posted Oct 29th, 2012 - SDC Rhythm XP could not repeat the sensational meet opener and had to allow Arizona Airspeed to show everybody who is the boss in Eloy. The US national team had actually tied the first round only due to a point deduction. Rhythm had three clean rounds so far and showed again in Round 3 that they are closing the gap, slowly and steadily.

The NSL Reality TV camera captured a lot of the morning action. It was very different compared to the same time and the same place on Sunday morning. The first call for Load 1 came at 6:45 and before the sun rose from behind the mountains on the eastern side of Eloy.

The Open Class teams were called to their meet duties first. Load 1 included Fastrax J3, Paraclete XP4, Carolina Turbo XP and SDC Rhythm XP, followed by Arizona Airspeed, Golden Knights, SDC Furies XP and Crimson Fox in Load 2. The NSL News followed the first two loads on their way to the meet opener.

The new Fastrax lineup, with Dan BC filling in for John Hart III, had bad luck on their first jump. The 1-pointer was caused by an empty battery of the camera. Team videographer Ray Dutch had enough juice to keep the camera going for the exit and the first formation before it turned off.

DNR, with four experienced weekend competitors (James "Malibu" Klinge, Ben Liston, Brian Stephens, Steve Johnson, with Pat Walker on camera) caught not only the NSL News attention from the very beginning. DNR started in 3rd place and has still maintained the same position through Round 3, outscoring even Evolution from Canada.

Two former Mass Defiance members (Ben Liston, Brian Stephens) apparently decided to challenge their own amateur record average after nobody was able to beat the 19.3 average they posted at USPA Nationals years ago. It looks good so far, even though Center Inside Ben Liston is suffering badly from a recent food poisening. He survives round by round so far...