posted Jul 4th, 2025 - Paraclete XP's Summer Classic 2025 was comprehensively covered by the NSL News from the competition site in Raeford, North Carolina. It was a rematch for Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed after the first direct outdoor confrontation of the two U.S. teams with their complete current lineups at the Shamrock Showdown 2025.

It was a duel for the 1st place at the Summer Classic, while they were facing the French Aethers at Skydive DeLand, who traveled from North Carolina to Florida after winning the gold medals at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2025. Neither Golden Knights nor Arizona Airspeed could get anywhere close to the French indoor world champions in April. Only the Golden Knights managed to win one round and tie another one.

It was not only the 34-point difference between Aethers and Golden Knights after Round 10 that was showing how dominating the French team is in 4-way competition at the moment. Most impressive was the way how Aethers defined new 4-way standards with a historic performance that featured no point deductions at all. The Golden Knights collected a total of 12 penalties at Skydive DeLand, and Arizona Airspeed lost nine points in the ten completed rounds.

Shamrock Showdown 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		17,M,10		20,19,F		18,22,K		N,G,3,16		O,E,P,21		9,L,5		6,13,1		C,J,Q,4		D,8,A,H		12,11,14		Total	Avg
1	Aethers	FR	25		23		21		24		34		32		23		32		29		18		261	26.1
2	Golden Knights	US	19	-2	24		18	-2	24		28	-1	26	-2	20		27	-2	26	-1	15	-2	227	22.7
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	-1	21		18		22		27	-2	28	-1	18	-1	24	-4	26		17		224	22.4
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	20		17	-2	17		16	-2	24	-3	24	-1	19		18	-7	21	-1	15		191	19.1
5	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	17	-2	18		14		18	-2	24		19	-2	15	-1	24		21		12	-1	182	18.2
6	Airbus 4-way Illertissen	DE	15	-4	14	-2	13		16		19	-3	19		15		23		19		12		165	16.5
7	Jen and the Double D's	US	15		13	-1	13		13	-1	18	-1	13		13		18	-2	17		9	-2	142	14.2
8	4Action	US	9	-1	10	-1	8	-1	9		13	-1	10		9		11	-3	12		9		100	10.0

---

Aethers - Golden Knights - Arizona Airspeed at the Shamrock Showdown 2025

---

It almost seemed like Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed were both impressed how the French team maintained their top speed in the world while performing in a very clean way at the same time. Fact is that both U.S. teams came back to 4-way competition at the Summer Classic with their own much cleaner performances.

There is no red mark for a point deduction at all on the leaderboard for Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed between Round 1 and Round 7, and Airspeed even lasted for another round. The Golden Knights lost their first two points in Round 8, and Arizona Airspeed had their biggest damage in Round 9 with the exit funnel and their first two point deductions.

The last three rounds on the second day of the Summer Classic had the biggest impact on the competition between the two strongest U.S. teams. Arizona Airspeed first began to catch up in the first round of the second day, while the Golden Knights had their first two point deductions. It was the first round that Airspeed won, and the difference was down to five points, after a 3-point finish at the Shamrock Showdown. Then came the Airspeed disaster in Round 9 and another penalty for the Golden Knights.

Paraclete XP Summer Classic 2025		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	3,8,7		H,21,2		1,L,P,6		17,9,10		F,13,1		12,J,D,22		20,16,19		K,M,15,0		5,18,C		4,14,B		Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	19		22		24		23		25		19		20		26	-2	22	-1	21		221	22.1
2	Arizona Airspeed	19		22		23		23		22		19		17		28		13	-2	19		205	20.5
3	Platinum XP	10		12		11		12	-1	11		11		9		13		11		10	-1	110	11.0
4	XP Angels	10		11	-3	13		11	-1	13	-1	1		9	-2	12	-2	8		11		99	9.9

---

Golden Knights - Arizona Airspeed at the Paraclete XP Summer Classic 2025

---

Kirk Verner and Brian "BK" Krause were judging the ten rounds of all teams at the Summer Classic, which was the perfect combination, at least for the duel between Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed. Both are former members of the two teams and have naturally very critical eyes on their performances.

Kirk Verner was a member of the original Airspeed 4-way lineup and won FAI world championship gold twice in 1995 and 1997. Arizona Airspeed's first 4-way lineup (Kirk Verner, Jack Jefferies, Mark Kirkby, Dan BC, John Lemming on camera) was formed in the same year when Brian Krause made his first jump.

Kirk Verner followed up with 8-way gold medals in 1999 and 2004, while Brian Krause won his first 8-way world championship title with the Golden Knights in Dubai 2012. Eventually, they joined forces in 8-way with XP8, after Brian Krause had retired from the U.S. Army. Together they won more 8-way gold medals, first at the FAI Tanay Mondial in August 2021, then again in Eloy 2022. It was the XP8 end for Brian Krause, and Kirk Verner added another 8-way gold medal in Crystal Coast 2024. He is currently recruiting the new XP8 lineup for the next world championship. This time, they were sitting in the judging room together for the Summer Classic 2025.