posted Mar 24th, 2011 - The NSL News continues with the aftermath of the Shamrock Showdown 2011, and all videos of Round 1 are now available for reviews.

The complete NSL-TV coverage of all teams began with the first three rounds on the second day of the competition. Round 8 was the last NSL-TV upload on 20 March 2011, and it is time to go back to the starting line and live again through the whole drama of the first 2011 showdown between Arizona Airspeed, Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge and NMP-PCH Hayabusa, plus all the other races within the 20-team field.

The first NSL News update live from DeLand on 18 March 2011 came after the scores of Round 1 were posted and announced that Airspeed came out of the gates like a race horse. The previous Airspeed lineup preferred to come from behind, and this strategy seems to be history for the new lineup. Airspeed must have shocked the other top teams with the scores of the first three rounds.

ShamrockShowdown 2011		Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	Rd8	Rd9	Rd10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	N,H,3,1	J,4,C,13	7,17,19	B,20,15	12,22,M	F,18,2	E,16,9	G,8,21	P,A,11,14	10,Q,D,L	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	25	25	25	24	20	25	30	22	24	29	249	24.9
2	Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge	23	24	23	24	19	23	29	23	24	24	236	23.6
3	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	21	23	22	23	19	21	28	20	22	29	228	22.8

Airspeed, Maubeuge and Hayabusa came to DeLand from three different positions. The Belgian team had a very strong start into the 2011 season after winning the Dubai Championship 2011 in January and scoring very well at the Aerokart Indoor Championship in February. Hayabusa also had a 3 - 0 winning record with the new lineup.

Airspeed had a 2 - 0 winning record in 2011, as well, after the Valentine's Meet 2011 and the Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving Championships 2011. France was an easy victim on home turf in Eloy in February, and the US teams could not offer much competition at Paraclete XP.

France had not won a meet with the new lineup after competing in Dubai and at the Valentine's Meet. The new lineup knew that there would be a lot of work ahead to catch up with Airspeed. Coach and team members were ready for it and confident that the situation would be better at the Shamrock Showdown. Then came Round 1 in DeLand...

The scores of Round 1 put the three top contenders right away into the final positions after Round 10. The 25 - 23 - 21 situation after Round 1 indicated even more. Airspeed, Maubeuge and Hayabusa would not even be close to each other at the end of the meet. This was probably the biggest surprise of the meet, which was not expected, even not after the first scores were posted.

Other surprises included the DeLand Norgies who tied Hayabusa's 21-pointer and shared the 3rd place for a round with the Belgian team. Lise Nansen said jokingly that she wished the meet was over now.

Another surprise was the performance level of the new French lineup in the female category, Aerodyne Cypres Deep Blue Defenders. The two new and young members, Point Laurence Hervé and Center Inside Perrine Sanchez, posted their first scores on a significantly higher level compared to their previous teams. The new combination of the two highly experienced reigning world champions (Sophie Deremaux, Amélie Tirman) and the young talent, plus veteran coach Marin Ferre, seems to be much closer to the performance level of the previous lineup than expected. The videos of Round 2 will follow soon.