posted Aug 9th, 2006 - An early start on Wednesday morning helped to complete the 3rd round in 8-way and to get quite far in the 4-way Open Class competition, as well. Unfortunately, the meet was on a weather hold once again at 9:00 am. The teams are on a stand-by status and might be called to the planes at any time.

The NSL News walked around the boarding and party area yesterday to capture the atmosphere when the teams get ready for the next jump. These are still the early rounds of the meet, but the crowd treats the teams as if it was already the final round. The video includes the Russian Sky Panthers Barkli and DeLand Fire before the dramatic second round. The video can be viewed by clicking here.

The jumps in the 8-way competition this morning completed the 3rd round. Only Russia's RT Evolution Pro, Arizona Airspeed and France Maubeuge NPC had not done their third rounds yesterday. The new scores, the standings and the videos of the jumps show that France has now taken a very strong position.

It will become very difficult for the US team to catch up or even keep up with the French performance. Airspeed put very much energy into round three and still finished two points behind France. The Maubeuge engine runs in high gear and is very clean at the same time. It seems very unlikely that this 8-way team would make any major mistakes. And that's what Airspeed needs very badly...

Russia is too far behind the two top teams and safe in 3rd place. The 23-pointer in round three was only one point behind Airspeed. It will probably be Russia's goal to post a highscore for a round here and there. Italy had two excellent jumps in rounds two and three and took a 3-point lead over Germany. Round four is now in progress.

The 4-way Open Class teams have already been in the air, as well. Only the six top teams are missing. France's Gap Nice Icarius Autrement, the "pickup team" for the world meet, already posted a 23-pointer for the 3rd round after a very fast and aggressive performance. Canada's family team Evolution surprised its contenders of the meet with the second highest score at the moment, a 19-pointer for D-19-B-6.

Stay tuned, the engines of the jump planes are running again.

DeLand Fire's round three in the viewing area

DeLand Fire ripped another round. The 25-pointer in round three beat Russia and France by two points and Sinapsi PD by three points. Belgium's Spa Hayabusa has not made the jump yet. This puts DeLand Fire five points ahead of Italy and Russia in second place, and this distance is surely surprising.

The NSL News happened to be in the public viewing area when DeLand Fire's jump was on the screen for the first time after landing. Only Fire's point, Natasha Montgomery, sat comfortably in a bean bag and watched her own jump together with the crowd. She liked it...

Click here to watch the video.

Belgiums gives up a point after missing the plane

It was not Spa Hayabusa, it was the Belgium 8-way team that missed the plane. The meet management allowed the team to make the jump at a later time. However, a penalty was assigned to the jump, and the 9-pointer in working time turned into an 8-pointer on the scoreboard.

The rules and the interpretation by the jury came to the conclusion that 20% of the total score would be decucted in this case. The 1-point deduction is surely better than a zero. The NSL News waits for information why the Belgian 4-way team has no score yet for round three.

TV production teams from Russia and France have arrived at the competition site and follow their national teams around. France will be glad to hear and see the good news from the World Meet. Russia has performed behind the expectations so far, at least in the female 4-way category. However, all Russian teams are still in medal positions and in contention.