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Team Centercut has become a well-known part of many airgun shooting competitions, particularly in the South and West of the USA.
Centercut members were extremely successful at the recent 2023 Extreme Benchrest competition, so I asked Mike Bricker – the team’s founder – to tell us more about the Team, which is proudly sponsored by Airguns of Arizona.
Mike, it’s over to you…
History of Team Centercut
Hi, I am Mike Bricker and I wanted to take a moment to introduce Team Centercut to you…
The Team started late 2019 just after EBR. I had just won the Sportsman 100-Yard Extreme Benchrest and the Sportsman Speed Silhouette competitions when Robert Buchanan of Airguns of Arizona called. He invited me to join the Daystate-sponsored Wolf Pack Team.
I thanked him but declined, mainly due to the issue with not being able to shoot any brand gun I choose. However, before we ended the conversation, I commented that AoA didn’t have their own Team and I wanted to know if they would want to sponsor a Team?
I came up with the name “Team Centercut” since that was my nickname from when I was a golf “nut”.
Robert agreed, we settled on some details and we were off to the races!
The original five team members were myself, Derrick Wall, Bill Miller, Dave Wilson, and Carl Preusse (the OGs). My hunting buddy Nick Smith came up with the logo, which is a play on words.
Growth Over The Past Two Years
It was just the OGs in the beginning and through Covid, but we gained momentum from 2021 to mid-2023 when we brought on Tony and Barbara Pellegrino, Scott Hull, and Peykan Beyrami.
There have been others like Gabe Valenzuela, Steve Montgomery, and Enrique Gomez, but they’ve gone in a different direction after shooting with the Team, for personal reasons.
Our most recent additions are Caleb Dickinson (June 2023) and Augie Sotelo (October 2023).
Talented Shooters
While each team member has been a stand-out in some form or another, I would like to note that I didn’t bring them on board just for their shooting ability.
I asked them to join based on their character, how well they got along with the other teammates, and how well they would represent the AoA brand.
They either already had the talent and experience or grew into it over the past year or two through practice and perseverance. This is very important because as a team we need so much more than just shooting talent, which brings us to…..
Great Camaraderie
Most notable for Team Centercut is our camaraderie and unity. We have a team group text and it is not uncommon to see 100 texts a day zipping back and forth. Any Team member can have a gun issue, a shooting success, practice results, or is just in need of support for a purchase.
Everyone is right there giving input, nothing is off limits. The support is tremendous!!
They are not all about shooting though. There are family concerns, surgeries, schedules, daily activities, jokes, dinner photos…. all of the things you discuss with FAMILY.
This Team is a FAMILY! It is so apparent when you see and feel the unity.
We literally had members that did not meet until EBR 2023, yet they had been chatting on the text for over a year. When they finally met it was like they already knew each other and greeted each other with hugs.
Often, there are comments from other competitors on Team Centercut’s camaraderie. We are so proud to be known for this!
Current Team And Nicknames (Some Given, Some Earned)
Mike Bricker – Needler
Derrick Wall – Wild Thing
Bill Miller – Crusher
Dave Wilson – Big Bore
Carl Preusse – Oregun
Scott Hull – the REAL Airgun Scientist
Tony Pellegrino – Ton Loc
Barbara Pellegrino – 5 Power
Peykan Beyrami – Cactus Pilot
Caleb Dickinson – Stache
Augie Sotelo – Big Ragu
Below, Team Centercut at Extreme Benchrest 2023 with Mauro Marocchi from Daystate (in Daystate shirt).
Success at EBR 2023, 5 to 8 October
75 Yard BR Qualifiers two-day score total. Number rank out of approx. 40 for each relay for those that qualified for the 100 Yard finals (top 10 in each relay).
Derrick Wall. (2nd) relay 3 Pro, score 470
Mike Bricker (3rd) relay 3 Pro, score 467
Augie Sotelo (2nd) relay 1 Sportsman, score 465
Barbara Pellegrino (3rd) relay 4 Pro, score 461
Caleb Dickinson (5th) relay 4 Pro, score 460
Peykan Beyrami (10th) relay 3 Pro, score 459
Podium Count for Team Centercut at EBR 2023
75 Yard Benchrest Qualifiers – 6 – Derrick, Mike, Augie, Barbara, Caleb, Peykan
100 Yard Benchrest Finals – 3 – Derrick 4th Pro, Peykan 9th Pro, Augie 2nd Sportsman
50 Yard Benchrest – 2 – Tony 2nd Springer, Derrick 5th Unlimited
Extreme Field Target – 3 – one WIN – Caleb WIN, Mike 4th, Peykan 5th
Speed Silhouette – 2 – one WIN – Caleb WIN Pro, Scott 4th Open
Big Bore – 3 – Scott 2nd Open, Peykan 3rd Production, Caleb 3rd Open
Steel Scramble – no wins, but 2 in top ten – Mike 8th, Derrick 9th
One Gun – no wins, but 1 in top ten – Barbara 6th
EFT GP Nationals – 3 in top 5 – Caleb 2nd, Mike 4th, Tony 5th
Total podium count = 22
Congrats To EBR 2023 Team Shooter Caleb “Stache” Dickinson…
He won the Pro Speed Silo, defeating Tom Adams – who had won in 2019, 2021, and 2022.
Caleb also won the Extreme Field Target event shooting 39/40 and finished 2nd in the EFT GP National Championship only one point behind John Bagakis.
Plus, he finished 3rd in Big Bore and earned his “Heavy Hitter” patch for hitting the 405-Yard target twice! WOW!!!
Champion’s Hat
One cool thing that Team Centercut does once a year is present the Team “Champion’s Hat”.
This is awarded to shooters that either win at a major event or do something extraordinary at a mid- to major-type event. So far only four have been awarded, as follows…
Dave – 2022 RMAC Big Bore 1st,
Derrick- 2022 Textreme EFT cleared the course,
Scott- 2023 RMAC Big Bore 1st, and
Mike- 2023 Oregon Long Range Challenge cleared the course.
Of course Caleb will be presented one next year for his EBR 2023 performance!
The hats are different from our standard black hats with orange trim in that the entire bill of these hats is orange, and the reason for the award embroidered on the side.
This one is Dave’s.
Thanks Mike. Congratulations to Team Centercut for their great performance in multiple matches and for – so obviously – having a great time together!
The post Team Centercut at Extreme Benchrest 2023. It’s A Story Of Success! appeared first on Hard Air Magazine.
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