posted Apr 25th, 2017 - The U.S. qualification event for the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017, which was hosted by iFLY Virginia Beach last weekend, included an AA Class competition, as well. One local team attended the meet, and the Air Devils, reigning FAI Junior 4-way world cup champions from Canada, traveled to Virginia to collect more competition experiences.

VB Laminar consisted of three Suffolk Sabotage members (Christi Meyer, John Meyer, Dennis Stenkamp) and Jason Krumholz replaced 2016 member Mallory McCormick.

The Air Devils did not have to qualify, as the U.S. teams had to do in the AAA Class. They have already been sanctioned as the Canadian national 4-way Junior team at the FAI Indoor World Meet on home turf at SkyVenture Montreal in October.

However, the expected international opponents in 4-way Junior from the Czech Republic, France and Great Britain all had their recent showings at the French Indoor Nationals 2017 and at the World Challenge 2017, and the Air Devils followed up with their own ten competition rounds last weekend.

IBA Indoor April 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		M,7,E	D,N,F,G	H,O,19	14,J,L	B,P,11	21,18	2,Q,15	K,9,C	13,4	A,6,15	Total	Avg
1	Air Devils	CA	33	28	22	23	22	14	19	27	12	17	217	21.7
2	VB Laminar	US	20	19	15	13	15	8	11	16	9	10	136	13.6

Only Aerokart Ak'demie 2, HF Junior Cubs and Air Devils will travel to Canada for the indoor world meet. However, Bodyflight Bedford had two 4-way junior teams, the Recruitz, on the Rookie Class leaderboard, and they could still learn the AA Class blocks and compete for their country in Canada.

The other two Ak'demie teams and Czech 4-way juniors (Flies, Blue) will have to follow their 4-way national teams via the internet in October.

The 4-way Junior results at the recent events indicate that the three national teams are in a very close race towards the FAI medals in Montreal. The Air Devils will try to defend their top position of 2016, and the HF Junior Cubs are on their way to a set of any FAI medals at the first indoor world meet.

Aerokart Ak'demie's A-Team (Ak'demie 1) missed the world meet by two points, and the B-Team (Ak'demie 2) seems to be ready to challenge the Air Devils for the gold medals.

French Indoor 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		P,Q,21	D,B,14	M,H,J,22	C,7,F	O,A,11	13,8	N,K,19	G,E,2	6,15	1,9	Total	Avg
1	Aerokart Ak'demie 2	FR	26	24	24	30	20	12	25	22	20	22	225	22.5
2	Aerokart Ak'demie 1	FR	26	24	25	25	22	15	22	23	20	21	223	22.3
5	Aerokart Ak'demie 3	FR	20	17	18	23	17	12	18	14	14	15	168	16.8
World Challenge 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		F,G,D,P	9,J,18	E,7,M	19,13	4,L,8	2,21	C,14,20	1,K,O	A,6,11	N,B,H,Q	Total	Avg
4	HF Junior Cubs	CZ	23	19	27	12	16	14	17	19	17	31	195	19.5
5	HF Junior Flies	CZ	23	14	25	15	13	13	11	16	15	23	168	16.8
IBA Indoor April 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		M,7,E	D,N,F,G	H,O,19	14,J,L	B,P,11	21,18	2,Q,15	K,9,C	13,4	A,6,15	Total	Avg
1	Air Devils	CA	33	28	22	23	22	14	19	27	12	17	217	21.7

The Air Devils had very bad luck in Virginia, which may cause a little break and probably a change of the training plan.

Team member Malachai DeAth broke two bones of his leg after leaving the wind tunnel building. It was raining on the team's way back to the hotel, and the asphalt was wet and slippery when they crossed the street. Malachi slipped and hit the curb. He was taken back to iFLY, and an ambulance brought him to the hospital.

Malachai DeAth missed the five rounds on Sunday, and Yannick Bisson's father and 4Astrophe team mate Richard filled the slot for the missing five rounds. He said that Malachi was back from the hospital on Saturday night and came to visit Sunday afternoon to watch the action and attend the award ceremony.

The Sun Path Products NSL News wishes Malachi and the Air Devils a quick and great recovery...