posted Apr 11th, 2007 - NSL-TV begins with the end this time. The videos recorded by the actual camera for the judges at the World Challenge 2007 are not available yet. However, the NSL News camera captured portions of the final showdown from the screen in the tunnel hangar. The quality is not perfect, but it still allows the viewer to see the different engineering.

Team Fastrax builds the Side Flake Opal of Block 3 with the Point in the singler flyer slot who comes from the second position in the second Cat of Block 15. The Center Inside and third position of the Cat is in the Compressed Accordean position of the piece. The Center Outside is the point of the Side Flake Opal, and the Tail closes the piece.

This is currently the most common configuration for Block 3. Airspeed Odyssey reduced the moves to build the Side Flake Donut by building the Compressed Accordean between the Point and the Tail of the second Cat. The Point of the Cat is the single flyer and takes turns with the Center Outside page by page. The Center Inside closes the piece.

The video also shows why Airspeed Odyssey and Team Fastrax were happy with their performances. Both teams were flawless and went the same pace. Only the engineering was different and gave Odyssey the advantage. The difference was two points (28 - 26), and it was very close.

Odyssey just completed the second Cat with the last frame on the CamScore system. Team Fastrax had already broken the Bow and needed a few tenths of a second to build the first Cat of Block 15. A 1-point difference in the last round would have caused a tie-breaker round.

The video also brings across the live atmosphere in the tunnel hangar when all teams and competitors on site watched the final showdown. Odyssey and Fastrax members were in the middle of the crowd and congratulated each other right after the viewing of the videos.

The NSL News interviewed both teams a few minutes later, and the videos of these interviews will be processed and uploaded very soon. The video of the two final round can be viewed by clicking here.