posted Sep 19th, 2012 - The NSL News reported on 1 September 2012 that Thunder would have to defend 2011 titles at the ESL Championship 2012 and then at the ISR Grand Prix 2012 after coming back from the 2nd place at the World Cup 2012.

Of course, the title defense at the ESL Championship seemed to be impossible since NMP-PCH Hayabusa was planning a comeback to the event this year after winning in 2005, 2006 and 2007. However, it turned out that Hayabusa's Tail Roy Janssen could not jump, and Thunder almost managed to defend the title successfully. Hayabusa needed a jump-off round to win by two points.

Thunder's next title defense is due in November at the ISR Grand Prix 2012 in Roosendaal. It will be Thunder's third time at this event, and Hayabusa could get in the way once again. Hayabusa's 2010 lineup with new Point Dennis Praet won with a 32.9 average that year and then skipped the ISR Grand Prix 2011. That's when Thunder won with a 25.6 average.

ISR Grand Prix 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	M,22,14	G,O,C,3	12,D,L,J	B,5,18	H,15,9	10,2,K	F,6,21	A,N,11,Q	K,16,7	Total	Avg
1	Thunder	22	29	26	24	27	19	27	30	26	230	25.6
2	ISB Air Remscheid (DE)	19	24	23	17	25	17	21	23	22	191	21.2
3	Dynamic Fource (NL)	18	23	23	19	21	16	22	22	22	186	20.7
Rank	AA Class	K,C,F,9	2,P,18	B,7,G	Q,22,21	D,11,6	N,H,A,M	E,14,`5	O,J,L,N	22,2	Total	Avg
1	Netherlands Ignition	27	14	21	14	15	29	16	22	14	172	19.1
2	Indefinitely	20	13	19	11	12	19	12	23	13	142	15.8
3	Cool Runnings (NL)	22	10	18	12	14	15	12	22	10	135	15.0
Rank	Rookie	J,O,N	F,L,E	C,A,K	G,H,P	D,Q,B	M,E,G	H,Q,L	K,B,F	B,A,L	Total	Avg
1	DNAOUT	23	28	24	26	25	25	24	29	25	229	25.4
2	Italy Nytro Team Casale	22	26	19	17	21	21	24	27	19	196	21.8
3	Greece Blue Rebels	19	21	18	19	18	23	21	24	21	184	20.4

Save €50 registration fee by signing up before September 24th (€250 instead of €300)

NMP-PCH Hayabusa does not have the ISR Grand Prix 2012 on the team schedule so far, which still doesn't necessarily mean that they will not try to win again this year. Chances are very little though, as the Mondial 2012 follows right after the indoor competition and will most likely interfere too much with the Hayabusa plans to win outdoor gold medals in Dubai.

This gives Thunder very realistic chances to defend the ISR Grand Prix title successfully in November. There are only two handfulls of teams in the world at the moment who can outscore Thunder, and most of them will have Dubai on their minds, as well. Only teams who will not compete at the Mondial 2012 could be expected to sign up for the indoor competition in Roosendaal.

This is actually the vast majority of teams, as only one 4way lineup is eligible to represent each nation at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving. There are a few very strong teams not going to Dubai, but it would require SDC Rhythm XP to visit from the USA, or SportLoto from Russia, maybe a strong French lineup, to make the trip to the Netherlands and give Thunder a hard time at the ISR GRand Prix 2012.

ISR Grand Prix 2010		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	G,7,3	F,B,P,D,6	15,Q,16	H,M,C,9	L,2,18	21,11,10	E,17,N,4	Total	Avg
1	Belgium NMP-PCH Hayabusa	28	43	25	52	23	20	39	230	32.9
2	Netherlands Dynamic Fource	24	35	22	49	18	17	34	199	28.4
3	Thunder	23	33	22	41	19	18	29	185	26.4
Rank	AA Class	18,C,F	15,14	21,E,2	L,K,B,D	O,A,7	11,N,M	G,9,Q	Total	Avg
1	Netherlands Creeps	18	12	16	30	26	18	29	149	21.3
2	Indefinately	14	12	14	24	22	15	24	125	17.9
3	Netherlands Serges Angels	13	11	12	21	18	13	19	107	15.3
Rank	A Class	K,C,E	B,H,P	A,J,D	L,F,G	O,N,M	Q,L,P	J,B,C	Total	Avg
1	Netherlands Murphy Mania	22	25	21	18	25	19	31	161	23.0
2	MachMeo	12	19	18	18	17	16	17	117	16.7
3	Generation	10	17	16	18	20	15	18	114	16.3

Thunder is the main top contender and favorite under those circumstances and is waiting for any serious challengers. However, there is plenty of opportunity for many other interesting indoor battles all across the leaderboard.

The ISR Grand Prix applies all four NSL/ESL competition classes for the first time this year, and teams have already signed up for each category. The previous article mentioned that more than ten teams were registered at that point in time. The number is up to 20 by now, as the teams seem to take advantage of the discounted registration fee until September 24th.

Thunder is not the only international lineup in the AAA Class field so far. 4X is a German/Belgian combination with Ludo Havelearts (BE), Rike Kraus, Janine Tillenburg and Dennis Gottschalk from Germany. 4X attended the ISR GRand Prix 2011 with a similar lineup and trains only for the tunnel competition.