Rick Birdsall and Jason Tielke survived three Pro Series elimination stages here recently to advance from Event #4 into the 3GN Championship.
(3GunNation)- Birdsall won two stages and a pivotal shotgun eliminator to make his second consecutive 3GN Championship appearance. Tielke, meanwhile, won a stage and the final elimination challenge with the rifle to advance after being eliminated on Stage 1 in 2015.
Event #4 began with Michael Lindsay taking on Stage 1—Speed, which featured an offhand plate rack and six paper targets with rifle, 14 pieces of pistol steel and 9 clay targets and four paper slug targets with the shotgun. Lindsay fought through an early jam with the rifle and pushed the pace late for a time of 42.60 to set the early mark.
Nikki Woodall followed with an even better raw time, until a five-second penalty pushed her time to 45.21. Tielke put down the first truly solid run, his time of 36.96 taking the lead. Birdsall followed and was even faster, his time of 36.29 moving into first and bumping Woodall into the eliminator.
Brian Nelson was next and ripped off an impressive pace with a raw time of 31.89, however, two paper penalties pushed the time to 36.89, sending Lindsay to the eliminator. Finally, Tommy Thacker had a tough stage, with a missed slug penalty pushing his time 52.84 and putting the former champ in the eliminator.