Last weekend the entire STI Euroteam travelled to Phillipsburg/Germany to participate in the “Infinity Euro Open”.
And it was a great match with interesting stages and good match organization – as usual.
Approx. 400 shooters in total participated in the match. Most of the very best European shooters had come, making it a good indication of what might happen at the European Championship later this year in Serbia. Even a few top guns from the US and Canada had shown up as well (Chris Tilley, Mike Burrell, just to name a few).

The stages were challenging and interesting to shoot and despite HEAVY competition the STI Euroteam did very well indeed: At least 1 team member made it into the Top-5 in each category they participated in.

Open Division: Winner was Eric Grauffel (big surprise), with no. 2,3,4,5 and 6 all being with 3% of each other, so it was a very tight race indeed. STI Euroteam member Emile Obriot finished a strong 4th. place (ahead of Chris Tilley (USA) who was 5th.). Way to go, Emile! Saul Kirsch (the STI Euroteams team captain) finished 6th.

Lady Open had some very good shooters. Winner was Lorena Ballesteros (Spain) with STI Euroteams Irene Canetta on 2nd. place. Irene once again shot a very strong match with Swedens Marianne Schön close behind.

Standard: The division was crowded with the absolutely best European shooters, making it almost a mini European Championship. I’m happy to report that the STI Euroteam dominated standard division, by claiming 3 of the spots in top-5. To make things perfect, the winner of Infinity Euro Open was STI Euroteam member Juan Carlos Jaime from Spain, who shot a near perfect match with no mikes, fast times and high Alpha-percentage. Oliver Damm (Germany) finished 2nd., Julian Boit (France) was 3rd. STI Euroteams Gregory Midgley took 4th., and STI Euroteams Ralf K. Jensen finished 5th. STI Euroteams Fabrizio Pesce finished a respectable 13th. place (ahead of Czech top gun Roman Podlesak).

Attached a couple of pics from the match where you can see the team in action – including JC being drowned in champagne at the award ceremony!

Thanks to the organizers for a great match!

The MFS Open 2010 was a 3-day match this year and of course the majority of the STI Euroteam was there. Gregory Midgley had cancelled his presence in the match, because we wanted to participate in no less than matches on the same weekend – held in Austria, Germany and France.

The match was again very good –24 challenging stages, with a lot of change in tempo on stages combining easy targets up close with difficult longer range shots. Also most of the stages could be shot in a variety of ways, so strategic thinking and finding the right solution was important. Funny that not more shooters participate in this match – stage quality is among the very best.

As usual, the STI Euroteam had lots of fun on the squad with other shooters coming from every part of Europe: Spain, Portugal, Norway, Finland.

Results:

The STI Euroteam did very well and was found on the podium in every category we participated in.
In Open Saul and Jorge Ballesteros (Spain) had a close fight for first place in Open. Both shot a great match, but on the last day of shooting, Saul pulled away from Jorge and won (Jorge finishing a 98,05%). 3rd was Robin Sebo (Czech Republic) with 87,79%.

In Lady Open it was a VERY tight match as well: Irene shot a very good match but unfortunately a 10 second jam cost her. 1st. was Katerina Sustrova (Czech republic) (73,23%), 2nd. Margit Steurer (Austria) (72,77%) and 3rd. Irene Canetta/STI Euroteam (68,81%).
In Standard division no one could touch Juan Carlos Jaime Diaz/STI Euroteam, despite strong competitors like Petr Znamenaczek (Czech Republic) and Georgy Batki (Hungary). JC shot a great match – no mikes/no pt’s. Ralf K. Jensen/STI Euroteam also shot a very good match and finished 2nd with Petr Znamenaczek on 3rd.(91,02%).

So how about Gregory Midgley/STI Euroteam??? Well, he shot the 3 matches and won every single one of them!!! 3 Presidents Medals in one weekend ain’t bad. He should have received an award for endurance driving as well, as there was a helluva lot of milage in that accomplishment

By the way – the next weekend (17/18th. Of July) Saul Kirsch and Ralf K. Jensen participated in the Danish Nationals/Scandinavian Championships held north of Copenhagen in Denmark. That was another good day for the STI Euroteam: In Open Saul dominated and won by a landslide (20% down to no. 2 Eli Huttner). In Standard Ralf K. Jensen shot a clean match: High alpha percentage, no mikes/no pt’s. Ralf won not only the Danish Championship but also the Nordic Championship in Standard!