posted Apr 4th, 2006 - Round 7 of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2006 has now been added to the NSL-TV page. Unfortunately, a few video files are still missing, and the jumps of Team Fastrax, CSC Sirens and Eva's Revenge will be uploaded as soon as possible, as well.

The sequence of round seven (C-9-Q-N) was the other very fast one, which helped the teams once again to bring the averages to new record levels. It was also the round where DeLand Fire was seriously impressed for the first time.

So far, the US champion had surely realized that Sinapsi PD was coming up with a new performance level. However, despite very little training and Natasha Montgomery's recovery from the back injury, Fire had still won two rounds and given the Italian team a good race.

DeLand Fire's reaction was different after round seven. The team had once again delivered a very good performance in the fast round and expected to possibly win back the lost point of round six. The situation could have been similar to Fire's efforts to catch up after the lost first two rounds of the meet and the 47-pointer in round four.

It did not turn out to Fire's advantage this time. The 35-pointer in round seven was good - and still not good enough. Sinapsi PD beat Fire's score by two points after a flawless performance from exit to break-off. The Italian team looked more confident and stronger round by round, and the 37-pointer in round seven did not offer much hope for DeLand Fire that Sinapsi PD might back off at any time.

An interesting aspect of the sequence in round seven is the fact that almost exactly the same one was also drawn at the World Meet in Gap 2003, only one round earlier (check NSL Archives 2004 > Leagues > International > Schedule). Round six in France was 9-C-Q-N, only Block 9 had a different position between the random formations.

Amazingly, the 2003 world champions, France Maubeuge, won this round with 37 points, the same score that Sinapsi PD posted at the Shamrock Showdown. The DeLand Norgies followed with 36 points, the Golden Knights had 35 points, and the UK team XL scored 34 points.

Sinapsi PD finished this round in 2003 with 32 points, while Pete Allum was jumping with the British team by then. Sinapsi PD and Pete Allum had no idea at this World Meet that they would ever jump the same sequence again - and in the same team.

Sinapsi PD 2006, now with Pete Allum in the tail slot, added five points to the 2003 score for almost exactly the same sequence and matched the French highscore. France Maubeuge finished the World Meet on the team's home turf in Gap with a 22.9 meet average and the gold medals. Sinapsi PD won the Shamrock Showdown with a 23.9 average.

There are rumors that three Maubeuge members of 2003 have put together a very strong line-up for this year's World Meet in Germany. If there is truth behind the rumor, then there would be a re-match between Sinapsi PD and the French team on a new basis. The NSL News will try to get more information from France and follow up as soon as possible.