[Billfred]

Some notions and observations after attending Peachtree:

-1319 came into Peachtree hungry after getting silver at Smoky Mountain. After a second silver? They're going to be starving. I expect them to be even more refined this week.
-343 is not the flashiest shooter out there, but their bridge skills are going to make them pretty potent on the field. If they can find some dancing partners in qualification rounds, expect them to seed well.
-3976 had a rough ride in Georgia, starting with weight and ending with an ineffective shooter that ended the tournament sitting in a corner of their pit. During eliminations, I was frequently in the pit of their neighbor 1771...and they were there the whole time working on improving it for Palmetto. In a smaller field, with a regional's worth of drive time, I could see them in a widget role this week.

As for us, we were running miles better by the end of Peachtree compared to the start. We have a second motor coming from AndyMark to let us speed up our shooter in the hopes of hitting threes reliably (we were stretching for a couple of close ones on the practice field). We added an encoder to that gearbox late Friday in Georgia, which helped our consistency somewhat on Saturday. Our bridge pusher was a non-starter for qualifications, knowing from ChiefDelphi that the forces required for a wheel-on-a-stick device greatly exceeded what a window motor was going to do. At the request of our partners, we slapped together a crude one during lunch on Saturday in the hopes of getting to the far side of the field. Didn't quite pan out there, but bet on us improving it Thursday.

We look forward to making the trip!