posted Mar 22nd, 2008 - The 4-way and skydiving community around the planet has been waiting for the videos of Round 6 of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008 to be uploaded. It is now time to be impressed by another unofficial 4-way world record for a single round.

The sequence of Round 6 surely was the fastest one of the competition draw with five random formations (G-C-J-D-B). However, Norway's national team in the female category, Fortitudo, had not drawn not the fastest record sequence at all. Many experts did not really expect a score that would beat previous world records - official or unoffical ones.

Especially the beginning of the sequence, with the long Cataccord (G) and the following Murphy Flake (C), did not offer an easily flowing dive. In addition, the hardest part of the sequence came at the very beginning of the jump and made it a relatively slow start for all teams.

Several world-class teams in DeLand still had the potential to beat the current official record of 44 points. However, after all the dust of Round 6 had settled, only one of the eight top teams managed to beat the 44-pointer: France Maubeuge.

The Golden Knights and Perris Fury came the closest to the French 45-pointer with 43 points each and no penalties. Airspeed Odyssey scored clean 42 points, DeLand Groove had clean 40 points, Fastrax scored 39 after two point deductions.

The Russian team Black Cat was facing a special challenge in this fast round. Vasily Korotkov, Alexander Kvochur, Alexey Minaev, Evgeny Staschenko and Vadim Niyazov currently own IPC's official world record for a single round, together with another Russian team, Extreme.RU. Both teams scored their 44-pointers at the Malevsky Cup 2006 in Russia.

The world record sequence of 2006 was much easier and faster (H-O-B-Q-E). Black Cat posted a clean 42-pointer for the sequence of Round 6 last weekend. The Russian team engineered the flow of the five random formations in a completely different way, compared to the other top teams, as the NSL-TV video shows.

Black Cat and Extreme.RU will continue to hold the official world record since the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008 was not officially sanctioned by the FAI/IPC. However, the French performance was most impressive and also initiated a very strong second half of the meet after reducing the Airspeed lead by three points in one round.

France Maubeuge's 45-pointer is actually not even an unofficial world record for a single round. DeLand Fire had already posted a 47-pointer in Round 4 of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2006, including a 1-point deduction. The sequence of Round 4 in March 2006 (F-M-P-O-E) was probably the fastest one of the three mentioned competition jumps.

DeLand Fire, with Ian Bob (Tail), Natasha Montgomery (Point), Shannon Pilcher (Center Inside), Gary Smith (Center Outside) and Jonathan Taggle on camera, moved on to win the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Germany the same year. An unofficial world record jump at the Shamrock Showdown seems to be a good signal for the upcoming season...

Three of the reigning 4-way world champions did not only have to watch France Maubeuge posting the 45-pointer while competing with DeLand Groove. The two world-class Canopy Pilots with the PD Factory Team (Shannon Pilcher, Ian Bobo) and the 4-way world champion of 2004 and 2006 (Gary Smith) also know that another team will take Excalibur away from DeLand in August this year.

Three of the top contenders for the 4-way sword, Airspeed Odyssey, France Maubeuge and Black Cat, competed in DeLand and showed clearly that they will make it very difficult for each other in France later this year. The missing top contender, Hayabusa Defence, will post the team's first 2008 scores next weekend at the World Challenge 2008.

The third round of the Skins Game was sponsored by Airtec, manufacturer of the Cypres. Perris Fury posted the third highest score of the round with a clean 43-pointer, won Round 6 after handicap and added $300 cash to the $200 of the Skins Game in Round 4.

All 27 teams in DeLand last weekend combined for 18 penalties in Round 6. UK team Satori suffered the most with a total loss of four points.