Day 1

Round 1 of the USPA Nationals was about as good of a round 1 as you can get, a nice sequence, not too fast and no memory. Airspeed and Fastrax both scored a 23 but Fastrax were busted down to a 22 after a slipped grip on an 11 close.

Round 2 posted some very high for the round, both Fastrax and Airspeed scored the top score for the round, finishing the random page and starting on block 12, a higher score than that would not be possible for this jump.

A very rough round 3 for Fastrax, they still managed to equal the high score of 26 for the round posted by Airspeed.

Fastrax Red lost a point to Airspeed and the Knights in round 4 putting the team 2 points down from Airspeed and 4 up on the Golden Knights.

Round 5 saw the best jump of the meet coming from Airspeed. Fastrax and the Knights both posted a 29, Airspeed ran away with the jump and scored a 32!! It was a pretty amazing jump to watch.

Round 6 for Fastrax was one that they know they were not going to have the top score on. Block 19 had been a bit of a problem block for the team all year, Fastrax lost 3 more points to Airspeed and tied with the Knights at 21’s.

Round 7 had yet again the version of block 3 that was weaker for Fastrax Red. The team also had the same block 3 come up at the World Challenge in Bedford. The team trained it hard after losing to Airspeed in rd 10 back in Bedford, although good, the confidence was in the other block. The irony to the year is the version of block 3 that normally comes up most is the one that Red is more comfortable with. Unfortunately for them, the other one came up 2 out of 3 meets This concluded the first day.

Day 2

Round 8, Fastrax managed to pick up 1 point on Airspeed. Both teams had different engineering. The finish of the 13 left every body facing the wrong way to the bow. Most teams decided to take the shorter bow, keeping everyone facing the same direction and give the long turn Mark on the tail into block 2. Red decided to take a standard H with the longer rotation and a standard 2 for familiarity giving the long but standard move to Thomas. The decision paid off, Fastrax picked up 1 point on Airspeed and 3 points on the Knights increasing the distance from the Army team and wining the round.

Round 9 Airspeed managed to pick up 1 point on Fastrax, who in turn picked up 1 on the Knights. Going into round 10 the final standings were pretty much confirmed. With the incredible consistency that the top 3 teams displayed through most of the meet, any change in the standings at this point was extremely unlikely.

Round 10 confirmed just that. Fastrax and Airspeed both tied the top score with 27 and the Knights a few points down at 23. Airspeed and Fastrax both had different engineering in this jump also, Airspeed choosing the straight or “zig zag” adder, Fastrax choosing the round adder. Both teams freeze frame finished about the same time on the last block 21.

Fastrax Red had a great meet and are very happy for their performance and for Airspeed’s victory. Who would have thought finishing a US nationals at 24.4 average would only be good enough for 2nd place!!