posted Aug 5th, 2009 - Germany's defending champion, FSC Eisenach-Paratec, was ready for top performance at the right time. Challenged by former champion EADS and X-Ray Remscheid at the German Nationals 2009 Eisenach has delivered in each Round so far and topped the 4-way feature with a new German record, a 33-pointer in Round 5.

Former 4-way champion and national team EADS owned this record until today after scoring a 32-pointer at a previous Nuggets Cup in Germany. EADS scored 28 points in the same round this morning and had to watch how Eisenach used the fast sequence (B-C-17-E) to steal the highscore. The video of this jump, along with Eisenach's other jumps at the German Nationals 2009, can already be viewed at the team's website.

FSC Eisenach has always liked fast sequences and taken advantage of them in the team's history. The new record score added five points to the lead over EADS and four points over X-Ray Remscheid. Eisenach now has a comfortable lead and seems to be in a safe position on the top of the leaderboard. The leader has won three of the five rounds, tied Round 1 and gave up only one point to EADS in Round 2.

Incognito Leutkirch was not able to copy in the female category what FSC Eisenach-Paratec did in the Open Class. Rounds 4 and 5 were supposed to be Incognito's opportunity to catch up with the Chicas and possibly take the lead. It did not happen.

Chicas' 4-way veterans were ready for the challenge of the faster sequences after gaining confidence in the three opening rounds. They lost only one point in Round 4 and then outscored Incognito by three points in Round 5.

The Chicas now have an unexpected 4-point lead after five rounds. They can play out their great competition experiences from here on and continue without too much pressure. It will become increasingly difficult with each round for Incognito to catch up.

Germany is the only country that consequently runs a separate category for the female 4-way teams at the national championship, as the event has its own category at IPC's World Meets and World Cups, as well. Two other teams, Air Bubbles and Triple X, are competing together with the Chicas and Incognito Leutkirch at the German Nationals 2009 and are listed separately by the German federation. The NSL leaderboard is ranking these four teams together with the other AAA Class teams.

A team from Germany's capitol city Berlin, which is home at Mike Vetter's GoJump skydiving center in Gransee, has changed the situation on the top of the A Class leaderboard. PSV Fire, with Katja Düring (Center Inside), Bernd Düring (Point), Sascha Spyra (Center Outside), Rene Teske (Tail) and videographer Michel Behrendt in the lineup, was in 2nd place at the end of the first day and waited patiently for an opportunity to get closer to the top.

It happened in Round 4 this morning when Pacmen had a weak round and PSV Fire surprised the field with an 11-pointer highscore.

The Berlin team used the momentum and followed up with another sole highscore for Round 5. It is still only a 2-point lead so far, and Pacmen will surely try to come back strongly. Round 6 is in progress.