Albany star wins lever action titles

Albany shooting champion Steve Hurley dominated the Lever Action National Championships in Tasmania and helped WA to victory as seven Albany shooters took part in the three-day event.

A multiple-time national and State champion, Hurley was in full flight at the championships at Hills Range in Copping, Tasmania bringing home four awards.

Hurley came away in first place in the three-gun event ahead of fellow Albany competitors Kim Knapp (2nd) and Rob Gill (4th) who both shot well to finish in the top five.

Scores from the rimfire, centrefire and classic calibre are combined to determine the three-gun overall champion.

The back-to-back three-gun title was Hurley’s 11th overall.

Peter and Bob Tulloch also competed in the three-gun event finishing 10th and 16th respectively.

Sue Knapp just missed out on a top-10 placing, finishing 11th overall for the three-gun.

Hurley made it a clean sweep taking away the two-gun event as well, finishing 89 points ahead of Kim Knapp.

Hurley did not stop there taking out the classic calibre event, holding onto his 89 point lead over Kim Knapp to help take out the overall three gun champion.

Hurley was 30 points clear of his fellow shooter to take out all three events and be crowned the overall three gun champion to make it back-to-back three-gun titles and his 11th overall.

Kim Knapp, who has been shooting for 40 years, had never placed on the podium until this year.

Sue Knapp took out the ladies rim and centrefire events to take out the overall two and three gun competition.

Four Albany shooters made up the WA team at the State Championships, with Hurley, Kim Knapp, Gill and Janos Racz being chosen to shoot after polling the most points at the end of the three days. The team came away in first place ahead of NSW and Queensland.

Hurley said the event was a huge success. It was the first time he had won 11 awards at the championships.

“It still means a lot for myself, after working so hard over a number of years the experience you have holds you together,” he said. “You believe in yourself and you have to have mental strength. A lot of the time I’m just at the range shooting, I like to keep a clear mind and be mentally strong.

“Once you start doing it becomes a repetition, so you just keep shooting and don’t think about it.”