posted Jan 9th, 2013 - The race in the latest NSL Poll between Evolution from Canada and US team SDC Rhythm XP for the unofficial No. 4 ranking in the world's 4way competition world was extremely close from the first vote on, and it continued like that to the end. Both teams seem to be considered on the same scoring and performance level by the NSL News audience. Evolution finished with a slight advantage.

There is actually an official FAI/IPC world ranking, as the NSL News reported on 27 September 2012. The same article mentioned that the ranking system was a "little bit" off pace at that point in time, as the USA was in 17th place with its undefeated outdoor champion Arizona Airspeed.

The results at the Mondial Dubai 2012 were expected to bring the official FAI/IPC rankings closer to reality, which they did - but not by much...

The NSL News now updated the rankings according to the rules of the system and the results in Dubai, and the USA with Airspeed has eventually made it into the Top 10 after winning the gold medals. Austria is tied with the USA in 10th place. Canada with Evolution as the national team is in 18th place.

The first four places are unchanged, and France, with Aerodyne Aerokart as the national 4way team in the Open Class, is still maintaining a slight lead over Belgium with NMP-PCH Hayabusa.

Germany moved up from 7th to 5th place and left Satori behind, even though the UK team outscored Paratec-Saar and made the finals in Dubai, while the German team was cut after Round 9. Comparing the FAI/IPC Top 10 rankings with the outcome at the Mondial 2012 in Dubai shows that there is still a huge discrepancy between the theoretical rankings and reality.

Mondial Dubai 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Open	5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	16,F,P,Q	2,J,4	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed (US)	27	34	27	22	23	23	32	25	40	26	279	27.9
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	25	34	27	21	23	24	32	27	40	25	278	27.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart (FR)	26	30	27	21	23	25	29	23	37	24	265	26.5
4	Evolution (CA)	22	31	24	17	19	21	28	22	30	22	236	23.6
5	Sky Panthers Barkli (RU)	19	29	22	21	21	18	28	20	35	20	233	23.3
6	Satori (UK)	18	26	21	17	15	18	23	17	27	18	200	20.0
7	Ex3mo 4 (IT)	17	24	20	14	17	19	22	18	28	-	179	19.9
8	Paratec-Saar (DE)	18	26	21	13	14	16	21	18	30	-	177	19.7
9	Rotor Out (AU)	14	25	18	15	17	18	22	17	28	-	174	19.3
10	Bardagi (SE)	17	26	20	14	16	15	23	17	24	-	172	19.1

The ranking system is based on the participation of national teams at FAI/IPC 1st Category Events (World Championships, World Cups). The system does not consider other events that the best teams of each nation may have attended. It makes sense that an organization uses only the events that are officially sanctioned to determine certain privileges and records. It is still necessary to be at least close to reality.

The USA now have the official FAI/IPC 4way world champion in the Open Class and also won the silver medals at the previous World Meet in Menzelinsk 2010, after previous gold medals in 2008. Reality also has the second best US 4way team, SDC Rhythm XP, currently in the race for the 4th place in the world, and the country would still officially be ranked in 10th place if the NSL News update according to the rules for the current ranking system is correct.

SDC Rhythm XP is still recruiting for the open slots and had another camp with more candidates last weekend at Paraclete XP. The NSL News will follow up with news of the lineup as soon as more information is available.