Road To The Nationals: Women of USPSA Poll Looks At Overall

Here are the overall results from the Women of USPSA Smith & Wesson National Handgun Championships poll.

There can’t be much surprise in the fact that most people responding to the Women of USPSA’s online poll picked Max Michel to win the Open division match where he is the defending champ. Max has yet to lose in Open with wins in all seven of this year’s Area matches, including Area 6 which many viewed as a mini nationals because of the level of competition.

The Limited-10 match is likely to be the tightest contested of the two events making up the first part of the back-to-back nationals. Springfield’s Rob Leatham leads in the poll but Glock’s Dave Sevigny has won the event the last two years. The question for Rob comes down to how will his knees hold up. The other shooter to watch is Bob Vogel who has knocked off Sevigny the last two years in the Production division contest. He’s proven he has what it takes to out-shoot Sevigny, the question is can he do it in Lim-10.

This year Bob Vogel is leaving the Production match, and foregoing the 3-peat, to go for the Limited title, and clearly many think he can do it. Bob won the division title at Area 5 & 6 this year – shooting a Glock by-the-way – and should be in top form to go after the national crown. He will of course have to get past the Army’s Travis Tomasie and Todd Jarrett who’s now shooting for his own company StrikeForce and Blackhawk. Keep an eye on this match as it may just prove Vogel to be the next important “get” for gun companies looking to pick up a top gun.

2010 could be the year Glock’s Sevigny returns to the Production division winner’s circle – certainly that’s what those who answered the WoU survey believe. In Production Dave is Superman with his kryptonite being Bob Vogel. With Vogel in Limited this year Sevigny has a “clear shot” so to speak. Matt Mink, who last year derailed Sevigny’s effort to sweep all 8 area matches, could be a dark horse to win. And don’t over look Max Michel who is scheduled to put down his open gun in favor of a Sig, for whom he shoots, and have another go at the Production title. He NARROWLY lost to Sevigny a couple years ago running an out-of-the-box CZ, so there is no telling what he could do with a Sig he’s had time to practice with.

Finally we have the Jerry Miculek division known as “Revolver”. Color us shocked that the man who is the face of Smith & Wesson would be picked to win by a mere 90% of those polled. Of course last year the title went to Cliff Walsh who put himself within striking distance and claimed the match when one of the stages was thrown out. This shouldn’t diminish Cliff’s achievement in any way, because shooting his way to a position where he could win the match makes him a very formidable wheelgunner. However, all things being equal, nobody bets against Jerry – including his S&W teammates Elliot Aysen, John Bagakis and David Olhasso who are also competing for the title.