As the speculated performance of the top teams reduce, 'Predictably Irrationals' rise to the top spot from second with 10% improvement. The other five only improved by between 3% and 6% leaving the opportunity for others to catch up. BUT the highest improvement in the chasers was 'Hacksaw' rising to seventeenth from twenty second with an 8% improvement. All other chasers had lower improvements such as 0%, 3%, 5%. These gains weren't going to catch the leaders and we can't remember a time when low scores have been so extensive across most of the teams. It looks like the chasers may have missed an opportunity.
The top six are the same as before with 'Wacky workforce' dropping to second. 'Titans', 'Lounge4', 'Team1', and 'SPARTANS' all remain in positions three to six. Only 548 points separate the top six, it is close but it has been even closer in the past.
'Ozzy' in seventh are only 108 points behind the sixth place and 'KAPtains' in eighth are 250 points adrift so changes are still possible even from further back.
With one round to go there will some tension in both the top teams defending their position and the chasers still chasing. The positions may well change but it's impossible to predict. Experience suggests that the chasers will take the biggest risks in their pursuit of a top place. The top six will probably check everything many times to ensure that they don't make last minute silly mistakes that wreck their performance. Lower down everyone will still be trying to improve their final position. There is genuine satisfaction in generating an improvement at this stage and ending on a higher ranking.
The top six still have things to prove in order to defend their position making sure there are no mistakes. The immediate cluster chasing the top six are stressed by kneading to identify the decisions that will propel them upwards. Other teams are stressed trying to improve their recipe so as to end on a higher ranking.
We can't wait to see what comes out of the oven.