posted Mar 31st, 2012 - Only three of the 15 teams in the 4way Open Class competition at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 came from the United States, Arizona Airspeed, SDC Rhythm XP and Carolina Turbo XP. The Golden Knights did not compete in 4way since they wanted to fully focus on the 8way competition with Sky Panthers Barkli from Russia.

All three US teams improved their scoring level of the USPA Nationals 2011, even though the competition draw in DeLand was not faster at all. In fact, their meet averages at the Paraclete Outdoor Championship 2012 were new team records for all three teams.

Arizona Airspeed even posted the third highest outdoor meet average in the history of the sport, including the results at the World Meet 2010 with a superfast competition draw. Once again, it was difficult for other US teams to think of ever being a serious challenger of the US national 4way team.

Paraclete XP Outdoor 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA 4way Open	Q,8,H,22	16,19,13	10,14,2	E,C,20,K	5,M,9	A,6,F,17	D,21,N,B	P,O,G,J,1	18,4,7	12,15,3	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	25	20	18	35	36	25	33	31	23	20	266	26.6
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	23	21	20	33	34	29	30	30	20	21	261	26.1
3	Aerodyne Aerokart	23	21	19	33	29	28	28	29	23	21	254	25.4
4	SDC Rhythm XP	21	17(-1)	15	28	29	23(-3)	27	27(-2)	19	18(-1)	224	22.4

The situation for SDC Rhythm XP was very similar as it was after the Paraclete XP Indoor Championships 2012. Airspeed has actually increased the distance to the other US teams, including Rhythm. The NSL News had asked the Rhythm members earlier how to deal with this situation.

The story on 15 February 2012 could just have been written after the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship in DeLand, as similar as the outcome of the meets and the thoughts of the Rhythm members were:

"They will surely keep their eyes on the scores of the best teams in the world, and the Shamrock Showdown 2012 will be the next great opportunity. They will still mainly continue to check their own team's progression though. As long as the Rhythm performance and scoring level goes up they will eventually arrive at the Airspeed level one day. The question is only when that will be..."

All ten SDC Rhythm XP rounds - Live NSL Talk

The most important fact for Rhythm was once again that the team improved the performance and scoring level. The 22.4 average in DeLand was the highest meet average ever for SDC Rhythm XP, as well as for Carolina Turbo XP.

There are not many other teams in the world who would currently be able to outscore Rhythm. Three of them competed at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012, and the only two other lineups from Russia and the US Army both focus on their 8way business. Golden Knights Gold and Sky Panthers Barkli's 4way lineup may have to accept Rhythm in front of them soon on any upcoming leaderboards.

Neither of the 8way experts will compete at the World Challenge 2012 where Arizona Airspeed, NMP-PCH Hayabusa and Aerodyne Aerokart will probably outscore SDC Rhythm XP, probably together with the XL indoor experts. However, the response of the Rhythm members could be similar to the ones in the earlier story and in this one: "We wanted to impove our own performance and scoring level, and we did so." Rhythm's own 25.7 average last year in Bedford and the 25.8 average at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship will be the main benchmarks.