RE: Basic
I know what you are saying and that is how I practiced the maneuver but was corrected at the first (and only so far) event I went to last year.
At the event I went to, I was told (and everybody that flew Basic well or helped me did it this way) to pull the 5/8 right after rolling to inverted, no delay staying inverted. (this is on the 1/2 reverse cuban 8)The opposite of the sharks tooth for example in last years sequence. Pull up to vertical, pull to 4/5 down line at top then 1/2 way down on 45 degree down line perform the 1/2 roll, trying to make the point where the 1/2 roll is exactly in the middle. This is how they said not to do the 1/2 roll part on the half cuban.
Mike