Helios Vs Green eyed Silver Dragon. (Ted)

Win by KO

This match up was the maiden voyage for Helios mark-2. GESD is an excellently crafted robot, it's nice to see that builders will still create artistic motivated robots over spinning-blade-death-machines. Facing a weaponless robot first was a welcome relief, as we could shake down the new Helios. I was having a terrible time getting the feel for the controls, with 20-some fight under my belt on the old one, starting over again was painful. I was able to land a couple square hits on GESD, sending him end over end a few times. With a 540 degree hit, GESD was on it's head and taped out. Back to the pits to tweak the controller!
Xenophobia vs Spatula

Win by KO

Spatula is a 4-wheel drive brick with a front hinged wedge. Powered by 4 handiworks drill, its got muscle to spare. Furthermore, Chad was able to swing a sponsorship from DC water jet, and it shows in the craftsmanship of the robot. The fight began with Xeno spinning up to full speed and dancing around for an opportunity to attack. I was able to get a few hits before using Xeno's front wedge to stick Spatula into the bumper. Winding up to full speed again, Spatula was knocked free. It was unclear if he was still moving, but after 2 more big hits, Spatula tapped out. A loose battery connection caused his early demise. Post fight inspection of Spatula revealed that Xeno had cracked 1/8" titanium plate, woo-hoo!
Xeno vs Tricerabot

Win by TKO

Robolympics was the first competition for the Tricerabot team. These friendly guys seemed very eager to learn, and I enjoyed chatting with them in the pits for a while. Tricerabot is a 2-wheel drive pyramid shaped robot, with steel teeth at the base of the frame. Their attack is "thwack" style, but it didn't prove that effective being powered by a pair of relatively slow Harbor freight drill motors. As the match began and Xeno spun up, it quickly became clear that the sloped sides and wide base of Tricerabot made it tough to land a hit. The front wedge of Xeno easily got under the opponent's frame, so I shut the weapon down and wedged him around. After sticking Tricerabot under the bumper, then knocking him free, then sticking/freeing again, and again, and again, he became stuck for good.

Helios vs Sunflower (Pete)

Win by TKO

It's never fun to travel the country in order to fight your neighbor, but these things happen. We'd had some close calls fighting Sunflower in the past, but had always emerged victorious. Sunflower was looking a little rough around the edges, and Derek had swapped back to his drummette, instead of his dual disk design that almost beat us at Robot Assault last year. I was pretty surprised when Derek immediately got the upper hand in the fight, and started tossing Helios around like a ragdoll. About 2/3rds into the fight, I gave up on the drum, and started wedging Sunflower around the arena. This was working, but I was sure it wasn't enough to win the fight. When a lucky shove ended up with Derek balanced on the rail, I took the low road and left him out to dry, taking the cheap win. I'm sure Derek will repay me dearly in the future for this decision!
Solaris vs Blackhawk

Win by KO

Blackhawk was built by seasoned veteran team Team WhoopAss. Blackhawk was a basic 2 wheel wedge, with a spinning blade on the face of the wedge. Team WhoopAss removed the weapon for our fight, being afraid it would get ripped off. After dancing around a bit, I landed a few good hits on them, and their bot quit responding. The blades on Solaris seemed to be doing their job, getting good bite on the aluminum front of Blackhawk.
Angry vs Hazardous Waste

Win by ???

Hazardous Waste is a Biohazard like antweight, using treads instead of wheels. I can't remember much about this fight, due to not capturing it on video. Angry performed better then expected, ripping off at least one of the front wedges, and tearing off one of the treads. I was able to keep the new blade pointed at HW, and it proved much more effective then the old 3" blade.
Angry vs Stumpy

Win by judges decision

Hot off the last fight, Angry Accountant was rushed back into the box to fight Stumpy. Stumpy was a well built 2 wheel wedge, with exposed rubber wheels in the back. I was again able to keep the blade pointed at Stumpy, and got some good hits in. I believe I broke one of the wheels off, and near the end of the fight, Angry's blade got stuck in the other wheel. The remainder of the fight involved a pushing match between the two bots. Angry ended up winning by judges decision.

8 Hours vs NTSC

Win by KO

NTSC is a horizontal blade spinner (powered by a RS-540 motor) with a rear fixed wedge. Drive came from a pair of BB-toy gear boxes. 8-hour was a bit faster and was able to dish out some damage to NTSC's wheel guards. At some point his weapon died, then later drove out of the arena. 8-hour worked great, and the weapon held up fine. It was a great match to shake off the jitters!
8 Hour Vs Kickstop

Win by KO

Kick Stop is a tracked plow robot based on r/c car platform. 8-hour was able to do some major damage to the plastic wheels that guided the tracks. At some point one of the tracks came off. 8-hour had a close call with the push out but was able to climb back into the arena. Eventually the weapon belt came loose on 8-hour's weapon, but I was able to push Kick Stop close to the push out, were he drove himself out.