Round 6

posted Jul 6th, 2005 - The scores of round six of the 4-way Open Class competition at the Malevsky Cup 2005 settled the four US teams in the first four top positions. However, the US ranking order changed. Fastrax left two points in the judging room after a slow round for the team. Airspeed Velocity lost two points, as well, but still won two points back from Fastrax.

Airspeed Odyssey lost one point, too, but did not accept the judging call. The team captain used the new rule that allows a team to have one jump per meet re-judged:

It was a successful investment for Odyssey. The judges gave back the one point the team had lost earlier, and the score was corrected from 19 to 20 points.

DeLand Fire had no judging issues, only a small hesitation causing a short delay. The score of twenty points was another tied highscore for Fire, and the distance to the team in second place, which was now Airspeed Velocity again, was increased by two more points.

Round 7

Round seven was very similar to the events in round six. Airspeed Odyssey lost another point for good, as well as Fastrax. DeLand Fire, Airspeed Velocity and Sinapsi PD tied the highscore of 20 points, and DeLand Fire maintained the 4-point lead over Velocity.

Round seven had a special meaning for the Italian national team Sinapsi PD. The world class guest team looked much better on the second day of the competition and finally tied the highscore for a round. Sinapsi PD continued to slowly move up the leaderboard and closer to the phalanx of US teams, passing the Russian teams on this way.

The DeLand Fire performance reminded once again on the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005 where Fire's performance was surprisingly consistent. Fire had a few glitches and hesitations throughout the seven rounds of the meet but lost only one point due to an infringement. The rest of the Fire business has been smooth and consistent so far.

Round 8

Then came round eight, and it settled the 4-way business for the first place. DeLand Fire cannot be caught any more. No, it is never over before the Fat Lady sings. However, looking back at the first eight rounds of the meet, it seems to be impossible that anybody can catch up with the DeLand team. This conclusion is not due to the lack of other great performances, there is world class skydiving competition all day long. It is the way the DeLand team has arrived at the 8-round position that leads to this assumption.

Fire posted the sole highscore for round eight with 22 points, and it did not look as if the team was in a hurry. Joey Jones explained earlier today that Fire is the closest to the unique and very successful DeLand Majik style of flow, which never really looked as it was under pressure.

Fire's highscore came along with a serious loss of Airspeed Velocity. The closest contender after seven rounds ended up with 18 points within working time and lost two points to the judges for a score of 16 points. Velocity tried to win back at least one point with the $100 re-judging option and lost the points and the money.

Airspeed Odyssey and five other teams posted 19 points and gave up three points compared to DeLand Fire. The Airspeed losses in round eight brought Fastrax back into the game after an energetic 21-pointer, and the US order behind the DeLand team changed once again. Fastrax took back the second place from Velocity and underlined the team's serious claim to speak a word in 4-way this year.

However, the scrambles behind DeLand Fire increased the distance to the second place even more. Fire is now up by eight points after eight rounds, and there does not seem to be a chance that the remaining two rounds will allow another contender to get close enough for a serious challenge.

Round nine is a slow 3-block sequence (5-12-6), which will not offer a great opportunity for any of the teams to cut much into DeLand Fire's lead. Round ten is a faster round (E-9-Q-17). However, an 8-point lead would not encourage the leader to take any chances. But then again, there is the Fat Lady. She may already be singing somewhere though...

The 8-way competition is as exciting as it can be. Airspeed and France are tied after nine rounds, and round ten will still be completed today. Stay tuned.