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5 Man Scores
10 Man Preliminary Scores
10 Man SemiFinals and Finals
Stock Class Scores
Stock Tournament Homepage
Photo Gallery
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Las Vegas is the season opener for the NPPL, and each year this tournament holds
something new. 1998 is no exception.
The 5 man competition is back! Last year, the Vegas NPPL lacked a 5 man event as it was
run concurrently with the 1997 Great Western Series Las Vegas 5 man (the GWS also dropped it's
traditional 10 man competition for the event). While the 5 man attendance was not as large
as the GWS last year, 14 teams played hard for the title which was captured by Team Run. The 10 player
competition was as fierce as ever, on these wicked desert fields. Field 4 was a center
of some of the most exciting games, as it consisted of two parallel ravines and moderate
brush. This gave spectators a good look down on the action, and players a lot of oportunities
to crawl using the brush of the center ridge for cover.
Novice Classification in the 10 man! Technically the Amateur classification
has been broken into Amateur A and Amateur B. This split works functionally
the same as a novice classification, as it keeps the semi-final and final games at
fair levels of competition. Teams that otherwise would not have gone home with a trophy were able
to do so. A great example of this was The Family. Picking up some extra players from
their home in Colorado, they filled out a 10 player roster and made their way to the finals.
Stock Class! The Earon Carter Stock Gun Championship is the ultimate proving
ground for stock class paintball teams each year. In '96 the event was held at SC
Village, in '97 in San Diego. This year, it was produced by DYE Precision and held at
the same location as the NPPL, concurrent with the later part of the 10 man preliminaries,
and finals. Unfortunately, due to recent hospitalization Earon Carter was not able to
attend, and was definitely missed. Our prayers and wishes for a speedy recovery
are with him. Wes Wong, the man from DYE that gets things done at tournaments
ran things smoothly. The atmoshpere was one of the best sportsmanship. While the
referees did an excellent job, the players were often calling themselves out when hit, and
even complementing their competitors for good shots. Paintball politics and nonsense?
Not here. Two of the biggest names in stock class paintguns are Carter and Component Concepts.
Not only did Mike Cassidy of Component concepts provide Phantoms as prizes in Earon Carter's
tournament, but he played as a member of the Phantom Stock Players as well.
As usual, Carter Machine provided the food
for the event, and Earon's daughters, Tammy, Tonya, and Tisha are taking up the
slack, keeping the players, spectators and staff fed.
 New Paint! RP Scherer was on hand with their new paint brand, "All Star". According to Chuck Hendsch,
this new paint is of a higher quality than Marblizer. The shell is thinner,
allowing for easier breakage on target when fired from low pressure paintguns
like the Cyber 9000, Shocker Sport, or low pressure Autocockers. The fill is the now
famous "Evil" yellow fill with fine pigment that undeniably marks hits. This ball
also sports a very unique feature... It's covered in stars.
Wind and Dust! OK, the dust isn't new, but the weather took a change from
years past. DYE had been watering down the staging areas for the last week to
help with dust control, but this is the desert after all, so the dust persists.
It had a way of working into the nooks and crannies of paintguns and air systems
resulting in sticky regulators leading to velocity problems. The tech crews from
Air America have been cleaning air systems, battling the elements for their customers.
The weather was nice and clear during the 5 man competition, but as soon as the 10 man
teams hit the fields, the weather came in force. The rain that fell
was light enough to not be a problem, but the wind was another matter. It drove
the dust into clouds thick enough that they could almost be used for cover!
Friday afternoon, a sudden gust tore loose some of the guidelines on the vendor's
tent, and knocked over the Unique Sporting display wall. Without time to talk,
or issue orders, the players and spectators in the tent were immediately on top
of the situation, hauling the lines taught, and re-staking. Nature can be tough, but
paintballers can be tougher.
Saturday and Sunday the vendor's tent was filled with activity. Smart Parts had a booth stocked mostly
with the Renegade clothing line. Pacific Paintball and owner Chris Haggin had a full display
of the KAPP product line. AKA Performance Paintball exhibited their aftermarket
accessories which allow various paintguns to operate at lower pressures. One attention getter was
their slick looking "Black Widow" customized low pressure Spyder. Unigue Paintball Pro Gear had their
harnesses, clothing, and assorted accessories on hand to help the players in need. Both Air America
and Airgun Designs tech booths provided field support for the players. Free maintenance on
location is a deal you can't beat with a stick. The Angel booth provided tech support (this UK
import is becoming a lot more popular on the tournament fields) and information for prospective angel
owners. A cutaway Angel gave people a look inside this electropneumatic paintgun. As with
most other major paintball events the Skirmish photographers (in this case, Cleo and "Snakebite")
took photos for the players to keep as momentos, and for the paintball magazines. Outside, and
past the player's staging tent (also new this year) Worr Games Products compressors were chugging
away providing compressed air fills. To the West, RP Scherer's refrigerated semi trailer served up
climate controlled paint.
Thanks.....
There are a few people that need to be thanked for making this coverage possible. First DYE Precision
for holding the event, and notably DYE employee and Ironman Steve Rabakoff. Steve set up our
travel arrangements, picked us up at the airport, and even loaned us his car to get around while we
were in Vegas. Sunday he had to leave early to get his kids home in time for school, so another thanks
goes to Cleo and Snakebite for giving us a lift back to the hotel. Of course thanks also
go out to the refs. Ironmen, Image and Personal Vendetta took the usual abuse that refs
face when teams are hungry for those last few points to make the cut to the next round of
games. Some teams handled disputed calls well and professionally, while others lost it, but
the refs dealt with both, and kept on doing their jobs. Then there is team Phantom Stock Players.
Saturday they invited me (Bill Mills) to play a game as an alternate. Since I hadn't brought
gear to play, they outfitted me for the field. I ended up wearing Randy Kamiya's well traveled
ICD combat vest, and firing Mike Cassidy's personal Phantom. I don't think I could have been any
happier. 10 years ago, if somone had walked into my college dorm room to see the stack of Action
Pursuit Games magazines, and me, working on a paintgun at my desk, and asked if I thought I'd ever
play on a team with Mike, Randy, Tim Schloss, Marty Tripes, and other big names of paintball I
would have never thought it possible. As the team is Scott sponsored, I donned a set of the new
BadAss goggles. I have to say I was pleasently surprised by their performance. I had tried
them on before, and their are light weight with good visibility, but after playing with them,
I found them to be the only signle-lens goggle to not fog on me on the field. Marty Tripes
attributed this to the airflow of the design, the distance from the lens to the face, and their new
anti-fog technology in the lens itself. These new lenses are tough enough to be cleaned with
cleaners like windex - that's somthing new for a goggle lens. On the field I was like a kid in a candy store playing along side
people I have looked up to for years. Of course the Pink Fluffy
Bunny that shot me when I charged his bunker didn't seem as in awe of the situation, but it was
a good shot, and I was out of there. Last but certainly not least, I want to thank Dawn. She
hit the fields taking still pictures, and recorded all of the scores as they were posted. In fact
some she got before they were posted. The last of the finals came in while the awards ceremony was
about to start, so their numbers never got posted, Dawn ran up the totals for Dave while entering them
into the computer to bring them on-line as soon as we got back to the hotel.
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Las Vegas is the season opener for the NPPL, and each year this tournament holds
something new. 1998 is no exception. 
