The SVI Infinity European Open 2011
As the IPSC World Shoot XVII takes place in October 2011, the Infinity European Open, held in Philippsburg, Germany became one of the main matches for many IPSC shooters in Europe this year in the lead up to the Worlds, which takes place in Rhodes, Greece. Several European countries were using this match as part of their national squad selection process for the Worlds.
The Organisers
The match organisers took on the big task of allowing 383 shooters in 21 squads to participate. There were also many competitors from outside European countries, such as Brazil, Canada, South Africa and the USA. These competitors were there to see how European matches are organised and to participate in such a match as part of their training in preparation for the World Shoot. Over the past 10 years, the event organised by Herbert Jakob and Jurgen Ofner and their team of helpers in Philippsburg has established itself as one of the premier IPSC matches in Europe.The ranges at Philippsburg are probably among the best club ranges in Europe. They have been built on a former Bundeswehr military firing range complex, which became surplus to military requirements at the end of the Cold War. You have overhead protection from the elements and the semi open range construction, with 180 degree backstops and multiple portable bullet traps allow designers to build and shoot any stage imaginable. There are numerous wide 25 meter ranges and two huge 50 meter ranges give the space needed to build any number of stages. This facility can handle a match of this size. The pistol ranges surround a 300 metre rifle range. Such is the design of this complex that rifle shooting is able to continue over the same weekend that the SVI Open was taking place.
Less than 30 minutes from the range is the Technical Museum at Speyer. Here there is a range of civilian and military aircraft, ships and vehicles on display and is well worth a visit.
Have a look at www.technik-museum.de
Held over the 10th – 12th June this year's Infinity European Open offered 18 stages ( plus chronograph ), to shooters from 24 IPSC Regions. The range officers and match organisation staff shot the pre match on the Friday, which allows them to run the competitors through the match on the Saturday and Sunday. As competitors used the Match Organisation System ( MOS ) the main match was filled to capacity almost immediately, so a number of competitors also took part in the pre match. A total of 383 competitors completed the match. The IPSC European Championship was held at this facility in 2001.
Pushing the chair backwards along a 20 metre track Saul Kirsch engages a double swinger and a series of paper and steel targets.
Photo by Robin Taylor, courtesy of Front Sight magazine.
18 Stage Match
This year the round count was an impressive 412 rounds for 18 stages, with ten stages on the Saturday and eight stages on the Sunday. There were six small nine to 12 round stages. Most of the stages offered 20 rounds or more, so there were points to be had ( and lost! ) on most stages. This match attracted many of the top European practical pistol shooters across all IPSC Divisions. The competition was tough across the board.Analysing the 383 competitors who completed the match shows trends which are taking place in IPSC matches Europe. Open Division was the most popular with 125 ( 32.6% ) shooters. Production and Standard Divisions tied with 113 ( 29.5% ) shooters finishing the match. Both Modified and Revolver Divisions continue to have their devotees with 22 ( 5.7% ) and 10 ( 2.6% ) shooters respectively in each division.
Production Division Rule Changes
The new 15 round maximum magazine capacity in Production Division ( PD ) came into effect on 1st January 2010 and is now well bedded in. Although there was much debate about this rule change late last year on the IPSC Global Village, it has not dented the popularity of this division. Designed to stop manufacturers coming out with factory supplied magazines of 20 rounds plus capacity; love or hate the rule change, PD continues to be popular. The ability to compete with the minimal financial outlay is the reason for PD’s expanding popularity and not as a stampede in support of any rule changes. Although a 15 round maximum magazine capacity creates a level playing field with the amount of ammunition available, looking at what types of pistol are being used in PD, the CZ SP01 Shadow continues to dominate. Pistols made by Sig were also being used.
In Production Division France’s Laetitia Daguenel, who is the current European Women Production Champion chalked up another win, taking first place.
The number of Sphinx 3000 Production pistols in use continues to increase. The CZ Shadow holds one or two more rounds in the magazine, but with the magazine capacity rule this advantage has gone. The Sphinx has all the advantages of the Shadow, so I suspect that we will continue to see a lot more of this high quality pistol manufactured in Switzerland.
SVI IPSC German Team
As well as sponsoring this match, SVI also has formed a German IPSC Shooting Team that participates in the top level IPSC matches around Europe. A big plus this year was the number of top competitors from outside Europe. We had Bill Drummond, Chris Tilley, Blake Miguez and Frank Garcia from the USA and Alexander Szakacs, Jean Philippe Drolet and Mike Burell from Canada. Andre Saaiman and Alex Gogos came all the way from South Africa. Slightly closer were Dudi Ram, Dotan Toibis and Tal Shapira from Israel.
