posted Oct 7th, 2010 - The NSL News goes back to the USPA Nationals 2010 and the coverage of the Advanced Class competition.

The story on 11 September 2010 had the defending champions as the topic, the SDC Furies, who were not eligible to compete again for USPA Advanced Class medals. The story on 20 September 2010 followed up with the new Advanced Class champion, Carolina Turbo XP.

Turbo won on a scoring and performance level that was far beyond the winning average of 2009 and all other Advanced Class teams this year. The 14.5 average beat the Golden Knights Black lineup in the Open Class and was very close to the scores of the Australian guest team Heat.

USPA Nationals 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	Advanced Class	16,21,11	3,L,K,10	6,22,1	12,20,4	Q,M,2,N	H,D,9,G	19,5,13	F,E,17,O	C,8,7	A,18,14	Total	Avg
1	Carolina Turbo XP	11	13	13	12	17	19	12	21	15	12	145	14.5
2	Fallout	13	10	12	10	17	19	10	20	15	13	139	13.9
3	Quattro	10	10	10	12	18	18	12	15	14	11	130	13.0
4	Spaceland Lite	11	11	11	9	13	18	12	20	13	11	129	12.9
4	Perris H Ball	11	11	9	10	15	19	12	17	14	11	129	12.9
6	Teiwaz	10	10	8	8	16	16	9	20	14	11	122	12.2
7	SDC Furies	10	11	11	9	16	16	12	14	11	11	121	12.1

Advanced Class teams at the USPA Nationals 2010

It was still interesting to compare the scores of the other Advanced Class teams with last year's results and across the two leaderboards of the Open and the Advanced Class.

The Furies' 2009 winning average of 13.1 would have been good enough for the bronze medals this year. The team's 12.1 average in the 2010 Open Class competition would not have won any medals at the USPA Nationals 2010. Six Advanced Class teams scored higher than the Furies, as the combined NSL leaderboard shows. It is difficult to understand why the defending champions were not allowed to compete in the same category with teams of the same performance level.

Ranch Fallout placed 2nd with the same lineup and a 12.9 average in 2009, two points behind the Furies. Fallout came back this year and finished with a 13.9 average, far ahead of the Furies. It was still not enough to win the gold medals. However, Fallout has the opportunity to compete again in the Advanced Class, while the Furies have to continue in the Open Class.

USPA Nationals 2009		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	Advanced Class	13,20,18	D,10,3	16,15,K	G,Q,L,8	B,17,21	A,N,H,P,O	1,14,M	19,12,J	5,11,C	22,9,E	Total	Avg
1	SDC Furies XP	11	11	9	11	14	23	14	12	12	14	131	13.1
2	Ranch Fallout	9	12	11	14	14	21	11	10	12	15	129	12.9
3	Spaceland Havoc	10	12	11	13	13	18	10	11	10	13	121	12.1
4	Cross Keys Aerodyne	10	11	9	10	14	17	13	10	12	14	120	12.0

It is also interesting to see that both teams on the top of the Advanced Class leaderboard launched the 2010 season at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010. This event has accurately indicated many results of the major events later in the same season over the years, including the new French 4-way world champions, Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge. Registration for the Shamrock Showdown 2011 is open...

Carolina Turbo XP had started with a 13.0 average in March in DeLand and finished with a 14.5 average at the USPA Nationals. Fallout posted a 13.1 average right in front of Turbo at the Shamrock Showdown and finished with a 13.9 average in September. This time, Turbo came out six points ahead of Fallout.

There was actually a third Advanced Class team that had competed at the Shamrock Showdown, as well. Teiwaz outscored Turbo and Fallout both in DeLand with a 13.4 average. However, it was one of the many Teiwaz lineups, and a different one with only two Shamrock members competed after two training jumps at the USPA Nationals. That was not enough to keep up with the well prepared Turbo and Fallout lineups half a year later.