posted Oct 20th, 2011 - The NSL News explained with the coverage of the ESL Championship 2011 on 24 September 2011 that team Thunder was not really challenged enough at this event. The team's Center Outside Paul Hofstee said that his team was missing more pressure at the ESL Championship to be pushed to a higher performance level.

The same story included the ESL meet videos of Thunder and the team's meet agenda for the next competition season, which includes the Shamrock Showdown 2012. Thunder had hoped to get the opportunity of a direct competition with the unofficial amateur world champion from Germany, Paratec-Saar, which did not materialize in 2011.

The Paratec-Saar meet schedule for 2012 is not available so far, however, Thunder will surely have great competition with another world class amateur team at the next Shamrock Showdown, as DeLand Norgies Tail Carl-Erik Tuv brought great news from Norway at his recent visit in DeLand.

Shamrock Showdown 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	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	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
4	Paraclete XP4	18	21	20	19	16	20	24	18	23	20	199	19.9
5	DeLand Norgies	21	19	20	20	15	18	25	19	20	21	198	19.8

ESL Championship 2011

Rd. 1

Rd. 2

Rd. 3

Rd. 4

Rd. 5

Rd. 6

Rd. 7

Rd. 8

Rd. 9

Rd. 10

Total

Avg

Rank

AAA Class

6,Q,B,A

22,1,10

15,17,16

C,12,7

20,E,3

18,M,K,J

13,N,P,9

L,19,21

D,14,5

11,8,4

Total

Avg

1

Thunder

27

15

17

20

19

26

20

19

19

16

198

19.8

The DeLand Norgies competed with the original lineup, the bronze medal winners of 1999, 2001 and 2003, at the Shamrock Showdown 2011 and had a tough 10-round battle with Paraclete XP4 and SDC Rhythm XP, two of the best US 4way teams.

They enjoyed the competition and have now made plans for the Shamrock Showdown 2012. The DeLand Norgies have not trained seriously ever since they stepped back after the World Meet 2003 and fit well into the same category of unofficial amateur teams, such as Paratec-Saar and Thunder.

It will be an exciting battle between at least those two world class weekend teams. DeLand Norgies and Thunder both posted exactly the same meet average (19.8) at Shamrock Showdown and ESL Championship. Thunder will have more than enough pressure next year in March. It would be even more interesting if the Germans made plans for the same event...