... that the next Airspeed videos still don't answer the question?
posted Mar 5th, 2009 -
The NSL News goes back to the story on 3 March 2009. The first two meet videos of Airspeed Odyssey's season opener at the Valentine's Meet 2009 were uploaded that day and brought no answer yet to the question how the current 4-way world champions created an 18-point distance to Perris Fury after ten rounds.
Scores of Airspeed Odyssey and Perris Fury at the Valentine's Meet 2009
The videos of the next three rounds are now available for reviews. They will still not make it much easier to explain the situation after ten rounds in Eloy. In fact, the videos of Round 3 make it even more difficult.
It makes it more interesting to review the Perris Fury video of Round 3 first and then follow up with Airspeed's video. Perris Fury had a good round, and it seems as if there would not be much room for another team to gain a lot. It still does not look much different after watching the Airspeed video.
Airspeed Odyssey's Round 3 at the Valentine's Meet 2009 - see video
Even the scores indicate that both teams were close to each other in Round 3. However, the results of the jumps were obviously very different compared to what the first impressions indicate. Yes, the teams were only separated by one single point on the scoreboard (21 - 20), and Perris Fury won the first round over Airspeed already quite early in the meet. Reality was still very different.
Round 3 was the jump when Airspeed Odyssey's videographer Steve Nowak lost his team after the exit, as the NSL-TV video shows and as Craig Girard already mentioned when he updated the NSL News live on the meet weekend.
First page of Airspeed Odyssey's Round 3 at the Valentine's Meet 2009 - see video
It was a painful and very unusual experience for Airspeed Odyssey. Steve Nowak is one of the most experienced team videographers in the history of the sport and has won uncounted medals at world meets and national championships. It was probably the first time in his competition career that he lost four points in the judging room for an Airspeed lineup.
Steve Nowak filmed Airspeed already in 1999 when the legendary lineup with Jack Jefferies, Dan BC, Kirk Verner and Mark Kirkby won the silver medals behind France at the World Meet in Australia. He was off duty when Airspeed won the gold medals in Spain 2001 and came back in 2003 when Airspeed Vertical ended up in 3rd place at the USPA Nationals.
Airspeed Odyssey's Round 4 at the Valentine's Meet 2009 - see video
Steve Nowak with Airspeed Odyssey in Maubeuge 2008
He took another longer break in 2005 and came back when Airspeed videographer Will Pesek retired at the end of the 2007 season.
Steve Nowak picked it up again at the beginning of the 2008 season and has been with Airspeed Odyssey ever since. He is currently the reigning 4-way world champion after winning the gold medals in France 2008.
The exit situation on the video in Round 3 of the Valentine's Meet was obviously a very unusual and surprising incident for Steve Nowak and his team. It caused a 4-point damage, which is the reason why Perris Fury won the round by a point. It also showed how incredibly important the camera slot has become for a 4-way team.
Airspeed Odyssey's Round 5 at the Valentine's Meet 2009 - see video
However, the unfortunate 4-point damage for Airspeed Odyssey was hiding the fact that the world champions actually completed 24 points in working time, while Perris Fury had a great round and ended up with a 21-pointer. It was the highscore for the round, and is still brought up the same question: how did Airspeed Odyssey manage to complete three additional points in working time in this round and 18 points after ten rounds? This topic can still be commented and discussed in the poll's forum.
