posted Nov 22nd, 2012 - The USPA Nationals 2012 always feature many different internal battles within the meet and on the same leaderboard, and only a few of them get the deserved attention.

One of those battles took place right behind the teams who have received their attention earlier. It included another shooting star in US 4way competition that the NSL News has followed since the beginning of the 2009 season when the team later won the gold medals in the AA/Intermediate Class at the USPA Nationals 2009.

VTSD was the team name by then, and it changed to Carolina Turbo XP for the 2010 season. The race between Turbo and AZPlosion was actually the most exciting one on USPA's Open Class leaderboard, as it was the only internal battle that ended tied between both teams after the ten meet rounds in Eloy.

USPA Nationals 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	3,B,K,H	F,7,22	O,4,D,13	A,M,11,8	N,P,G,19	L,20,1	5,16,J	6,21,12	18,17,10	E,C,Q,15	Total	Avg
6	Paraclete XP4 (US)	22	19	17	20	23	17	19	15	15	23	190	19.0
7	Carolina Turbo XP (US)	22	18	16	19	21	15	20	15	14	19	179	17.9
7	AZ Plosion (US)	21	17	17	19	21	17	17	15	13	22	179	17.9
9	SDC Furies XP (US)	21	19	17	18	19	15	20	14	12	17	172	17.2

Carolina Turbo XP's scoring progression could be a copy of SDC Rhythm XP's, and there are other similarities. Turbo has intensified the training efforts year by year and is now ready to go full time. Skydive Carolina in Chester, with General Manager James La Barrie in charge, has been supporting Turbo and will continue to help the team get to the 4way top level.

Turbo had launched the 2012 season with an 18.1 average at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championships 2012 and finished up almost on the same scoring level at an outdoor competition. In between, Turbo attended the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 and two meets of the Carolina Skydiving League 2012 season.

Turbo has also added an 8way lineup to the team's project at Skydive Carolina and won gold medals in the Intermediate Class with TurbOcho. General Manager James La Barrie provided the NSL News with additional information related to the team project and the recent sucess of the 8way team.

USPA National Skydiving Championships 2012

TurboOcho Dedicates Gold to Teammate Hit by a Drunk Driver

Team Carolina TurbOcho arrived at this years USPA National Championships with one objective: win gold and dedicate it to their teammate who currently lays in a coma at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, SC.

On September 8th, Alan Martinez was traveling from his home in Columbia, SC to Skydive Carolina to join his teammates for a day of training in preparation for the USPA National Championships at the end of October in Eloy, Arizona. Leaving his home at 6:15am, Mr. Martinez never made it to the skydive center as he was hit head-on by a drunk driver traveling southbound in the northbound lane.

On Wednesday, October 31st Team Carolina TurbOcho took the podium and received their gold medals. In skydiving, all teams have an alternate who remains on standby in case someone on the team is unable to compete. The TurbOcho alternate named on the roster for the US Nationals was Alan Martinez who will receive a gold medal as part of this winning team. The team will travel to Alan’s hospital and deliver his gold medal personally.