and this year’s winner will take home a Perazzi MX12 Sporter worth £7,500, courtesy of UK distributors RUAG Ammotec (UK) Ltd. Commenting on the 2012 Clay Shooting Classic, RUAG’s managing director Phil Unwin said: "We’ve worked closely with EJ Churchill and Clay Shooting magazine for a number of years, and we are delighted to be able to sponsor the 20th Clay Shooting Classic this year.
"We’ve had a great deal of success in our partnership with EJ Churchill, and are pleased to be able to put something back into this sport at this event during 2012."