Apex Announces King of New England Leaders
LOS OSOS, Calif. – With the conclusion of last weekend’s 19th Massachusetts State IDPA Championship, the first leg of the King of New England series is in the books and Apex Tactical Specialties, the presenting sponsor of the series, is proud to announce the current leaders.
The King of New England is a three event concurrent competition taking place during the IDPA shooting season and features four stages from each of New England’s three biggest IDPA championships. Titles are awarded based on the best combined score from the 12 selected King of New England stages. In order to win the title of King of New England a shooter much compete in the same IDPA division in all three participating matches.
Hosted by the Woburn Sportsmen’s Association in Bedford, Mass., the Massachusetts State IDPA Championship drew nearly 160 of New England’s top shooters to compete for titles in IDPA’s five divisions – Custom Defensive Pistol, Enhanced Service Pistol, Stock Service Pistol, Compact Carry Pistol and Revolver.
Of the match’s 10 stages, stages 3, 5, 7 and 10 were used in scoring the King of New England. In the Custom Defensive Pistol division (CDP), Joe Linskey, who claimed the division title at this year’s state championship, leads the field with a score of 98.31. Following Linskey are Andrew Marocchini (137.38), Bruno Soucy (149.38), Chip Dufault (162.81) and Edward Perez Jr. (178.78). Linskey won the Stock Service Revolver King of New England title in 2014.
Mason Lane, the 2016 Massachusetts State Enhanced Service Pistol division (ESP) champion, leads the King of New England standings with 74.03. Like Linskey, Lane is a previous King of New England having won the Stock Service Pistol title in 2014. Following Lane in this year’s series are Mingran Qian (90.80), Joel Penney (91.81), James Davis (114.05) and Tom Yost (116.30). Yost is also a past King of New England with his ESP title win in 2013.
In the Stock Service Pistol division (SSP), Jacob Hetherington, the 2016 Massachusetts State Champion, leads the series with 80.05. He is followed by Jim Meyers (83.52), Robert Lacroix (100.98), Joseph Flanagan (121.07) and Shawn Sarles (124.58).
Lee Adams won this year’s state title in IDPA’s new Custom Compact Pistol division (CCP) and leads his fellow King of New England competitors with 106.80. Adams is followed by Brian Caira (130.18), Kevin Wagner (168.49), Christopher DiCenso (183.02) and Chris Shanks (190.43).
With the consolidation of IDPA’s Enhanced Service Revolver and Stock Service Revolver divisions, competitors are now competing for an overall Revolver title. With his Massachusetts title win, Bill Thorpe leads the series with 122.75 while Gene Gelberger, the 2013 and 2014 ESR King of New England winner, trails by just 0.86 with his series score of 123.61. They are followed by Wil Cournoyer (127.18), Bob Biehl (139.80) and Andrew Luneau (168.34).
The second leg go the Apex King of New England series will take place August 20-21 when the Harvard (Mass.) Sportsmen's Club hosts the New England Regional IDPA Championship. The King of New England series will wrap up during the Live Free Or Die State IDPA Championship at the Pioneer Sportsmen Club in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, October 1-2.
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