3GN Divisional Championships Races Tighten

Voigt, Popplewell and Romero Gain Ground at Rocky Mountain

Mike Voigt hammers a rifle pair on his way to an Open victory at Rocky Mountain. Voigt is seen wearing the new Contour Plus 1500 POV Camera capturing HD footage of his run for 3-Gun Nation television. 

By Chad Adams (photos by Yamil Sued)

Mike Voigt, Adam Popplewell and Rob Romero just made things even more interesting in the 3-Gun Nation Divisional Championships, presented by Hornady. Each posted a division win at the JP Enterprises Rocky Mountain 3-Gun recently, giving each of them a shot at running down the leader of their respective division.

In Open, Voigt held off Jerry Miculek to win in his first appearance at Rocky Mountain. That gives Voigt two division wins this season after going back-to-back at Ironman and Rocky Mountain. More importantly, Voigt is now well within striking distance of division leader Clint Upchurch. The two are likely to go head-to-head at AR15.com-Rockcastle Pro Am, USPSA Multi-Gun Nationals and Adams Arms Ozark Championships, setting up the final tie-breaker at FNH USA Championships in November.

Also picking up his second division win was Adam Popplewell, making him tied in division wins with Barry Dueck. With a score of 284.40, Dueck maintains his lead on the division; however, this race is likely to come down to division wins. Popplewell impressively topped Dueck by nearly 65 match points at Rocky Mountain, making it clear that this will be an extremely competitive battle down the stretch. Popplewell and Dueck are expected to square off head-to-head at USPSA Multi-Gun Nationals, Adams Arms Ozark Championships and the tie-breaking FNH USA Championships.

Rob Romero picked up his first division win of the season at Rocky Mountain after switching to Heavy Metal. His first division score, Romero’s 100 points doesn’t challenge division leaders yet; however, it does muddy the waters for those making projections. Bryan Ray, with 288.60 points, holds on to the lead he’s carried the entire season. But Trapr Swonson closed ground at Rocky Mountain, with his 273.79 division points now putting him in second. Nationals (if the division is recognized), Ozark and FNH remain, giving Romero just enough opportunities to claim two more division wins in what would be an awesome season-ending run to snatch a Division title.

In Tactical Iron, Kurt Miller hammered another nail toward wrapping up a division title. With a maximum of 300 points, Miller now has to try and stop the field from catching him. James Casanova, with 279.83 division points, sits in second place. At Rocky Mountain Casanova showed he’s closing ground on Miller, picking up three stage wins and finishing just over five percent off the pace. But if Casanova wants a shot at the division title, he must get over the hump and notch a division win at Ozark to stay alive. Conversely, with two division wins and 200 points, Kelly Neal needs only one win to tie Miller. If Neal gets that win at FNH, he’ll be the Tactical Iron Division Champion.

Kurt Miller runs his Benelli on the way to his third division win of the season.

In Tactical Optics, Daniel Horner’s Rocky Mountain win prevented anyone from closing any serious ground on the division race. Only Taran Butler, who has division wins at Fort Benning and Superstition, seems to have a serious shot of catching Horner at this point. And with Pro Am and Nationals remaining on the schedule, Butler has two matches that fit his shooting style, meaning there is still a lot of shooting to be done in Tactical Optics as well.

The 3-Gun Nation Divisional Championships, presented by Hornady, will name champions in each of the five divisions recognized by 3GN: Tactical Optics, Open, Tactical Iron, Heavy Metal Optics and Heavy Metal. The competitor with the highest point total, based on the 10 events of the 2011 FNH USA 3-Gun Nation Tour, Presented by SureFire, will be named the 3GN Divisional Champion, with a cash prize of $5,000 from Hornady.

The next chance for series points comes at the AR15.com-Rockcastle Pro Am 3-Gun Championships, Aug. 26-28, at the Rockcastle Shooting Center in Park City, Kentucky.

3GN Divisional Leaders

Posted on 8/18/2011