The Malevsky meet is on!!

[GQ_jumper 4]

Holy crap I had completely lost track of the dates until I saw the article about it posted on the NSL website, but the draw is posted, the first round scores are up. I haven't seen the videos yet but in the top three slots its, Black Cat with 36, Airspeed with 35, and Fastrax with 31.

I can definitely see those scores for the first round, Black Cat is a team full of insanely fast individuals and the draw for round 1 was 7-M-9, Airspeed has also shown that rounds with a lot of individual flying are a strong point for them(I guess running all those tunnel camps pays off). Round 2 is much the same E-Q-D-J-K so the Russian team could very well put themselves ahead with a comfortable lead in this next round. Round 3 gets pretty technical 5-10-21, so I think that ground could be made up pretty quickly by Airspeed in the 3rd round.

And I definitely wouldn't count Fastrax out of this one yet, they've been on Airspeed's heels all season, a few times even making them a bit nervous towards the last few rounds. It's going to be a great competition.

So here's a ? to get this thing going, is round 2 a world record or not?

E-Q-D-J-K

Personally I'm not too sure about that one, I've engineered it a few different ways in the last hour and no matter how you swing it there's going to be a couple "big moves" in there that could eat up some extra time. It could go either way, and considering how great these last two seasons have been for setting new records and breaking barriers i wouldn't be at all surprised if we see a little magic in round 2.

take care everyone

Dan

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[GQ_jumper 4]

Just saw the videos from round 2, looking at the top 2 there's a huge difference in flying style and it clearly worked out in favor of Fastrax. Fastrax, with their quick and energetic flying style pulled out a 43, and Airspeed looking much more calm and relaxed, IMO, came out with a 41. There was a little confusion with Airspeed but I put a stopwatch to it and it was just outside of working time so it didn't cost them any points.

Me personally, I've always been a huge fan of the smooth, technical way that Airspeed flies, speed is always impressive but they seem to match or beat anyone and look much more clean in the process. At the same time I've watched some of their videos from past world meets when they had to fight their way out of a deficit and they know how to turn it up and get agressive when the situation calls for it.

On round 2 specifically all the top teams had some really interesting engineering, I'd recommend taking a look at it, kurt has posted the videos already.

take care everyone

Dan

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[AllisonH 0]

I'm having some trouble with the website, but after 5 rounds Airspeed is in first, Fastrax 8 pts behind in second, Sky Panthers 2 pts behind them in third.

[GQ_jumper 4]

Take a look at round 3's videos, it shows exactly what I was talking about, Airspeed turned up the intensity a bit. Round 2 looked like they were barely warming up, round 3 you can see they went at it with more agression, still clean, still smooth, but just straight FAST!!! Fastrax also, very smooth, very quick, watching Thomas fly the tail slot in his B slot on those 10's was very impressive. That happens to be one of my favorite blocks as a tail.

I can't wait for nats!!

Happy 4th of July evryone, mine started a bit early, it's already 6:15 PM in Iraq so I'm well into my celebration after a long day, which means this may very well be my last post, we'll see how the night goes

take care everyone

Dan

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[GQ_jumper 4]

I'm not down for the count yet people!! Taking a look at round 4's videos I truly think perfection has been achieved on block 20. As mentioned earlier Airspeed has put an 8 point lead on the board by the end of round 5, but round 4 really caught my eye(I also haven't seen round 5 yet so I can't comment). I've watched video of a lot of the top teams doin 20's and no matter how well they are clickin there's always so many little things that can make you say oops and add a fraction of a second to a 20. When Airspeed threw it out there it was poetry in motion, every time Craig brought Andy around on that 2 way piece Eliana was right there waiting for Andy to take grips and Mark was coming around the bottom of the piece at exactly the same time. It seems to have spun at the same speed every single time from the hill all the way to terminal. I'm sure a few people here remember hearing Craig saying in an interview that there is no such thing as slow speed on exit, only slow minds, well he has proved himself right. Looking at all their jumps unless you have a stop watch and are playing the video in slo-mo you almost can't tell the difference between terminal and sub-terminal, seems like we've been slowing ourselves down over nothing

Fastrax, while still in second unfortunately didn't have quite the same speed that round. On a few of their 20's there were a couple moments where the outsides weren't quite clickin with the centers. Fastrax is always fun to watch fly though, they have a lot of energy in everything they do and I have to say it's always impressive to watch Doug Park whip a big ol' 180 at lightning speed! Unfortunately the score of 21 allowed the Russian teams Black Cat and Sky Panthers to gain a few points on them and they are now in a close race for their current position

A 25 in that round is an awesome score if you consider how many big moves were forced into that round, hell IMO anything over a 22 is awesome there for the top teams. My opinion, for what it's worth, 4 years ago a 22 would have been a high score for that round. Says a lot about how far this sport has progressed.

One last quick note before I step off to wait for the next round of videos, last year the record was set for the highest average score over a 10 round meet by the Russian Sky Panthers with a 24.1(someone please correct me if I am mistaken). As the scores sit right now Airspeed has 171 points with 4 rounds left to go, so they are a mere 40 points shy of the world record average. Round 7(2-22-A), definitely doesn't stick out as a burner, round 8(C-6-8), not the fastest, but it definitely could be slower as well, round 9(14-F-16) I think the pace is going to pick back up a bit on that one, and 10(1-13-H), could be slow or fast, my guess, a 21 at least. so looking at that, is there anyone here who doubts we'll break the 25 average this meet? 79 points shy of doing what was once considered next to impossible. Hell I'd be willing to put money on it All I can say is, I'm comin into this sport at just the right time, I'm still a young buck(25 years young!) and if a 25 average is the standard to be the best it just means I have to work that much harder to reach the top
take care everyone

Dan

AND WOULD SOMEONE ELSE PLEASE POST AROUND HERE!!

