posted Sep 20th, 2010 - Virginia Tech team VTSD caught the NSL News attention early last year and continued to make the headlines on a regular basis from then on. Eventually, it was no surprise any longer when the young lineup won first the AA/Intermediate Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals 2009, then the gold medals at the USPA Collegiates 2009, which applies the A Class dive pool.

The same lineup, now under the new name Carolina Turbo XP, came back this year, the first time at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010, and had moved up into the AAA Class competition. There is nothing new and unusual about that, as the USPA rules require the winner of the Intermediate Class to move up into the next category, the Advanced Class with the AAA Class dive pool.

However, it is very unusual that the winner of the Intermediate Class continues, moves up and then wins the Advanced Class competition next year. In fact, it has never happened before Carolina Turbo XP took the 1st place spot on the Advanced Class podium at the USPA Nationals 2010.

USPA Nationals 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	Advanced Class	16,21,11	3,L,K,10	6,22,1	12,20,4	Q,M,2,N	H,D,9,G	19,5,13	F,E,17,O	C,8,7	A,18,14	Total	Avg
1	Carolina Turbo XP	11	13	13	12	17	19	12	21	15	12	145	14.5
2	Fallout	13	10	12	10	17	19	10	20	15	13	139	13.9
3	Quattro	10	10	10	12	18	18	12	15	14	11	130	13.0
4	Spaceland Lite	11	11	11	9	13	18	12	20	13	11	129	12.9
4	Perris H Ball	11	11	9	10	15	19	12	17	14	11	129	12.9
6	Teiwaz	10	10	8	8	16	16	9	20	14	11	122	12.2
7	Carolina Ice	11	9	9	10	12	16	12	14	10	10	113	11.3
8	Spaceland Havoc	10	10	9	9	13	11	10	13	12	8	105	10.5
9	Hipshot	10	7	9	9	12	11	10	12	11	11	102	10.2
10	Katalyst	8	9	8	9	11	15	9	11	10	8	98	9.8
11	Start 4way	0	11	8	7	11	19	10	15	10	6	97	9.7
12	4D	8	8	6	7	13	11	5	9	15	7	89	8.9
13	SDC Ellipsis	4	7	7	6	13	14	7	12	9	6	85	8.5
14	TSC Motion	10	10	7	8	5	13	8	6	6	8	81	8.1

There were other teams in the past that won USPA's Intermediate Class gold medals and came back next year in the Advanced Class competition. Formula 4 from California, with Perris Fury member Chris Farina, won USPA's Intermediate Class gold medals in 2001 (14.0) and finished in 5th place of the Advanced Class (12.5) next year.

Juggernaut from Texas won the Intermediate Class in 2002 (14.1) and finished 5th in the Advanced Class (13.4) a year later. Finally, Pulse won the Intermediate Class in 2006 (13.5) and came back with a 12.8 average for the 5th place in the Advanced Class at the USPA Nationals 2007.

Carolina Turbo XP is not only the first team in USPA history that succeeded with this very challenging goal. It is also the first time that the winner of the previous Intermediate Class championship finished with a higher meet average in the Advanced Class (13.1 - 14.5) a year later.

Carolina Turbo XP at the USPA Nationals 2010

Once again, it was still not even a great surprise. Carolina Turbo XP had indicated at earlier meets this year that the hungry and passionate youngsters would be one of the top contenders at this year's USPA Nationals.

The NSL News preview on 9 September 2010 named Carolina Turbo XP as one of the top contenders in the Advanced Class competition this year. Turbo had shown at the Shamrock Showdown 2010 that the team had mastered the AAA Class dive pool (13.0) and followed up with a 14.0 average at the June meet of the Carolina Skydiving League.

The winning average of 14.5 at the USPA Nationals fit perfectly into the scoring progression of the team and could not have surprised any of the other top contenders. Fallout offered a great competition and clearly beat the team's own meet average (12.9) of 2009. However, Fallout's 13.9 average was just not enough to keep up with Turbo's winning energy.

September 12th, 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	16,21,11	3,L,K,10	6,22,1	12,20,4	Q,M,2,N	H,D,9,G	19,5,13	F,E,17,O	C,8,7	A,18,14	Total	Avg
1	Carolina Turbo XP	11	13	13	12	17	19	12	21	15	12	145	14.5

June 19th, 2010

Round1

Round2

Round3

Round4

Round5

Round6

Round7

Round8

Round9

Round10

Total

Avg

Rank

AAA Class

N,4,H,O

21,13,9

15,19,P

6,D,B,16

L,5,10

1,20,7

K,J,12,G

A,Q,C,11

F,E,2,M

14,18,17

Total

Avg

1

Carolina Turbo XP

16

11

12

16

12

12

13

19

19

10

140

14.0

March 19th, 2010

Round1

Round2

Round3

Round4

Round5

Round6

Round7

Round8

Round9

Round10

Total

Avg

Rank

AAA Class

12,2,B

E,K,M,H,11

L,3,22

C,4,18

13,D,J,1

20,16,17

Q,14,8

O,F,6,10

21,G,9

P,19,5

Total

Avg

1

Carolina Turbo XP

9

20

10

10

12

12

15

14

16

12

130

13.0

VTSD was far ahead of the Intermediate Class field in 2009, and the competition in the Advanced Class was much tougher for Carolina Turbo XP this year. This also mirrors the situation between the USPA Nationals of 2009 and 2010. Air Force Impulse ran away from the field this year, while the Advanced Class teams had exciting battles for the medals in 2009 and in 2010.

So what's next for the Turbo members? They are obviously great competitors and have a broad collection of meet experiences by now. They have left no doubt that they plan to become 4-way world champions one day.

The Open Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2011 is automatically the next step. It would be far fetched to expect Carolina Turbo XP win the Open Class next year. However, the young team will probably come up with a similar progression as in the past years. No additional blocks have to be learned and mastered, nothing will be new from here on. The only question seems to be how far the Turbo members can push it within the next 12 months.