Wolfe Wins ICORE Southwest Regional Open Revolver Title

Richard Wolfe of Escalon, Calif. made up for his second place finish in last month’s International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts (ICORE) Southern Regional by capturing the Open division title at ICORE’s 13th Annual Southwest Regional Revolver Championship.

The match was held Saturday, April 10 at the Hogue Action Pistol Range in the California coastal community of San Luis Obispo. Over 90 top revolver shooters from throughout the Golden State as well as Arizona and Nevada competed in the match which was sponsored by famed firearms maker Smith & Wesson.

Wolfe took top honors this time around by outpacing his nearest competitor, Neil Hogue of Paso Robles, Calif., by more than 16 points and winning four of the eight stages to post a final score of 151.90. Last year, Wolfe, who is a Master class shooter, the highest skill level within ICORE, finished fifth in the Open division and sixth overall in this match.

Hogue, who is also a Master class shooter, took second with a score of 168.47, winning two stages in the process. Just over three points behind Hogue was Eric Leach of Los Osos, Calif. who won the second stage of the match. Leach also finished third in the ICORE Southern Regional.

Rounding out the top five was Master class shooter Todd Crow of Antioch, Calif. posting a final score of 176.11 to finish fourth in the Open division and fifth overall. Mesa, Arizona’s Vic Pickett of Team ADCO, the defending Open division champion, took fifth this year and finished sixth overall with a final score of 184.19. Picket, who is also a Master class shooter, won the remaining stage in the Open contest, claiming top honors on the fifth stage in the match.

Other Open division highlights include Richard Koester of La Grange, Calif. who posted a score of 188.48 to win High Open Senior and finished in seventh place and ninth overall. Koester also competed in the ICORE Southern Regional and placed eighth among Open shooters in that event.

The Super Senior Open title went to Tom Sparacino of Santa Clara, Calif. who ended the match in 38th place overall but 27th among Open shooters with his final score of 275.92.

Only 8.38 points separated Flora Yang of Cerritos, Calif. and Janae Sarabia of Lompoc, Calif. in the battle for High Open Lady. Yang took the title with a final score of 252.13 which placed her 22nd in the Open division and 31st overall.
While Sarabia finished second among the women, as a junior shooter she still walked away with a title by winning High Junior Open Lady with a score of 260.51 and finishing 23rd in Open and 32nd overall.

The ICORE 13th Annual Southwest Regional Revolver Championship was the second in a series of six regional events sponsored by Smith & Wesson. The next regional events are scheduled for the first weekend in May when both the New England Regional and the Rocky Mountain Regional will take place.

For further information on the ICORE competition season, as well as complete match results, visit www.icore.org.

About ICORE: The International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts (ICORE) was founded in 1991 by Mike and Sharon Higashi, long time active shooters in all the handgun sports. Envisioned as an alternative to the "arms race" that was occurring in the other action shooting sports at that time, a revolver-only competition would allow even the most basic equipment to be used and still provide enjoyment and satisfaction.