posted Apr 12th, 2011 - Round 5 completed the first day of the World Challenge 2011, which presented an unusual situation. Arizona Airspeed was expected to be on the top of the leaderboard after the three previous clear victories at the Valentine's Meet 2011, the Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving Championships 2011 and the Shamrock Showdown 2011. To most people's surprise, Airspeed had to go to bed being eight points behind NMP-PCH Hayabusa.

The last round on Saturday brought back some hope since the Belgians did not outperform all other teams this time. Airspeed won the first round of the meet, but it was only one point, and Hayabusa did not really look that bad either in Round 5.

What had happened? Not only the Airspeed members asked this question at the end of the day. Airspeed lost three more points in the judging room (4 - 1) than Hayabusa did in the first half. This still did not explain the 8-point deficit. There would still be a 5-point difference without the point deductions.

World Challenge 2011		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
R.	AAAClass	10,C,5	20,P,2	H,M,Q,K,A	L,J,16,12	E,7,15	O,11,22	14,B,17	6,13,9	4,3,21	1,G,8	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	27	25(-1)	65	29	33	23	28	28	22	25	305	30.5
2	Arizona Airspeed	26	24(-2)	60(-2)	27	34	24	27	28	23	25	298	29.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge	26	25	52	27	31(-1)	25	29	27	24	24	290	29.0
4	XL	25	24	58	24	32	24	26	25	21	23	282	28.2
5	SDC Rhythm XP	22	23	56	23	27(-2)	20	24	21	19	22	257	25.7
6	SportsLotto	21(-2)	23(-1)	49(-3)	23	29	20	25	23	21	21	255	25.5
7	NPC Aerokart Maubeuge	24	20(-1)	41(-4)	22	26(-1)	21	26	22	21	20	243	24.3
8	Satori	19	19(-1)	57	21	25	19	24	21	17	20	242	24.2
9	Aerodyne DB Defenders	21(-1)	21	44(-1)	20(-1)	27	19	25	21	19	19	236	23.6
10	Thunder	13(-4)	20(-1)	41(-2)	23	27	20	23	21	19	17	224	22.4

Airspeed did not underperform at all, according to the team's indoor scores this year. There was not really a round where Airspeed was significantly behind Hayabusa or Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge, except in Round 3. However, even in this fast sequence Airspeed did not have a poor performance. The 62-pointer before penalties would have been a good score. In fact, even the official 60-pointer was the highest Airspeed score ever in a competition, and it was still three points behind Hayabusa.

Airspeed's earlier indoor scores provide more insights, although it is always very difficult to compare. Even similar sequences are only similar and have their own little specifics. However, the numbers at least indicate what was going on at a different meet.

Paraclete Indoor Championships and World Challenge both had two 3-block sequences, and it turns out that Airspeed did better in Bedford compared to Raeford. The random sequence was not bad at all, the 3-point sequences on the other extreme end went well. What was it then that put Airspeed behind?

World Challenge

Round1

Round2

Round3

Round4

Round5

Round6

Round7

Round8

Round9

Round10

Total

Avg

Rank

AAA Class

10,C,5

20,P,2

H,M,Q,K,A

L,J,16,12

E,7,15

O,11,22

14,B,17

6,13,9

4,3,21

1,G,8

Total

Avg

1

Arizona Airspeed

26

24

60

27

34

24

27

28

23

25

298

29.8

Paraclete Championships

Round1

Round2

Round3

Round4

Round5

Round6

Round7

Round8

Round9

Round10

Total

Avg

Rank

AAA Class

A,20,18

6,5,14

12,2,C

F,21,3

G,17,O,H

8,4,13

P,K,16,B

E,L,22,15

7,Q,9

1,19,J

Total

Avg

1

Arizona Airspeed

24

25

23

27

39

20

38

27

40

25

288

28.8

The answer cannot be found on the Airspeed side, it comes from Belgium. Hayabusa had a solid and consistent performance that was always on or close to the Belgian peak performance level.

The incredible Hayabusa potential was nothing new to the 4-way community. The young Belgian team has been lacking the consistency so far that makes a world champion. The new lineup with Point Dennis Praet seems to come to the point in time where the talent merges with experience and a relaxed and confident state of mind. This could become a very dangerous situation for the other top contenders.

There was still the hope that it was only a 1-day affair and that the second day of the competition might show a different picture, especially when Airspeed finally defeated Hayabusa in one round at the end of the day.

That turned out to be a false hope.

Hayabusa was not so dominant any longer on Sunday, whether this was due to Airspeed and Maubeuge picking up the pace or Hayabusa performing more cautiously, or a little bit of both. However, it was maybe even more impressive how calmly the Belgians carried the lead past the finish line without caving in at any time.

It was probably a psychological advantage for the Belgians to know that the sequences of the remaining five rounds would not allow much room for a big move by Airspeed and Maubeuge. The rivals could win a round and a point here and there, and it would not be a problem - as long as Hayabusa would continue to deliver reasonably well. And that's what they did. The next videos will show how.