posted Mar 26th, 2009 - The FSL Shamrock Showdown 2009 came and went by so quickly, and there is still a lot of information to follow up with. At the same time, the next top event is already coming up and deserves all attention.

The World Challenge 2009 is only one week away and has once again record participation this year, as the NSL News reported already earlier.

Shamrock Showdown and World Challenge are actually two completely different events. One is an outdoor competition, the other one takes place at Bodyflight Bedford's 16-foot windtunnel. However, both events still have a lot in common: several teams and NSL News live coverage.

50% of the teams that competed at the Shamrock Showdown 2009 will appear again on the NSL leaderboard at the end of next week, and the list begins on the very top of the Shamrock Showdown's final rankings: Airspeed Odyssey, France Maubeuge, Perris Fury, Aerokart Deep Blue, Voluntas, Gradient Alpha (aka Crystal in Bedford), Fast Arrows.

The next battle between the reigning 4-way world champions, Airspeed Odyssey, and the runner up of the World Meet 2008, France Maubeuge, is one of the most exciting features at the World Challenge 2009. Perris Fury will also get the next opportunity to get closer to the Arizona team in the run-up to the USPA Nationals 2009.

The meet in Bedford is a tunnel competition, and the scores will be significantly higher. However, the same teams will compete with the same competition draw at the same location, and the results will still provide new information of these teams' different races with each other.

The NSL News took once again a closer look at the new situation after the results of the Shamrock Showdown 2009. Airspeed Odyssey improved the team's meet record to 16 - 0 by winning in DeLand and seems to be simply unbeatable. It is still not a hopeless situation for the challengers.

The pure numbers of the Shamrock Showdown leave no doubt that Airspeed is still the number one in the world. However, and as difficult as it may be to imagine anything different, both top challengers eventually reduced the distance to Airspeed in DeLand, as the floating charts show.

The reason for this surprising aspect is the fact that these three teams battled the last time directly with each other at the USPA Nationals 2008 where Airspeed did really well. The world champions increased the distance to France Maubeuge of the World Meet 2008 (one point) to seven points in Eloy last year. The French team was now only three points behind Airspeed last weekend.

The situation is similar for Perris Fury. Thomas Hughes in the Center Inside slot helped the Perris team to get closer to Airspeed Odyssey than ever before at the Paraclete XP Money Meet 2008 (two points indoor, nine points outdoor). The distance was back to previous duels with Airspeed (24 points) when Chris Farina took back his slot at the USPA Nationals 2008 after his back injury.

The final leaderboard of the Shamrock Showdown 2009 shows Perris Fury significantly closer to Airspeed compared to the USPA Nationals 2008. The world champions' meet average dropped by 1.3 points (24.2 - 22.9) while Fury finished closer to last year's average (21.8 - 21.4) at the USPA Nationals, and only 15 points separated the two teams.

In fact, this tendency only confirms the same situation of the Valentine's Meet 2009, where Perris Fury had already successfully cut into Airspeed Odyssey's dominating lead. Fury posted exactly the same average in DeLand as in Eloy in February (21.4 - 21.4) this year, while Airspeed lost three points (23.2 - 22.9) last weekend.

Perris Fury's successful efforts to get closer to Airspeed Odyssey were overshadowed by the new player in the top game, Spaceland Force XP.

The world-class lineup of 4-way veterans launched the Spaceland team project with a 22.0 average and had no mercy with the team from Perris. The Space Force has the focus only on the very top position of the leaderboard, which is held by Airspeed Odyssey.

The new situation with three top players in the game may make it even easier for Perris Fury. Now there is another team that will face the pressure of challenging Airspeed, and Fury moves possibly more into the background and the typical underdog situation. Fact is that Fury still keeps moving closer to Airspeed.

The competition in Bedford will be different for both teams and reflects the situation after the Shamrock Showdown 2009.

Airspeed Odyssey will be hunted by a pack of challengers this time, as XL, Hayabusa Defence and possibly GKXP join France Maubeuge in the race for the top spot. Perris Fury is probably even more in an underdog in this world-class field and has the opportunity to quietly continue on the same path.

There is still one crucial factor that eventually brought Airspeed Odyssey to the very top of the leaderboard over and over again, meet after meet, 16 times so far. The Airspeed members love this game with all of its challenges and challengers. They have always delivered when it was necessary, and they will probably do this again at the World Challenge 2009. The NSL News will bring the next real Airspeed challenge to the audience live from Bedford.