17-Year-Old Whips Pros at Steel Challenge & Jessie Abbate Wins
The Steel Challenge, one of the world’s premier speed-shooting events, kicked off yesterday in Piru, CA, just down the road from AccurateShooter.com’s home base. Thursday saw shooters compete in the rimfire division. The star of the day was young Ryan Leonard of Oregon City, OR. This 17-year-old pistol prodigy proved that youthful enthusiasm (and quick reflexes) CAN beat age and experience. Ryan outgunned all the big-name pros, including Glock’s Dave Sevigny, Blackhawk’s Todd Jarrett, and Smith &Wesson’s B.J. Norris.
Leonard posted the fastest score on three of the eight stages — 5 To Go, Smoke & Hope and Outer Limits — to finish in a final time of 69.76 seconds. Next fastest man was Dave Sevigny, 1.45 seconds behind. It was a brilliant showing by the 17-year-old Leonard, who claimed the Open Rimfire Championship. Congrats to the Oregon teen — we expect we’ll here more from the young shooter in the years ahead.
Finishing 5th overall, and winning the women’s open rimfire division was Jessie Abbate, now with Team Smith & Wesson. The popular shooter from Georgia was the fastest lady on seven of the eight stages in the match. Abbate’s final time of 76.90 seconds outpaced her Team S&W team-mate Kay Miculek by 11.60 seconds. In the Ladies’ iron-sight Rimfire event, the winner was Team S&W co-captain Julie Golob.
The Rimfire event is the first leg of the three-event contest that decides the Steel Master winner. The second is the iron sight centerfire pistol event shot in either the Limited or Production division. And the third is the Open pistol contest, the main event of the World Speed Shooting Championships.
Abbate is the defending Ladies’ Steel Master Champion and is a favorite to win the title again in 2010. For more info visit www.SteelChallenge.com.
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Tags: California, Jessie Abbate, Piru, Rimfire Pistol, Smith Wesson, Steel Challenge
