posted Mar 14th, 2007 -
All three top teams of the Valentine's Meet 2007 have access to a wind tunnel close by. The French team has to travel from Maubeuge to Paris to train in a 16-footer. Airspeed Odyssey has a 14-footer on home turf, and Perris Fury can train in the 12-footer at Perris Valley Skydiving.
Airspeed Odyssey's Round 8 at the Valentine's Meet 2007 - see video
The sequence of Round 8 (14-9-C) required only individual flying, and it seems as if Airspeed Odyssey had the best tunnel training prior to the meet. Andy Delk, Craig Girard, Mark Kirkby and Eliana Rodriguez delivered a flawless performance, and Will Pesek contributed his perfect part on camera.
Airspeed Odyseey's video is significantly different compared to France Maubeuge's and even Perris Fury's videos. Will Pesek fills the whole screen, while there is a lot of empty space on the other two videos. France Maubeuge still received all of the 23 points that were completed within working time.
Perris Fury's Round 8 at the Valentine's Meet 2007 - see video
Perris Fury was not so lucky. Chris Farina, Christy Frikken, Josh Hall and Uli Steuwe actually completed 24 points in time and were only two random transitions behind Odyssey. However, the Perris team lost two points, either both due to infringements, or possibly one of them by timing. The NSL News audience can once again help to find the flaws.
Airspeed Odyssey came back from the lost Round 7 like a champion team would. The previous round was digested and history, and the new round was a different ball game. Odyssey was not too far from completing even the next Block 14 (Bipole - Bipole) within working time (35.44 seconds) for a 27-pointer.
France Mabeuge's Round 8 at the Valentine's Meet 2007 - see video
The 26-pointer for Round 8 was good enough for Odyssey to put things back in place. France Maubeuge and Perris Fury were allowed to get close once in a while, but the home team maintained or gained back control at any time. It would be difficult for any team to beat the 26 points in this round, as the Fastrax members already mentioned when they reviewed the Airspeed videos earlier. Two more days are left before both teams will compete directly with each other at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007.
