HOUSTON, TX -- Just as in the 2007 tournaments, the top four seeds in the 2008 Western Regional will receive a first-round bye, which means that they only need to win their first bout to advance to the final four and claim an automatic spot in November's Nationals in Portland. It should be noted that the history of 2007 suggests that a first-round bye is not necessarily a positive -- while 3 of the 4 top seeds of 2007's Western Regional moved on to Nationals, a mirror image occurred at Eastern Regionals, where Carolina was the only top-four seed to survive their opening round.

The structure of this year's tournament arguably gives the #1 and #2 seeds a somewhat stronger advantage than last year's, though. The #1 and #2 teams play their opening bout on Friday evening against teams that will have already played a bout at either 8am or 9:45am, while the #3 and #4 teams will play on Saturday morning and hence face slightly more well-rested opponents at a less natural time.

#1 Kansas City

With the exception of their first-round defeat of Dallas in the 2007 Western Regional, every single victory the Kansas City Roller Warriors took in the 2007 tournament cycle was an upset -- right up to their championship victory at Nationals. This year, they come into the tournaments from a much different angle -- with big targets on their backs, as they've held the #1 spot in the WFTDA rankings longer than any other team in the organization's history.

Kansas City starts their title defense almost exactly a year after they won it over Rat City in late September 2007, but is coming off of finding themselves on the wrong side of one of the most surprising routs in flat-track history. After a series of 10 bouts in which they'd gone 9-1, with the only loss being by a single point to Carolina, they walked into a buzzsaw just two weeks ago against #7 Windy City -- WCR dominated them in a 155-39 performance that leaves the Roller Warriors potentially a bit off-balance coming into Houston.

The most visible stars for KCRW are the oft-remarked-upon jammer duo of Snot Rocket and Xcelerator, but KCRW's pack play is also standout, anchored by team captains Bruz-Her and Annie Maul. New additions to the crew that won the 2007 title include Boston transfer Ivana Clobber, Eclipse, Hall Balls, Lunatic Fringe, Nadia Lott, and Billie Club.

Also, this tournament marks the end -- or at least the beginning of the end -- of a significant chapter in KCRW history. Snot Rocket, Xcelerator, Patti Wackin and and Dee Claw -- all critical elements of the team that surprised their way through the 2007 tournament season -- all intend to retire after the end of KCRW's 2008 tournament run.

Kansas City's first-round bye puts them up against the winner of Duke City / Pikes Peak at 6:15pm on Friday -- they have not faced either team before.

Annie Maul 111 // Archie Lee 59 // Bad Omen 999 // Billie Club 12 // Bruz-Her 244 // Dee Claw 7 // Dominant Jean XX // Eclipse 0 // Hall Balls 30 // Ivana Clobber 89 // Jade Lightning 816 // Jessika Rabid 11 // Lunatic Fringe 973 // Nadia Lott 37 // Patti Wackin 911 // Princess Slay-Ya XOXO // Red Ripper 42 // Rita Ploy 19 // Snot Rocket 4 // Xcelerator 34

#2 Rat City

Seattle's Rat City's all-stars rarely get on the track as a unit -- they've played only 9 regulation WFTDA bouts since February 2006, making them (on paper) the second-least experienced all-star team at Western Regionals  (Denver has 8 bouts to their credit, all in the previous year.) However, Rat City's never been ranked lower than #3 since rankings were first established in late 2006, and enjoyed a couple of quarters at #1 between 2007's Western Regionals and Nationals. They came just 4 points short of spending the last year as WFTDA champs, upset by KCRW in the classic final of the 2007 Nationals.

Rat City's all-stars have only lost twice in regulation bouts -- and those losses were by a total of a mere 6 points. Like Kansas City, though, their league recently suffered an aura-piercing blowout when a mix of established all-stars and upcoming talents went up against regional rival Rose City's all-stars and got steamrolled 154-63. In the only regulation all-star bout they played this year, they almost lost an enormous 54-9 first-half lead against Bay Area, but managed to hold them off 93-88 in the end.

Injury trouble may be a factor for the Seattle crew, as feared blocker D-Bomb seems to be having knee trouble that severely limited her playing time against Rose City and also against Philly when Rat City home team Derby Liberation Front played them earlier this month. Additionally, lightning-fast and extremely nimble jammer Miss Fortune has been sidelined for the majority of this year with a broken collarbone, but looks to be on skates for this tourney.

Rat City's bye gives them the winner of Dallas / Tucson at 7:45pm on Friday. Dallas has never played Rat City, although a Rat City / Tucson bout would be a rematch of the 2007 Western Regional championship bout that Rat City won 83-72.

