posted Nov 14th, 2011 - NSL-TV continues with the aftermath of the USPA Nationals 2011 and the competition videos of the Top 5 teams and their Rounds 5 and 6, courtesy of USPA and Skydive Arizona. The extended leaderboard includes once again the point deductions, and the online judges can provide help to explain how SDC Rhythm XP lost the second scoring point in Round 6.

The bronze medals in the 4way Open Class competition went very quietly to Perris Fury. The USPA silver medalist of 2010 did not only catch very little attention throughout the 2011 season after a turbulent shakeup of the lineup at the end of the 2010 season. Perris Fury was also going quietly after the team business on the first day of the competition in Eloy

This changed at the end of the competition when the scores of the last two rounds turned the 5-point deficit into a 1-point advantage over SDC Rhythm XP and won the bronze medals this year.

USPA Nationals 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/Open Class	M,5,13	21,14,22	12,20,D	11,Q,16	O,C,10,K	P,L,19,8	18,6,2	15,9,G	7,F,17	A,B,N,J,3	Total	Avg
1	USA Arizona Airspeed	25	19	19 (-1)	22 (-1)	26 (-1)	24	21	26	31	30	243	24.3
2	USA Golden Knights Gold	18 (-1)	17	18	21	24	23	19	21	29	28	218	21.8
3	USA Perris Fury	20 (-2)	17	16 (-2)	21	26	22 (-1)	15	21	29	29	216	21.6
4	SDC Rhythm XP	22	17	18	21	24	20 (-1)	19	22	26	26	215	21.5
5	USA Paraclete XP4	21	16	16	20	23	19 (-2)	17	22	26	28	208	20.8

The USPA Nationals 2011 was the only competition that Perris Fury attended this year with the complete new lineup. This was very unusual, as Fury has been one of the busiest teams at 4way meets in the past years. Fury attended only the Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving Championships 2011 before competing at the USPA Nationals, and John Hamilton was filling in for Uli Steuwe at the indoor competition in February.

The 3rd place in Eloy was actually a very impressive success considering the extremely challenging circumstances. The NSL News reported at the end of the 2010 season how Josh Hall's move to Arizona Airspeed did not only create a very strong new lineup in Eloy but also caused great trouble for the top rival of the past years.

Todd Hawkins eventually became the new Fury Point, as the NSL News reported on 17 November 2010. The trouble was still not over yet for Perris Fury since Tail Uli Steuwe had also scheduled a shoulder repair on both sides at the beginning of the 2011 season.

Click on the banner for 4on4 tunnel camp information

Perris Fury had the latest start into the 2011 training of all top teams and a new team member. Chris Farina, Christy Frikken and Uli Steuwe had trained and competed together and with Josh Hall since 2005 and provided a great 3way foundation. However, Todd Hawkins was mostly bringing experience and passion into the Fury game and had to catch up in top 4way competition from pretty far behind, with an 18.9 average as the highest average in his books.

Nobody really knew where Perris Fury would be when they came to Eloy in October, and nobody expected any team to be close to Airspeed this year. Fury had been challenging the previous Airspeed lineup before it came to the changes at the end of the 2010 season. This year, the question seemed to be whether Fury would be able to win a medal position at the USPA Nationals or not.

Todd Hawkins was up to an impressive 21.6 speed in October. It became an extremely close race and a nerve wrecking drama in the last two rounds when Fury began to look like the team of the 2010 season and captured the bronze medals by one single point. Fury will now attend the second competition of the 2011 season with the new lineup at the Dubai Championship 2011, which will also feature a re-match with SDC Rhythm XP.