A range of SVI Infinity pistols were on display for everyone to look at.
Stages
This is always a demanding and technical match with the need for accurate shooting. There were targets out to 25 meters, lots of five to 15 meter targets, many of these were partial targets or with no shoots targets obscuring much of the shoot targets. The stage designers cleverly allowed the shooters the tactical choice of whether to shoot long distance or run up closer to the targets. So there were stages designed to suit all levels of competitors. Lots of stages had 15 x 20 cm steel plates and partial targets, which added to the need for accuracy even on the shorter distances. There were also several stages of close up high speed running and gunning type stages.As well as shooting targets downrange, there were also many to the left and right. With 180 degree back stops and portable bullets stops the stage designs could easily vary the direction of fire. Cleverly positioned barricades and windows forced the shooter to move quickly and adopt different shooting positions while shooting the stage. Lots of moving targets added sophistication and a degree of difficulty to many of the stages. There were swingers, bobbers and drop and turn targets. This match has among the most activated targets as any Level III IPSC Match in Europe. The stage designs were very good. The high accuracy requirements also added a lot to the match as well.
In Standard Division Blake Miguez from the USA took the top spot, with a 7.6 % margin.
In Stage One, Four and Fifteen there were drop and raise no shoot ( or bear trap ) targets. This type of arrangement has a no shoot target placed in front of a shoot target, and when activated the no shoot drops allowing a brief full view of the shoot target and then raises back up to obscure the shoot target. Stages Four and Fifteen had two of these type of targets. When in the raised position a small portion of each shoot target was still visible, so miss penalties still apply. This created many choices and options for the competitor.
Stage 12 was the 10th Year Anniversary Stage and was scored separately from the rest of the match. It had 27 targets for a minimum of 54 rounds, so it was not part of the Level III match, but great fun to shoot! The targets were at close range and it was a pure running and gunning stage.
Results
Open Division winner of the match, with a six plus percent margin, was the current European and World Champion Eric Grauffel. Martin Kamenicek from the Czech Republic was second.
Open Division winner of the match, with a six plus percent margin, was the current European and World Champion Eric Grauffel. Martin Kamenicek ( 93.6 % ) from the Czech Republic and Spain’s Jorge Ballesteros ( 93.5 % ) came in second and third. In Standard Division Blake Miguez from the USA took the top spot, with Italy’s Adriano Santarcangelo ( 92.4 % ) and Dario Forlani ( 91.2 % ) in second and third place. In Production Division CZ Team Member Miroslav Zapletal took the top spot with Canada’s Jean Philippe ( 98.3 % ) and Germany’s Arne Lentz ( 95 % ) coming second and third. In Modified Division Brazil’s Augusto Ribas, took first place, with Germany’s Juergen Flass ( 96 % ) in second and third place went to Switzerland’s Dominic Meier ( 91.8 % ). In Revolver first place went to Sascha Back, who is the current European Revolver Champion. Germany’s Marcus Schneider ( 98.8 % ) and Italy’s Ricciardi Luca ( 95 % ) were in second and third place.
Production Division winner CZ Team Member Miroslav Zapletal took the top spot with Canada’s Jean Philippe and Germany’s Arne Lentz coming second and third.
Ladies Category
In the woman’s Open Division Holland’s Desiree Van Noord took the top spot from the Czech Republic’s Lenka Horejsi and Spain’s Lorena Ballesteros. In Standard Division Germany’s Petra Tutschke, Norway’s Hilde Nakling and Germany’s Anja Schuetz and took the first, second and third place. In Production Division France’s Laetitia Daguenel, who is the current European Women Production Champion chalked up another win, taking first place. Switzerland’s Christine Burkhalter and Svetlana Nikolaeva from the Czech Republic came in second and third place.Charge! Norway's Hilde Nakling and Germany’s PetraTutschke scatter the crowd with a spray of champagne!
Events like this one do not happen by themselves; they require a lot of effort from dedicated individuals to make them happen. Most of the top IPSC competitors in Europe were present, across all the divisions. The match ran smoothly thanks to the hard work of the range crew. The standard of the ROing was very positive. The match was supported by an excellent web site, with competitor invitation and match payment on the Match Organisation System ( MOS ).
Blake Miguez and Herbert Jakob give each other a drenching during the prize giving.
The organisers of the SVI Infinity European Open ran an excellent competition and here’s looking forward to the next one. To see the full set of results and information about the match, visit the competition web site.
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