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18 February 2011
Season 3 Bout 4 - Feb 12th 2011
Bout four of Season 3 once again wowed the crowds at Earls Court. While the bouts were rematches of the season opener, the results were far from certain, and not settled in either bout until the very last jams. Two hard-fought and nail-biting bouts saw the Harbour Grudges beat the Ultraviolent Femmes by a much-decreased margin, while the Steam Rollers recovered from last bout's final jam horrorshow to win a last-jam thriller against the Suffra Jets.
In the first game of Bout 4 Season 3 top-of-the-table Harbour Grudges took on bottom-of-the-table Ultraviolent Femmes. The Femmes lined up hoping to avenge their heavy opening-day defeat to the Grudges, and had their hopes boosted by the news that Stefanie Mainey, the Grudges' star blocker, was out. Things were evened up by the fact that the Femmes were missing a key blocker themselves, with the versatile Ninjette also ruled out through injury. The game started with Kamikaze Kitten for the Femmes lining up against Sky Rockit, but a tense and tactical first jam left things scoreless. Lola Vulkano lined up next for the grudges, and managed to grab three quick points before The Bowmanator could make an impact.
Jam three saw Knickerbocker Glory holding up Vagablonde to let Sky Rockit grab lead out of the gate, and get five more points on the board for the Grudges. A neat jump in jam four meant Kamikaze Kitten could lessen the deficit. A back and forth game meant the gap stayed at around the eight-point mark for much of the first half, with jammers trading penalties. Neither side took advantage of the resultant power jams to shift the balance, leaving the game finely poised at 46-55 when the half came to close. A low scoring start to the second half was enlivened in the eighth jam after the restart, with Kamikaze Kitten stealing four points at the death despite the Grudges' Lola Vulkano getting lead.
Those four stolen points clearly lit a fire under the Femmes, and two jams later and with 15 minutes to go, they found the big jam they'd been looking for. Vagablonde lined up against Bad Faith, and quickly racked up 12 points to nudge her team into the lead. That lead only lasted for three jams, though. Sky Rockit reacted to Stefanie Mainey's uniquely enthusiastic bench-coaching style by storming back to take 14 points when she lined up against Snoop Dodge to restore the Grudges' lead.
Vagablonde took advantage of a very slow pack to bring the deficit back to a single point when Sky Rockit was sent to the box. In the very next jam, however, Sky shot out of the box to stretch the Grudges' lead to 15 and push her team past the 100-point mark, with Bad Faith making a crucial hit to clear her way. The next jam saw Lola Vulkano take advantage of The Bowmanator being sent to the box for a major track cut. 5 hard won points were followed by 5 fast points, and a final grand slam from Lola seemed to put the game beyond the Femmes.
That wasn't quite the end of it, though. Vagablonde managed to score 10 points in the very next jam before Sky could break the pack, and adding a further four before the jam and bout ended. Those heroics were enough to take the Femmes past the 100-point mark, but not enough to overhaul the Grudges' lead. It finished 118-100 to the Grudges, with Femmes captain Sinister Mary Clarence watching from the stands having been ejected late on following her seventh box trip.
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The battle of the mid-table Steam Rollers and Suffra Jets looked to be equally as hard fought as the first game; as with the other teams both were to play short with some big travel team names missing. The Rollers were without their season's top scoring jammer Axis of Evon and pivot Spooky Von Strange, the Jets were missing jammer Poison Arrow and pivot and blocker par excellence The Bexorcist.
On the opening jam, Jets jammer Helen Nash was sent to the box, and Fox Sake put 14 points on the board. This set the tone for the game: power jams came quickly and often, as both team's jammers were in and out of the penalty box. Back and forth jams ended with the Rollers briefly behind before rookie jammer Indie Hannah restored their lead. Indie managed a three-point jam, with the damage cut off by Shaolynn Scarlett at the front of the pack forcing a quick call from as the Rollers’ jammer tumbled to the floor.
The Jets’ respite was short-lived. In the very next jam Helen was again boxed, with Fox racking up a quickfire 19 to leave the scores at 36-16. The back-and-forth score line continued two jams later, with Fox sent to the box. Helen reduced the Jets’ deficit to 9 points.
The lead changed hands twice more before the Jets decided to attempt a cunning maneuver. With Indie clear and the Dalai Harmer stuck in the pack, the Jets attempted a star pass, but the panty fell to the floor. The rules state that only the jammer or pivot can pick this up, and only in the direction of play, thus the Jets were left jammerless for a lap before captain Grievous Bodily Charm - a constant threat in the pack - managed to collect it, breaking the Rollers pack before the change had registered and forcing a quick call-off from Indie to keep the score at 59-43 to the Rollers.
In the second half, the teams traded points in the opening jams before Harmer and Ena Flash - jamming much more than normal, due to Axis of Evon’s injury - tangled around the pivot line, sending both falling nastily. Paramedics were waved on, but thankfully both managed to leave the track under their own steam and were back in action fairly swiftly.
Helen was again boxed when lining up against Fox, who racked up three grand slam passes in no time, thanks to consistent and disciplined Rollers pack work. But the Jets hit back immediately, scoring a 14-point powerjam. Both teams continued to trade jammer penalties for much of the rest of the half, with the Rollers sitting on a 20-point lead as the clock ticked down.
The last five minutes were jaw-achingly intense for the crowd and teams alike. With a little over five minutes to go Grievous landed one of the hits of the day, jumping the apex before taking out a flying Indie as she looked set to complete her initial pass. In the net jam Grievous took the star herself as the clock ticked down, racing through the pack to reduce her team's deficit to a mere 7 points to set up a tense finale. Both teams were a player down, following Raw Heidi and Dot Slash fouling out.
The Rollers pack used incredible defensive skills to keep Helen down to three points, with guest skater Missyle Elliot joining Slice Andice and Nuke Leah at the front of the pack running for their lives. This left the scores with only 4 points in it at 112-108 before Helen was forced to called it as Indie sped out of the box and immediately burst through the pack. The Jets called a timeout with literally two seconds left on the period clock. They had one more chance to secure the single pass they needed to force an overtime jam, however the comeback was not to be; Fox broke the pack first in the final jam against Grievous and called the jam off, leaving the final score at 112-108 to the Steam Rollers.
All photos (c) Steve 'Helmet' Newton - http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjnewton
