posted Sep 8th, 2007 - Round 5 seems to be an important round when the USPA Nationals come to Skydive Chicago. The Golden Knights used Round 5 in 2002 to create enough distance to Airspeed Vertical and DeLand Majik and carry the lead over the finish line.

Airspeed Odyssey made the strongest statement of the USPA Nationals 2007 in Round 5 of this year's event. Odyssey was already two points ahead of Team Fastrax Red after Round 4. However, the 32-pointer in Round 5 made it a 5-point difference, which seems to be enough to wrap it up.

All other teams had good jumps, as well, as the scores tell. That's the reason why the 32-pointer means even more. Airspeed Odyssey looks so strong and fast and technically perfect that it is difficult to imagine that anybody could make up the difference. However, there are five more rounds to come, and everything is still possible.

Mass Defiance presents the fast sequence of Round 5. The sympathetic team from New England is on its way to post the first 20-point average. It is a 19.8 average after the first half, and the second half doesn't seem to be much slower. Four teams have not scored below 20 points for a round yet...

The NSL News coverage of the USPA Nationals 2007 is brought to you with the help of:

The NSL News found some time to speak a few minutes with Gary Smith who traveled from the Netherlands to Illinois and helps Team Fastrax Red through the competition. He explains the situation in the middle of the competition and mentions that it is unfortunate that the teams don't know the results of the jumps: "My engineering depends on the situation in the meet. I can take chances or go safe."

The video of the interview can be viewed by Hayabusa Defence's Round 1 at the FAI World Cup 2007 - clicking here.