posted Apr 13th, 2004 - The NSL-TV now continues with the coverage of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2004. Round three is currently featured, which was one of the fastest sequences of the competition (H-B-M-4). It was also the second time in the first three rounds that Italy's Sinapsi PD won the highest score for a round over DeLand Majik. Majik lost round one by one point due to a penalty, won round two by three points with an Italian penalty and gave away round three by one point. Neither Majik nor Sinapsi PD had any deductions in this round. It was a clean and true affair and one of the best rounds for the Italian team in DeLand.

However, fact was that Sinapsi PD had won two of the first three rounds and was one point behind Majik. It was still the start into the competition that many people had hoped for. These three rounds promised a tight race between the U.S. team and the Italian national team. The DeLand home team was still not too impressed. Majik took total control after round three and posted the highest scores for each of the following six rounds. Sinapsi managed only once to tie the DeLand team during this stretch. Genesis finished close behind the two top teams (26 - 25) with a score of 24 points.

DeLand Mojo members Matt Norris and Robert Chromy study the competition draw at the  Holiday Inn reception

The NSL News already covered the situation behind DeLand Majik, Sinapsi PD and Genesis with the meet story of the Danez and Sebastian Teiwaz. There was more exciting competition in the AAA Class of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2004. DeLand Mojo, Optic Nerve, V2 from the United Kingdom and 42 from Sweden battled it out in their own race for the sixth place and posted excellent scores for teams of the "amateur" status. Each of these teams posted or tied the highest score for a round at least once within the first six rounds. V2 and 42 did only the six rounds of the first day, while DeLand Mojo and Optic Nerve completed the ten rounds on Sunday.

DeLand Mojo member Alex Pincus (left) with Spaceland Inferno

DeLand Mojo consists of Robert Chromy (center inside), Scott Franklin (point), Alex Pincus (tail), Matt Norris (center outside) and Ray Dutch (video). Chromy and Franklin competed with Teiwaz in 2003. Pincus was a Spaceland Inferno member and had won the Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2003 with a 14.7 meet average in Lake Wales. Norris was an Angry Beez member in 2002 when the Carolina team was a part of the dramatic battle with Nemesis for the Advanced Class gold medal at the USPA Nationals in Ottawa. The Shamrock Showdown was the first competition for new team that will surely come up with other great results this year.

DeLand Mojo finished on the top of this four-team competition on the first day of the meet and kept the upper hand over Optic Nerve for the remainder of the meet. However, both teams exchanged blows round by round. Optic Nerve with Dr. Joel Shugar, Scott Keeler, Joey Jones and Doug Park won three rounds over DeLand Mojo and tied them in three of the ten rounds. Mojo won four rounds and the whole meet by five points with a 13.4 average.

FSLShamrock Showdown		Rd.1	Rd.2	Rd.3	Rd.4	Rd.5	Rd.6	Rd.7	Rd.8	Rd.9	Rd.10	Total	Av.
Rank	AAAClass - Teams	F-K-17-7	D-P-12-9	H-B-M-4	15-2-13	J-C-16-1	21-22-O	20-18-3	8-14-E	19-10-11	Q-6-L-G	Total	Av.
6	DeLand Mojo	16	14 (-2)	17 (-1)	11	15	13	9	13	11	15	134	13.4
7	Optic Nerve	14 (-2)	15	16 (-2)	12	15	13	6	13	9	16	129	12.9
8	V2	14 (-2)	15	16	10	14	11	-	-	-	-	80	13.3
9	42	14	13	17	11	12	12	-	-	-	-	79	13.2

Event coach Mathias Nord with Swedish team 42 at the mock-up

V2 from the United Kingdom is one of the contenders for the British 4-way slot at this year's World Meet in Croatia. The 13.3 meet average after six rounds included the highest score between these four teams in round two. 42 is the Swedish national 4-way team. Mathias Nord, former member of several Swedish national teams, is 42's coach and also helped other teams at the DeLand meet as the event coach. 42 tied the highest score for round three with DeLand Mojo and finished the competition with a 13.2 meet average after six rounds. Another UK team, 4Motion, competed in the AAA Class of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2004 and posted a 9.2 meet average after six rounds.The A Class competition will be next. The video files for the whole round three of the meet can be downloaded or viewed at the NSL-TV page. Enjoy the show.