The Death Dealers opening chant of ‘Death Dealers, Death Dealers…Kill! Kill! Kill!’ set the tone for the second bout in the Salt City Derby Girls double header on Saturday night at the Salt Palace. The Dealers’ target for the night was the Bomber Babes, a team that is still in a rebuilding phase with many new skaters after the departure of numerous veteran skaters at the end of the 2008 season. 

The Dealers were able to control the game early on by getting lead jammer status and racking up points in the first few jams. The Dealers’ jammer duties were convincingly fulfilled by Moonraker, who is back in action after taking most of last season off. Her return was punctuated by faster and more controlled skating plus some big scoring jams early in the game. Dealer veteran Roll-Her Kitty also provided consistently good jamming, and league newcomer, The Instigator, demonstrated impressive maneuvering on her skates, proving to be a terrific addition to the Dealers jamming lineup.  

The Bomber Babes’ wunderkind jammer NOS pulled out all the stops as she zoomed around the track leaping through impossibly small openings left by the Dealers defense. The rest of the Bombers’ jammer lineup included MotoRedhead and Pushy Galore, both of whom joined the Bombers early this season after switching from other teams as free agents. Pushy was previously a Dealer and her former team seemed to relish doling out the hits on her as she made her way through the pack. One of the Bombers regular jammers, Maruka, was on the sideline with an injury

By halftime, the Dealers had taken a commanding lead over the Bombers and broken the century mark with a score of 105-36.

Both teams did a good job jockeying for position within the pack. The experienced Dealers often formed a wall of purple shirts in the front of the pack which made it difficult for the Bombers jammers to break through. The Bombers will need to do a better job of holding the inside line of the track and forcing the opposing jammers to the outside in future bouts if they want to win. Phatal Pheromone of the Bombers laid out some of her trademark hits. Unfortunately, many of those big hits earned her a trip to the penalty box for a major violation. Speaking of the refs, many of whom are new this season, made  inconsistent calls all night long; both points and penalties were missed by the zebras on more than one occasion.

Despite the Bombers’ best efforts, the formidable Dealers’ defense and good jamming kept the game rather lop-sided all evening long. When the Dealers had a sizeable lead in the second half, they executed an obscure and usually frivolous play known as a ‘star pass’. In this maneuver, the jammer passes her helmet cover to the pivot during the jam, who then assumes jammer duties (jammers wear a helmet cover with a star on it identifying them as the point-scorer). The Bombers were not able to close the gap despite good blocking from Grand Slam Brakefast and Spank E Ham. The final score was 153-66.

Salt City Derby Girls will be back in action on June 12, 2010 at the Salt Palace with another double header featuring the Salt City Shakers versus the FOCO Girls Gone Derby followed by the Leave it to Cleavers versus the Bomber Babes.