posted Feb 18th, 2008 - The scores of the first six rounds of the Valentine's Meet 2008 have now been posted, and there was no Russian team in Eloy last weekend, neither Crossroads nor Kaktus Hunter. However, Kaktus Hunter is registered for the World Challenge 2008 and will post the team's first scores of the 2008 season at Bodyflight Bedford in March. Several teams continued on Sunday and completed ten rounds. The missing scores will be posted very soon.

The scores of the first six rounds provided already a lot of interesting information. Airspeed Odyssey added four more rounds to the record series of scores with 20 points and up. However, the streak ended after 45 competition jumps in Round 5 of the Valentine's Meet last Saturday.

The slow sequence (22-18-J) did not allow Airspeed Odyssey to begin the 2008 season the same way as it has been since March 2007. The biggest obstacle that eventually brought the end to the 20-point series was the right-hand door of the Pilatus Porter, as Craig Girard confirmed after the completion of the meet:

"We were performing well and had good exits. However, we are far from having the same confidence and energy level as from the Twinotter. The left-hand door feels like home, and we can go full speed right out the door. It surely still feels differently from the Pilatus Porter."

Perris Fury jumped from the Twinotter and had a bad start into the meet. Fury lost six and three points to Odyssey in the first two rounds, several of them due to penalties. It speaks for Fury's mental strength that the team came back strongly and staid very close to Odyssey in the remaining four rounds on Saturday. In fact, Fury was exactly one point behind the US national team round by round.

Canada's LeMay family team Evolution and the Eutelia Spin Team from Italy gave the Valentine's Meet 2008 the international atmosphere. Both teams are well known for the NSL News audience. Evolution will soon be back to its winter training location in DeLand, and the NSL News plans to catch up with the team. Several recent news stories also covered the Italian team and its dispute with the Italian association for the status as the national team for the 2008 season.

Arizona Directe, Arizona Divewerkz and Far East completed the AAA Class field. The current lineups of the teams will be added soon. Arizona Divewerkz already informed the NSL News that former Airspeed member Chad Smith has replaced Murel Addison in the Center Outside position, due to scheduling conflicts with his job.

Eight teams competed in the AA Class competition. Two teams came back in the same competition class from the 2007 season, Black Ice and Cold Fusion. The other six teams are new to the list of team names on the NSL list. The lineups of the AA Class teams will also be added to the team pages as soon as possible.