posted Oct 19th, 2020 - There have been only two jump-off rounds for gold medals in the last 20 years of 4-way Open Class competition at USPA Nationals, the first one in 2005, between Golden Knights and DeLand Fire, the second one last year, between Arizona Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP.

One competitor connects both events directly with each other, Airspeed XP8 member Matt Davidson. He is the only 4-way competitor in the United States with the experiences of these two jump-offs, which are separated by 14 years.

The NSL News discovered video footage in the archives that was recorded throughout the USPA Nationals 2005 and includes the dramatic conclusion of the event. It was a meaningful Round 11 in 2005, similar to the situation at Paraclete XP last year. The USPA Nationals 2005 was the qualification event for the FAI World Meet 2006, where DeLand Fire won the gold medals. Last year's USPA Nationals qualified SDC Rhythm XP for the FAI Mondial 2020 in Tanay next year, where they will challenge NMP PCH HayaBusa for the next gold medals.

SDC Rhythm XP were not yet on the 4-way landscape, and NMP PCH HayaBusa were in their second year when Matt Davidson competed for the Golden Knights in 4-way and went into the jump-off round in 2005. SDC Rhythm XP were his new opponents for the extra round last year, and NMP PCH HayaBusa witnessed his next jump-off round, this time with Arizona Airspeed and one again for the USPA 4-way gold medals.

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USPA Nationals 2005		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	2,A,19	F,20,D,9	C,21,N,11	15,M,8	4,6,P	5,1,H	22,7,12	3,K,16	E,17,14	13,18,J	O,G,B,L,Q	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Fire	22	27	22	20	18	21	17	21	22	20	36	210	21.0
2	Golden Knights	21	27	21	20	22	22	17	19	23	18	34	210	21.0
3	Airspeed Odyssey	21	26	20	19	20	20	17	20	22	18	-	203	20.3
4	DeLand Majik	20	25	19	19	17	20	16	20	18	18	-	192	19.2
5	Fastrax	20	26	20	19	18	18	15	19	19	17	-	191	19.1
6	Airspeed Velocity	21	23	21	16	17	17	15	18	22	18	-	188	18.8
7	Phugoid	18	20	12	15	16	16	12	16	17	15	-	157	15.7
8	Perris Fury	17	19	17	15	13	14	14	15	17	15	-	156	15.6
9	Perris Synchronicity	16	19	17	15	15	15	12	15	17	13	-	154	15.4
10	Spaceland Thunder	15	19	15	16	15	15	13	15	16	13	-	152	15.2
11	Fastrax Select	16	17	15	15	15	15	11	14	14	13	-	145	14.5
12	Spark	14	18	13	15	14	16	13	13	14	14	-	144	14.4
12	GKOG	16	18	13	16	16	10	12	15	16	12	-	144	14.4
14	Arizona Directe	14	17	15	14	15	13	11	16	14	13	-	142	14.2
15	Aerodyne Mamba	14	14	12	13	11	13	12	11	13	12	-	125	12.5
16	Dallas Mojo	12	15	13	10	13	13	11	13	14	10	-	124	12.4
17	Element Perris	14	14	13	11	12	12	10	13	12	10	-	121	12.1
18	Kachina	10	14	10	11	11	12	9	10	13	10	-	110	11.0

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DeLand Fire and Golden Knights with Round 10 at the USPA Nationals 2005 - NSL-TV Unfiltered of the same event

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The history of Matt Davidson's teams at both events was different, as he was the challenger in Perris 2005 while competing for the defending 4-way champion at Paraclete XP last year.

The Golden Knights 4-way lineup of 2002 (Eric Heinsheimer, John Hoover, Kurt Isenbarger, Chris Talbert, Sean Capegreco on camera) had won the USPA 4-way title and lost it a year later against DeLand Majik. The U.S. Army team still continued with the focus on 4-way and came back with a new lineup, including Matt Davidson (John Hoover, Brian Krause, Brooks Weiner, Larry Miller on camera), and they ended up once again behind DeLand Majik in 2004. However, the U.S. Army team was aiming at the 4-way title in 2005, which would qualify the team for the FAI World Meet in 2006.

Matt Davidson continued with the same lineup, while the opponent was a different one a year later. DeLand Majik member Gary Smith, new 4-way world champion of 2004, was back as a player-coach with DeLand Fire (Natasha Montgomery, Shannon Pilcher, Ian Bobo, Eric Taylor on camera).

The Golden Knights knew that DeLand Fire would be a worthy opponent after finishing three points behind at the Shamrock Showdown 2005. It was probably still a surprise that the new team was tied with the experienced U.S. Army team after Round 10 in Perris.

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USPA Nationals 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Class		7,C,H,P		J,21,20		O,3,11		B,2,K,E		8,Q,10		15,D,F,12		N,L,M,14		6,1,9		A,18,13		G,4,5		17,16,22		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	45	-1	24		27		37		21		25		34		25	-1	26	-1	25	-4	-		289	28.9
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	41		22		21	-1	33		21		23		27		25		24		25		21	-1	262	26.2
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	40	-1	24		22	-2	32		19	-2	24		29		25		21	-2	26	-1	20	-2	262	26.2
4	Defiance	US	30	-1	21		15	-4	28		16		19		22	-3	21		18	-1	18	-1	-		208	20.8
5	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	26		19		19		24	-2	16	-1	17	-1	24		18	-1	19		19		-		201	20.1
6	Kinetix	AU	26		18		17		22		13	-1	17		18	-1	17		17		17		-		182	18.2
7	Lite XP	US	24	-1	17		17		22		15		17		20	-2	16	-1	14		17		-		179	17.9
8	No Name	US	22	-4	17		14		19	-2	12	-2	13		14	-3	15		14		16		-		156	15.6
9	Aviatrixx	US	21		14		13	-1	18	-1	12	-2	15		17	-1	14	-1	12		14		-		150	15.0
10	Perris Force	US	20		13	-1	14		18		11	-1	11		18	-1	13	-1	12		12	-1	-		142	14.2

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SDC Rhythm XP and Arizona Airspeed at the USPA Nationals 2019

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Matt Davidson's second jump-off for USPA gold in 4-way Open had a very different background. Arizona Airspeed were the defending 4-way champions and had not lost against a U.S. team at an outdoor competition since 2007, and the 2018 lineup (Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Thiago Gomes, Ari Perelman, David French on camera) had finished only two points behind NMP PCH HayaBusa at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018.

Arizona Airspeed were the undisputed favorites going into the 2019 season with the same lineup and finished well ahead of SDC Rhythm XP at the first three indoor meets last year (Wind Games, Paraclete XP, World Challenge), even though the U.S. challenger performed on a higher level.

Things changed and brought Matt Davidson into the picture when Ari Perelman left Airspeed after the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019. The lineup with substitute Matt Davidson in the point slot had only a few months of outdoor training to get ready for the USPA title defense.

It was still a close call, as Airspeed's new lineup kept up with the well trained Rhythm lineup of the last four years (2016 - 2019) throughout the ten rounds. Then came the second extra round in U.S. 4-way history for Matt Davidson, and the new drama at Paraclete XP had the same ending for him. However, this time he will still compete at the world meet that he missed in 2006. Airspeed XP8 represents the United States in Tanay next year.