Ann R. Kissed 0 // Billie Boilermaker 17 // Blonde N'Bitchin 28 // Burnett Down 16 // Carmen Getsome 44 // D-Bomb 8 // Deadly Aim 22 // Edie Brickwall 10 // Femme Fatale 18 // Juliet Bravo 76 // Katarina Whip 6 // Miss Fortune 99 // Morning Gory 28 // Ninjit Su 46 // Punchin' Judy 2 // Rollin' Bayou 9 // Skate Trooper 55 // Summer Assault 60 // Valtron 3000 30 // Wile E. Peyote 21

#3 Texas

The original flat-track league has been victimized by rival Rat City in their last two attempts at WFTDA tournament victories. In the 2007 Western Regional semi-final, Rat City overcame a large early deficit to upset the then #1 Texas 105-93; seven months later, Rat City would again narrowly boot them from a semifinal match at Nationals, 89-79. Both bouts immediately entered derby lore as some of the most physical and combative high-level bouts of all time, and with a yet another potential Texas - Rat City semifinal matchup looming if both teams get past their opening rounds, it's certain that the Texecutioners would like to write a new chapter with the Seattle girls.

As has been common in the West for the highest echelons of derby this year (see: Kansas City, Rat City), Texas got handed their most lopsided loss ever in a surprising upset when Gotham ran all over them at June's ECE for a 125-65 win. Any questions about whether this pointed up a decline on Texas' part were answered the next month, though, when they came within just one point of knocking off #1 Kansas City in a 102-101 thriller.

This Texas roster holds on to one of the deepest veteran cores in derby, including Bloody Mary, Muffin Tumble, Rice Rocket and Sparkle Plenty, while also adding three very skilled skaters that transferred to Austin after the 2007 Nationals: Friction VixXxen (Denver), Bullet Tooth Tracy (Duke City), and Desi Cration (Minnesota). Fearlys, from Kansas City, also transferred to Texas, but an ACL injury will keep her out of this tournament cycle.

Texas' bye puts them against the winner of Rocky Mountain v. Houston at 9:45am on Saturday -- Texas swamped Houston 165-30 in a recent bout in July, but has never faced Rocky Mountain.

Belle Starr 1889 // Bloody Mary 40 // Bullet Tooth Tracy 17 // Cat Tastrophe XX // Cheap Trixie 41 // Dagger Deb 77 // Desi Cration 222 // Friction VixXxen 15 // Lady X X // Lucille Brawl 56 // Morphine 2 // Muffin Tumble 28 // Olivia Shootin' John 3 // Rice Rocket 3e8 // Ryder Down 13 // Shank 18 // Slim Kickins 22 // Sparkle Plenty 0 // Vicious Van GoGo 53

#4 Bay Area

Bay Area made a enormous mark as this summer opened with a series of impressive big wins, a surprising upset, and a near-shocker of an upset. They dominated the competition at May's Roll For The Cure event, putting down tourney-level teams like Minnesota (102 points) and Rose City (37 points), and soon afterwards stunned Tucson with what, at the time, was Tucson's biggest loss to date, 96-39. They weren't done with the surprises, though, almost putting together a huge comeback on Rat City and falling just short at 93-88 -- it was Rat City's narrowest victory ever. Accordingly, Bay Area rocketed up the rankings this summer, jumping from #10 to #6 to take the last Western bye from ailing Tucson.

Pia Mess, formerly of Rat City, may be the most well-known transfer to B.A.D since last year's tournaments, but Brawllen Angel (ex-Sacred City) and rookie Grr Lee Burly (who equalled Tucson's total score in the Tucson / Bay Area matchup) are also relative newcomers to watch. Add in vets Demanda Riot, Kitt Turbo, Taxi Scab and ex-Tucson skater Mandi Festo (who was already on Bay Area by the time of the 2007 West Regional) and you've got a San Francisco team full of star power and very eager to stake a conclusive claim to a spot amongst Western derby royalty with an impressive showing in Houston.

Bay Area's lowest bye will potentially give them the toughest opening test, as they will get either 5 seed Rose City or 12 seed Denver in their first bout. That match will open up Saturday's action at 8am.

Brawllen Angel 888 // Jane Hammer 777 // Demanda Riot 0:00:00 // Diane Rott 78 // Grr Lee Burly 333 // Killer Vee 33 // Kimfectious 47 // Kitt Turbo 667 // La Chica Mala 1 Kilo // Lemme Chokeya 88 // Liza Machete 1 // Lusty Malice 4 // Mandi Festo 1848 // Frisky Meow 7 // Miss Moxxxie XOXO // Pia Mess 24/7 // Racey Lane 1314 // Sassy Slayher 30-06 // Taxi Scab 50 cents a mile // Velveteen Savage 1.618

Additional reporting: Muffin, Bruz-Her