posted Feb 27th, 2006 - The last NSL News story that covered the AAA/Open Class competition of the SSL Valentine's Meet 2006 had Golden Knights member Brian "BK" Kause providing feedback of his own team and his thoughts after the competition in Eloy on February 21. The NSL News story on February 22 introduced the A Class team "Evas Revenge". The NSL News now returns to the AAA/Open Class competition with a closer look at the teams that finished behind the three top scorers, Airspeed Odyssey, Airspeed Velocity and Team Fastrax.

Perris Fury was not a new name in the AAA/Open Class competition. The NSL News had already introduced the team in detail with a separate story on February 2 this year. This story was an update since Perris Fury had already competed with a different line-up throughout the whole 2005 season.

The update in February included the information that Fury's 2006 line-up was complete and that the team plans have turned into a full-time project. The SSL Valentine's Meet 2006 was the first test for the 2066 line-up with Chris Farina (Inside Center), Christy Frikken (Outside Center), Josh Hall (Point), Uli Steuwe (Tail) and Karen Lewis (Video).

The Fury plans for the near future indicate that there is no option to look back or behind. Perris Fury 2006 has its eyes on the big names on the top of the leaderboard. Dan BC, head coach in Perris and Fury's team coach at the same time, was observing the first 4-way scores of the 2006 season very carefully and provided the NSL News with his feedback:

"The Valentine's Meet is recognized around the world as the annual season opener of 4-way. For this reason, several of the top teams, including the home team Arizona Airspeed, have the Valentine's Meet on their regular competition schedule. It is the opportunity to set the 4-way bar for the new year. The 2006 Meet was no different.

If the meet results tell us anything, it is that there will be a great fight for the 4-way gold medals at the USPA Nationals in October. The field will only tighten up from here on in. You can expect both Airspeed teams to continue to improve. DeLand Fire will be neck-to-neck with them. But going from 21.5 to 23.0 is not an easy task when there isn't a team doing 23.0 to learn from. It is difficult for the top teams to extend their lead without having another team out in front setting the pace.

On the other hand, newer teams like the Golden Knights, Fastrax and Perris Fury can easily map out exactly what they need to do to catch up. They also have the commitment and the training schedule necessary to provide the opportunity needed to progress quickly."

Dan BC mentioned his home team together with the big names, and he had a good reason to place Perris Fury withing the group of teams that might catch up with the teams on the very top level sooner than possibly expected. Perris Fury finished the meet with an 18.7 average after six rounds and was already able to keep with both Airspeed line-ups and Fastrax here and there.

In fact, the Perris teeam was only two points behind Airspeed Velocitiy in the fast sequence of the meet opener (29 - 31) and only five points behind the winner, Airspeed Odyssey. Round six must have been even more exciting and promising for the Fury members. The three top teams finished with 22 points in time, and Perris Fury had a 21-pointer on the scoreboard.

The same situation that could be seen between Perris Fury and the three top teams was also created right behind the Perris team in Eloy. Fury probably never looked back, however, team Thunder surely looked forward and quietly moved up and into a position that already promises more and new teams filling the space between USPA's Advanced Class winning average and the 20.0 benchmark.

Kelley Fredrickson (Point), Scott Latinis (Inside Center), Lou Massie (Tail), Chad Smith (Outside Center) and Steve Nowak (Video) are the names behind Thunder 2006, and Joey Jones is the team coach. Thunder has big plans for the 2006 season, as well. 500 training jumps and plenty of tunnel time is on the team agenda.

The training plan for the 2006 season and the names of the team members combine for a promising year. Thunder competed with the same line-up in the Texas Skydiving League last year, first as "Dallas Thunder", then as "Spaceland Thunder" (13.2 - 16.0 - 14.8 - 15.2 - 18.4). The same line-up then finished with a 15.2 average at the USPA Nationals 2005, four points behind Perris Fury. Thunder could be pulled up by Fury if the team can manage to keep the same distance to last year's AAA/Open Class rival.

Thunder plans to compete again at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2006, meets of the Texas Skydiving League and might even travel to Russia this year for the Malevsky Cup 2006. The NSL News will soon be able to follow up with new Thunder information with the FSL season opener only three weeks away.