Just cause I'm in Iraq and have nothing else to do on my 4th of July than stare at the computer screen doesn't mean I should be the only one posting It's your country too ya know!

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[GQ_jumper 4]

And on to round 7......

Here, I'll recap rounds 5, 6, and 7 for you, without even seeing the videos. Round 5, Airspeed kicks @ss, Round 6, it looks like a close one but wait.....no, no, no, it's OK, Airspeed still tore it up, and round 7.....everyone say it with me, Airspeed tears it up!!

Unfortunately without seeing the videos I can only say so much, maybe I can convince my team medic I need to go to Germany to get an MRI on my knee tomorrow, hop a plane to Russia while I'm there and finish this in person! But a quick look at the scores shows that Sky Panthers and Fastrax have both picked up a bit of momentum and have bath managed to tie Airspeed in another round. But since round 2 not a single team has managed to beat them. And with the new score of 192 they are 10 points ahead of second with three rounds left and only 58 points from that 25 average. Hmm, could Dan be right on this one?? It's coming I tell you, IMO round 7 was the slowest round of the meet, the final three are far from being record setters but can easily yeild a 20+ each.

So.....who's takin bets, come on I need some money!!! I'm in the poor house right now!

Happy 4th everyone

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[bob.dino 1]

Quote

Just cause I'm in Iraq and have nothing else to do on my 4th of July than stare at the computer screen doesn't mean I should be the only one posting It's your country too ya know!

Iraq is my country? Or do you mean Russia? I'm confused...

[GQ_jumper 4]

Iraq is my country? Or do you mean Russia? I'm confused...

Quote

Actually I was refering to Zimbabwe, anyone who happens to come from another country is excused from not posting

I got the videos from round 5 and took the time to put a stopwatch to them, Fastrax came in with a 24 to Airspeed's 25. Out the door Airspeed was just slightly faster on the key, we're talking less than two tenths of a second but by the end of the first page had gained almost a full second on Fastrax, who picked up their pace a bit and were almost on pace with Airspeed by the end of the thrid page. The lead Airspeed had already gained on the first two pages was a too much ground for Fastrax to regain, both teams were burnin holes through the sky and it would've taken a mistake on Airspeed's part to allow Fastrax room to make up ground. At the end of working time Fastrax was working the inter of Block 18, by my stopwatch their outsides were crossing just as time ran out so they had a "long" ways to go for the 25th point. The freeze frame for Airspeed was right at the flash after the close of the 18, by my watch they were less than 4 tenths of a second shy of the 26th point.

Both teams were absolutely flawless IMO on this round Fastrax just seemed to fall a little short of matching Airspeed's "ultralistic fastitiousness"(yeah I just made up those words, what of it?!)

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[GQ_jumper 4]

On to round 6, yes I know the meet is well beyond done, but who cares!! I have nothing better to do with my free time

Airspeed pulled out a 24 compared the a 22 by Fastrax. I got my trusty stopwatch out and took a look at the dives, Airspeed was once again quicker out the door with the first key, not by much, it was a difference of two-tenths of a second. Once they started working Fastrax manage to keep the same pace with Airspeed through the first page, both teams ended within three-tenths of a second of each other. On the secon page Airspeed pushed the lead out to a full second, with another second added to their lead by the end of the third.

I took a look at the engineering, both teams used a swing move to get out of the SS they just did it in different places. Fastrax did it on the transition from the 4 to the P and Airspeed did it between the 3 and the G. I liked the way airspeed did it better personally, the dive just seemed to flow a little bit better and their engineering kept the OC from having to make a big move to the P to get back into his slot. Just one of those big moves doesn't take up a lot of time, but they add up quick after a couple pages. I'd time the blocks themselves to compare them if I had more free time, but I get kept pretty busy around here.

I also have to say that Airspeed does an awesome job of showing everything to the judges, they always keep enough space to clearly see the grips, their camera work is excellent, grip discipline is spot on. It's always so easy to see Andy make that closing grip before the key, definitely makes timing and judging it easier, overall they have been one of the least penalized teams this year it seems.

I'm gonna go see what the res of my team is up to and then see if the rest of the videos are up.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[GQ_jumper 4]

Rounds 7 and 8 and then bed time for me.

The top two were tied in both these rounds, in 7 they both had the exact same time to the first key and kept pace the whole way through the dive. Airspeed had a few rough closes on some of their later 22's that slowed them down a tiny bit but it was obviously nothing they couldn't handle. Fastrax had a little bit more seperation than desirable for a team of their caliber on the build of a couple of their 22's but nothing major, both teams looked spot on that round.

8 was another tie between these two, although Airspeed had to make up a bit of time on the first page, they had the faster key out the door by two-tenths of a second, but unfortunately on the transition from the C to the 6 right out the door the build favored the top piece forcing Mark to work his way just a little bit farther up to it to close it. Watching Fastrax on the same move it looks as though they actually shifted the centerpoint of the formation down towards the tail ever so slightly to shorten that move up for him, it may just be the camera angle but that's how it looked to me. That's whatcha get when you're a tail, SCREWED, but it's always your fault Kudos to Mark for getting in their quick. That build actually cost a bit over a half a second for Airspeed, they went from .2 seconds ahead at the first key to .4 seconds behind starting the inter on the 6, but they managed to make it up in that one block and closed at the exact same time as Fastrax. All the other pages had Fastrax ahead by two-tenths of a second which wasn't enough to squeeze in one last point at the end.

And on that note bed time, despite the fact that I'm having so much fun timing videos(I'm learning tons too!), I have a long day tomorrow and 9 and 10 haven't even been posted yet.

nite everyone

dan

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower