posted Apr 4th, 2005 - The AAA Class competition of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005 did not offer new surprises in round three. DeLand Fire confirmed the team's top position after surprising the field by taking the lead in round two. In fact, Fire added one point to the lead over the Golden Knights.

However, DeLand Fire's 24 points were not the highest score of the round this time. The Italian national 4-way team, Sinapsi PD, made its first 2005 statement in this third jump of the 10-round competition. The NSL News had introduced the Sinapsi PD plans with a complete story on January 28. NSL News stories in December 2004 had also covered the Italian team's new line-up with Pete Allum.

The FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005 was the first serious test for Pete Allum (Tail), Arianna de Benedetti (Center Outside), Luca Marchioro (Center Inside) and Livio Piccolo (Point). Thomas Hughes, Allum's former teammate with Sebastian XL, filmed the Italian team in DeLand, while he was doing his video job for DeLand Fire at the same time.

It was a challenge for the team with the new Tail. The three members of the past years are used to the right-hand pattern, which Sinapsi PD has always applied due to the team's training from right-hand doors of the jump planes in Italy. The team decided to continue with this basic concept when Allum joined Sinapsi PD.

Allum was a part of the XL front piece for several years. The left-hand pattern of the Twinotter was the basic concept for the British team, even though the 2003 season required right-door exits for all the national teams attending the Mondial 2003 in France. The Italian continuity plan and the new slot in the rear piece challenged Allum to overhaul his whole muscle memory and technical experience.

The 19.5 meet average after ten rounds in DeLand was not the highest result of the Italian team's competition career. The 2003 line-up with Marco Arrigo finished the 2003 world meet in France with a 20.3 average and missed the bronze medal by one single point in Croatia 2004 with a 21.0 average. However, the 2005 line-up began the training in January 2005 and did not have a lot of time to prepare for the Shamrock Showdown in March. Sinapsi PD still kept in touch with the top scorers in most of the rounds and had the team's own peaks in rounds three and five.

Moreover, a closer look at the team's data shows that Sinapsi PD will soon not only catch up with the best meet averages of the previous line-up but will most likely also get even further. The numbers of the first three rounds in DeLand speak its own language, compared to Italy's data of the world meet in Croatia 2004:

This year's average times of the Blocks 9 and 16 are already better compared to Sinapsi PD's 21.0 average meet in Croatia. The best times of the six blocks show even more potential. Four blocks have already faster times compared to last year's numbers. Block 20 was not drawn for the ten rounds in Croatia. However, Sinapsi PD's average time of 2.60 seconds in DeLand was the best one compared to all other teams that have already shown Block 20 this year (Airspeed Velocity: 2.85, Fastrax: 2.85, DeLand Majik: 2.80, Airspeed Odyssey: 2.70, DeLand Fire: 2.70) and tied with the Golden Knights average for Block 20.

Sinapsi PD's random work seems to beat the team's 2004 numbers, as well, at least at this point of the Shamrock Showdown. The NSL News will continue to compare the numbers round by round. The Italian national 4-way team will have the next showing at the Malevsky World Cup 2005 in early July.