posted Oct 22nd, 2006 - Things are moving fastly in Eloy this morning, in freefall and on the ground. Round two is already complete, and the ranking order has not changed much. DeLand Groove has a good time, as it was planned, and tied the highscore for the round with Russia's Black Cat. Fastrax keeps in touch with the leaders and increases the distance to the Airspeed line-ups.

Perris Fury and Elsinore Gravity perform as strongly as it was expected, as well. Both teams are closer to both Airspeed line-ups and the Golden Knights than these veterans might like it (34 - 33 - 32 - 32). This might become a 5-team race for the USPA bronze medals if the Airspeed line-ups and the Golden Knights cannot pull away from the challengers any time soon.

5-team race for USPA bronze medals after two rounds

The two AAA Class categories (Open and Advanced) are melting quite smoothly into each other, as a quick look at the middle of the AAA Class leaderboard shows. The scoring level of the teams on the bottom of the Open Class is almost identical with the teams on the top of the Advanced Class. There still is a 4-point difference between the top team of the Advanced Class (Arizona Divewerkz - 27) and the bottom team of the Open Class (Elsinore Select - 23).

Round two confirmed the situation in the AA/Intermediate Class. Ranch Pulse did not increase the lead, however, the team's 12-pointer was still the highest score for the round. The 3-point lead remains unchanged. Three other teams were able to tie Pulse's score for round two, and the number of five contenders for the second place on the leaderboard after round one has now been reduced to two teams. Both Air Force teams are tied with 28 points behind Ranch Pulse.

Team Fastrax has meet of team career after three rounds

Team Fastrax is not only trying to stay close to the Russian team Black Cat. The 2006 line-up with John Hart (Tail), Niklas Hemlin (Point), Mark Kirkby (Center Inside), Doug Park (Center Outside) and Steve Redinbo (Video) has the meet of the team career throughout the first three rounds of the competition.

Fastrax gave up one point per round to DeLand Groove so far. This changed in round three when Fastrax posted the highscore of 24 points, together with Black Cat. Fastrax is now tied in 1st place and still two points ahead of the Russian team that Fastrax has seen only from behind in the past.

The Golden Knights are now holding on strongly to the bronze medal position and added two points distance to both Airspeed line-ups and the underdogs from Perris and Elsinore. Velocity and Odyssey still cannot shake off Fury and Gravity, while the Golden Knights made a strong move in round three.

Mass Defiance and FiaZco from Florida are in a deadlock right behind the top group and race each other just like Fury and Gravity have been doing it for a while. Elsinore Select tied Synchronicity's score for the first time.

Arizona Divewerkz posted the team's third highscore and dominates the AAA/Advanced Class competition. No other team has been able to match AZDW's scores for a round so far. The distance between AZDW on top of the Advanced Class and Elsinore Select/Kaktus Hunter on the bottom of the Open Class is still the same four points (43 - 39).

Furies and AF CAD catch up in Round 3

Ranch Pulse showed the team's first weakness in round three and opened the door for other teams in contention for the three sets of USPA's Intermediate Class medals. Pulse's 9-pointer for the technically challenging sequence (22-19) was two points behind the highscore, posted by Skydive Chicago's Furies.

The difference between first and second/third place is down to two points. Ranch Pulse has given up the dominating position, and Gosia Cienkosz (Outside Center), Lisa DeSimone (Inside Center), Sarah Lawrence (Point), Shannon Sweet (Tail) and Charles Lane (Camera) will probably gain momentum and confidence with this round's highscore. Air Force CAD outscored the leader with a 10-pointer, as well, and now sits tied with the Furies in second place.

Elsinore Gravity's disaster in Round 4

It took a while until the judges had the final score for Elsinore Gravity's round four. The scoresheet shows the disaster situation that the team had to accept with nothing to do. Gravity's videographer obviously lost the team at the exit and needed a long time to recover.

Gravity lost a total of nine points after completing 19 points within working time. This unfortunate incident concludes the exciting race that the Elsinore team had kept going with Perris Fury and even the two Airspeed line-ups throughout the first three rounds. Gravity fell back behind Mass Defiance and will not be able to make it back up to the other teams in the pack.

Russia's Black Cat made up another point on the US leaders and is now only one point behind the first place, which is still shared between DeLand Groove and Fastrax. In fact, the Russian team had the highest score for each of the four rounds, except the meet opener. Black Cat seems to gain strength and gets closer to the desired top of the leaderboard.

Fastrax has now shared the top position for the second consecutive round and might get familiar with this situation. DeLand Groove lost one point in the judging room and still managed to maintain the position and add another point to the lead over the Golden Knights in 3rd place for USPA medals.