posted Sep 29th, 2019 - The Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals continues to generate higher performance and scoring levels almost every year. Savage XP, with player-coach Kirk Verner in the lineup, finished with the first 17+ average in 2018. This year, Redline XP improved the highest average in this category once again and finished with 17.5 for the USPA gold medals.

It was player-coach Kirk Verner again who guided three new team mates to the Advanced Class title. Louis French, James Hall and Matthew Hunt hired him for the 2019 season, and Brian Festi was filming Redline XP at the USPA Nationals.

James Hall was training and competing under Kirk Verner's guidance in 2017 with Fast4ward XP, who placed 2nd in the Advanced Class competition of the USPA Nationals as a guest team. Louis French won bronze medals at the same event with Four Horsemen and player-coach John D'Annunzio.

This year, they joined forces with Matthew Hunt, who is in his second decade of 4-way and 8-way competition. Airspeed 4-way and 8-way world champion Kirk Verner, also a member of the indoor world champion Paraclete XP8 lineup, repeated his player-coaching magic in the third consecutive year and won his second gold medal in USPA's Advanced Class.

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Progression of the USPA Advanced Class winning scores between 2000 and 2019

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USPA Nationals 2019		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	7,C,H,P	J,21,20	O,3,11	B,2,K,E	8,Q,10	15,D,F,12	N,L,M,14	6,1,9	A,18,13	G,4,5	Total	Avg
1	Redline XP	19	17	16	21	14	16	21	17	17	17	175	17.5
2	Elsinore Elevate	23	14	14	22	15	17	19	14	14	16	168	16.8
3	SNE CenterCell XP	23	14	14	18	14	11	18	15	14	15	156	15.6
4	Air Force Shadow	20	15	13	21	10	13	18	15	15	13	153	15.3
5	Vega XP	21	14	14	21	14	13	15	16	11	12	151	15.1
6	AZ Crime	19	13	14	17	11	12	18	15	13	11	143	14.3
6	Air Force Boomers	20	14	12	15	13	10	16	15	14	14	143	14.3
8	Arizona Alpha	21	14	14	17	14	11	14	14	9	14	142	14.2
9	SDC Rhevolution XP	17	14	12	16	12	13	14	14	13	13	138	13.8
10	Space Force BTR	18	14	13	18	11	11	18	14	10	10	137	13.7
11	SNE Fly Girls	18	12	13	14	11	13	14	13	12	8	128	12.8
12	Chill: Bu	18	13	11	17	9	11	14	13	11	10	127	12.7
13	Perris Goldilocks and 4 Bears	16	11	10	15	10	10	12	10	12	10	116	11.6
14	TSC Cadence	14	9	12	14	10	11	12	12	12	9	115	11.5
15	Fast Break	15	10	10	12	10	12	14	8	10	11	112	11.2
16	Paragon	13	7	11	12	9	8	12	10	7	9	98	9.8
17	AZ Shift	9	9	9	13	9	9	10	11	8	8	95	9.5
18	Perris Section 4	15	8	9	11	8	6	10	10	9	8	94	9.4

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Kirk Verner was not the only player-coaching Airspeed world champion who competed in the Advanced Class. In fact, his closest challenger was Elsinore Elevate member Josh Hall, who won FAI 4-way gold medals with Arizona Airspeed in Dubai 2012. Elevate finished right behind Redline XP, and both teams were still tied in 1st place at the end of the first day.

Redline XP won the last three rounds by the seven points on Tuesday that created the winning margin for Kirk Verner's team. Josh Hall's Elsinore Elevate of 2019 turned the USPA bronze medals of 2018 into silver in Raeford.

Mark Kirkby was the third Airspeed world champion who competed in the Advanced Class as a player-coach. His Arizona Alpha project was launched in 2016, and the team has attended each national championship ever since.

Mark Kirkby is connecting with Kirk Verner and Josh Hall both in the history of 4-way and 8-way competition. He and Kirk Verner were in the original Airspeed lineup, together with Dan BC and Jack Jefferies, who won the 4-way world championship titles in 1995 and 1997. They were also team mates in Airspeed's 8-way lineup and won FAI gold medals together in 1999. Mark Kirkby and Josh Hall won their FAI 4-way gold medal together in Dubai 2012.

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USPA Nationals 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		7,C,H,P	J,21,20	O,3,11	B,2,K,E	8,Q,10	15,D,F,12	N,L,M,14	6,1,9	A,18,13	G,4,5	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	45	24	27	37	21	25	34	25	26	25	289	28.9
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	41	22	21	33	21	23	27	25	24	25	262	26.2
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	40	24	22	32	19	24	29	25	21	26	262	26.2
4	Defiance	US	30	21	15	28	16	19	22	21	18	18	208	20.8
5	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	26	19	19	24	16	17	24	18	19	19	201	20.1
6	Kinetix	AU	26	18	17	22	13	17	18	17	17	17	182	18.2
7	Lite XP	US	24	17	17	22	15	17	20	16	14	17	179	17.9
8	Redline XP	US	19	17	16	21	14	16	21	17	17	17	175	17.5
9	Elsinore Elevate	US	23	14	14	22	15	17	19	14	14	16	168	16.8
10	No Name	US	22	17	14	19	12	13	14	15	14	16	156	15.6
10	SNE CenterCell XP	US	23	14	14	18	14	11	18	15	14	15	156	15.6
12	Aviatrixx	US	21	14	13	18	12	15	17	14	12	14	150	15.0
13	Perris Force	US	20	13	14	18	11	11	18	13	12	12	142	14.2
13	Arizona Alpha	US	21	14	14	17	14	11	14	14	9	14	142	14.2

Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore!HD

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Mark Kirkby's Arizona Alpha lineup was within reach of bronze medal contention before several penalties put the 2019 lineup too far behind. Kirk Verner and Josh Hall pulled away from all other Advanced Class teams to win the first two places, and SNE CenterCell XP took the bronze medals.

The three former Airspeed team mates went different ways again in 8-way. Kirk Verner won the USPA gold medals with Paraclete XP8 and will compete for the U.S. delegation at the FAI World Meet 2020 in Tanay.

Mark Kirkby won the USPA 8-way bronze medals with Arizona Airspeed, and Josh Hall took a few days off.

Eventually, two of them (Kirk Verner, Josh Hall) joined forces in 16-way and won the USPA gold medals with the AZXP combination. Mark Kirkby sat out at this event.

At the end, Kirk Verner had collected a total of four USPA gold medals (4-way Advanced - 8-way Open - 16-way - 10-way), and he was still not the most successful Formation Skydiving competitor. Steve Lefkowitz won four gold medals, as well, and he beat Kirk Verner with SDC Rhythm XP's gold in 4-way Open...