posted Dec 17th, 2019 - The AAA Class leaderboard of the ISR Grand Prix 2019 had more to offer than only the indoor comeback of ISR FireFlash and the 27.1 average of the HF Cubs that the NSL News covered on December 7th.

There was more of a battle for the 3rd place than it could be expected, and it turned out to be a 5-point difference after the eight rounds in Roosendaal that separated the Dutch national team in 4-way Open, Out of the Blue, from the unexpected Belgian challenger, Falco.

Both teams finished with team record averages, and Out of the Blue touched the new 23.0 benchmark for the first time, even though the Dutch team still has to confirm this scoring level at a 10-round meet. The ISR Grand Prix is traditionally an 8-round competition on one day, and only 14 of the 22 blocks were draw this year, while 15 of the 16 random formations allowed the teams to post higher meet averages.

However, Out of the Blue beat their own previous 22.3 record average that they had posted in Roosendaal last year, and the 21.9 at the World Challenge 2019 is still the best 10-round average that they will try to beat at the upcoming indoor events. Out of the Blue represent the Netherlands at outdoor meets, as well, and they finished the 2019 season with their highest result, the 17.4 at the Dutch Nationals.

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ISR Grand Prix 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		N,M,13,2	21,18,A	6,16,H	10,1,C	3,J,K,22	O,L,E,D,15	B,F,5,G	Q,12,7	Total	Avg
1	ISR FireFlash	BE	26	24	26	23	25	35	37	26	222	27.8
2	HF Cubs	CZ	27	26	27	23	20	36	34	24	217	27.1
3	Out of the Blue	NL	24	19	22	20	20	32	25	22	184	23.0
4	Falco	BE	22	21	21	18	19	28	29	21	179	22.4
5	Ketchup ADV	IT	24	15	21	20	19	22	26	21	168	21.0
6	Chaotic Motion	NL	20	14	20	18	16	24	29	20	161	20.1
7	Ayro	BE	19	18	19	16	16	20	21	17	146	18.3
8	Fuel	NL	20	14	15	15	15	19	28	18	144	18.0
9	Synergy	IT	20	16	15	14	11	19	24	15	134	16.8
10	Trance-Ition	NL	16	14	16	12	16	17	20	17	128	16.0
11	Addicted	BE	16	14	16	14	15	19	18	14	126	15.8
12	Stardust	BE	12	13	15	12	12	21	19	12	116	14.5
13	Blok 43	NL	15	9	13	11	11	17	17	13	106	13.3
14	Vipers	NL	14	12	14	10	12	14	17	12	105	13.1
14	Fatal Four	NL	14	13	12	10	12	15	15	14	105	13.1

Out of the Blue - Falco at the ISR Grand Prix 2019

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There was one AAA Class team though that went through an unprecedented progression between the ISR Grand Prix 2018 and this year's event last month. It was Falco from Belgium who may have surprised themselves when they were tied with Out of the Blue in 3rd place after Round 2 in Roosendaal and ended up only five points behind in 4th place after Round 8.

Falco had finished with a 14.9 average at the ISR Grand Prix 2018, followed by a 16.3 at the Belgian Indoor Nationals in December last year. The Belgian team had a personnel change at the end of 2018, and three of the original members (Valerie Van Daele, Maarten Coenen, Hans Van der Avert) came back with a new team member for the 2019 season.

Paul Hofstee, former member of other Dutch national 4-way teams and then the Dutch/Belgian world class combination of ISR Thunder, had agreed to bring back 4-way training and competition into his life by joining Falco. He had mostly participated in 8-way projects, including Martial Ferre's 8-way signature lineup Veloce QRF, after ISR Thunder disbanded. Realfly Fire's team captain Jérôme Héritier, AA Class silver medalist in Roosendaal, was Paul Hofstee 8-way team mate at several indoor meets.

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ISR Grand Prix 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		A,18,F,6	Q,N,11,12	17,10,5	J,B,L,2	O,3,16	D,21,C,G	9,H,K,14	7,E,22	Total	Avg
1	ISR FireFlash	BE	28	25	25	30	24	28	29	25	214	26.8
2	HF eX3MO	IT	22	19	24	30	25	27	27	21	195	24.4
3	HF Flying Circus	CZ	22	20	21	29	22	26	24	18	182	22.8
4	Out of the Blue	NL	23	20	20	26	22	23	23	21	178	22.3
5	Jazz Republic	ZA	20	20	19	24	19	23	24	20	169	21.1
6	JETMAX	BE	22	17	16	24	19	20	19	21	158	19.8
7	Rotterdam Dan!!	NL	18	16	18	22	15	18	20	17	144	18.0
8	Crash Test Dummies	BE	20	16	15	21	17	18	18	15	140	17.5
9	Trance-Ition	NL	15	14	14	19	15	14	18	16	125	15.6
10	Falco 2.0	BE	14	14	13	14	15	17	19	13	119	14.9
11	4igami	NL	12	11	11	16	11	14	15	12	102	12.8
12	Blue Rebels	GR	13	12	9	14	13	14	12	12	99	12.4
13	Shinobi	NL	9	11	11	15	12	13	16	11	98	12.3

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Falco with Paul Hofstee was already on new scoring territory at the World Challenge 2019 where they finished with the first 20+ averag, after a 15.5 in 2018. Then they lifted the team's outdoor average from 10.2 at the Belgian Nationals 2018 to 13.4 a year later at the ESL Championship.

A month later, Falco was indirectly a part of the NSL News story on October 27th. The German national team in 4-way Open, Oceanside AtomiX, had won the national championships and qualified for the team's first FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving next year in Tanay, Russia.

AtomiX member Mark Zimmermann had no plans and commitments beyond the 2019 season, and AtomiX offered the open slot to Falco member Paul Hofstee. He discussed the situation with his three Belgian team mates, who encouraged him to accept the offer. Paul Hofstee promised to complete the 2019 season with Falco, while he started training with his new German team.

The 22.4 average with the 4th place in Roosendaal was a perfect farewell event, which will still be followed by the Belgian Indoor Nationals 2019. Falco is recruiting a new team member in the meantime...