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The Caesar Guerini brand has enjoyed something ofa meteoric rise in the premium shotgun market inrecent years. As a bona fide global brand within the

sporting shotgun arena, it seemed inevitable that theywould eventually find a ‘Brand Ambassador’ that wouldcomplement their increasingly strong market position.Their current sponsorship deal with Richard Fauldsachieves just that.

There are few sporting and FITASC shooters whohaven’t heard of Richard Faulds, the five-time Olympianand Double Trap Gold medalist based in the UK. He is, asyet, the only shooter to succeed on the world stage in bothOlympic and Sporting Clays disciplines having also won theWorld English Sporting four times and the World FITASCfive times (including a record score of 198ex200 at the 2008Championships in Cyprus). His effortless shootingtechnique has won once him fans around the world –including Steve Schultz of Target Line who once describedhim as “The smoothest mover of the gun I’ve ever seen”.

Family BusinessGiorgio Guerini always refers to the company that hestarted with his brother as being a family – consequently onsigning the four year deal, Richard and Tanya Faulds wereboth invited to visit the ‘family’ home – the factory that sitsnext to the thundering Mella river which winds its waydown through the Val Trompia (Italy) like an artery linkingall of the great gunmakers of the area.

SPONSORSHIPDEAL

GUERINI’SGLOBAL AMBASSADOR

A REPORT BY DON BRUNT

TANYA AND RICHARD FAULDS.

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First stop at 9.30am was a visitto the World famous stockmakersEssevierre, who immediately setabout creating custom stocks forthe husband and wife team. ForRichard this was a new experience.“This is the first time I’ve ever hada custom sporting stock made forme.” The two bothers who runEssevierre supply stocks toshooters around the world. The‘Wall of Fame’ in the factory showsthe plethora of Olympic andInternational Champions theyhave worked with and thatreputation ensures they are alwaysbusy. Stocks are available from just$700 upwards – depending on yourchoice of walnut.

Chisels, belt sanders and thewell-trained eye of Master StockerValeriano quickly had the sawdustflying and by 2.15pm both of thestocks were ready for final fitting.

A couple of tinyadjustments later theywere complete andready to go off forfinishing.

FactoryVisitNext on the itinerarywas a tour of theGuerini factory, where Giorgio waskeen to show the company’s latestinvestment in the form of yetanother fully automatedproduction machine with a seven-figure price tag. Althoughmachined components obviouslyplay a vital part in ensuring that theprice of modern competition gunsare affordable, the ethos at thefactory is still very much ofblending the efforts of man andmachine into a seamless finished

sometime that Guerini are a veryforward thinking, innovativebrand, who are keen to keeppushing the market along in termsof new designs and ideas. They’reobviously quick to respond to thechanging needs of competitionshooters which makes them anideal partner for me,” said Richard.“It’s an honor to have been chosento head up what is already animpressive team of Internationalshooters – and from what I’ve seenso far, I am confident it will becomea winning combination.

“I have spent the last threeyears focusing more on theOlympic disciplines than onSporting and FITASC,” continuedRichard, “but 2013 is the year that

all that changes. Tanya and I willboth be mounting a full campaignon the Sporting and FITASCcircuits this year, starting off withthe World English in San Antoniowhich is always a fantastic event –I have fond memories of winningthere in 2007.”

Giorgio had plenty to say abouthis new signing. “For me it’s theend of our first step ofdevelopment as a company. It’s a

MASTER STOCKER VALERIANO.

RICHARD ANDTANYA WITH

GIORGIOGUERINI.

Tanya has opted for a SummitAscent. “I’ve already shot an offthe shelf version and I loved theadded visibility of the target I getwith the higher rib.”

Why the change?With the factory visit over it wastime for dinner where Richard andGiorgio explained more aboutwhat made this alliance work forthem. “It’s been apparent for

product of the highest quality.Their rise to prominence withinthe market suggests that they havegot that balance just about right –and the hand finishing andassembly area mirrors that withthe clinical efficiency of modernmachinery combining withtechniques that would be familiarto a gunmaker from a century ago.

Upstairs in the showroom,Richard got acquainted with hisnew gun – an Ellipse EvolutionSporting – fitted with a new narrowtapered rib. “I chose this primarilyas there is a little more weight inthe action which I think improvesthe balance. Add to that the factthat it’s a very good looking gunand it was an easy choice to make.”

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perfect combination of the rightperson at the right time for us, weare very proud to have Richardand Tanya on board and we aresure they will help us reach ahigher level – both in terms of newproduct design and in showcasingour products. We like to think ofGuerini as a family and we are veryhappy that they are now part ofthat and look forward to a long andsuccessful future together.”

ability to motivate himself andfocus on a goal as well as beingschooled in how an athlete shouldbehave. There are some verytalented shooters out there whoperhaps don’t have the peopleskills to make what we wouldconsider a perfect member of theGuerini family, but with Richardwe feel he is the complete packageand that’s why we are so excitedabout having him on board.

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US PerspectiveWes Lang of Caesar Guerini USAwas also quick to welcome Richardon board. “Its obvious that he’s avery competent shooter and agreat ambassador for the brand,being well presented and a perfectrepresentative for our companyand what we stand for. He’s morethan a shooter, he’s a sportscelebrity in his own right andbeing an Olympic Gold medalwinner takes him a step abovemost shooters in terms of his

“Because he has been away onOlympic duties there is no doubtthat his profile here in the Stateshasn’t been as high as in the past,”continued Lang, “but we arelooking forward to seeing more ofhim over here and there’s no doubtthat he has the fire anddetermination to go out and win atthe very highest level.

“As far as future products areconcerned I’m sure we will beinvolving him in testing and we arevery fortunate that we are out atevents all through the year talkingto owners and getting theirfeedback on our products and whatthey want to see in future designs.By understanding what peoplewant, designing the product to fitthat and getting feedback from thelikes of Richard on what does anddoesn’t work, we intend to stay atthe front of the pack.”

It looks as though 2013 willprove to be an interesting year forwhat could prove to be a verysuccessful pairing. �

www.gueriniusa.com

US ClinicRichard will be staying on inSan Antonio after the WorldEnglish and both he andTanya, who is a successfulshooter in her own right, willbe available for coaching atthe National Shooting Centerfrom the 29th April throughto the 3rd of May.For more information contactCaesar Guerini USA(Tel. 410-901-1131).

There are some very talentedshooters out there who perhapsdon’t have the people skills to makewhat we would consider a perfectmember of the Guerini family.