posted Jan 19th, 2012 - The first results of the new NSL Poll show that the audience still expects France with the strongest team in the female 4way category this year. The 2nd place for Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders at the 3rd Dubai Championship 2011 doesn't seem to have changed the perspectives for the French team this year, and the 1st place of the UK pickup team Bodyflight appears to be just a unique upset.

Other than that, the race for the medals really seems to be wide open. Only Norway's national team Polaris is slightly behind but surely within striking distance.

A few votes also went to other teams. Realistically, there has been only one more team in the female category that could have been considered a serious recent medal contender. In fact, the Illusions from Russia won silver medals at the World Cup 2011 and bronze medals in Dubai. However, the Russian team has disbanded, and there is no information of a new strong lineup at the moment.

In the meantime, the NSL News has zoomed in on the Shamrock Showdown 2012 and added polls for both 4way events to the event page. The poll question is related to the event in March and according to the teams that will be competing in DeLand, while the last poll was looking at the big picture of the 2012 season in the female 4way category.

The Shamrock event pages are worth a visit, as they provide a lot of information. The confirmed teams are listed and represent ten different nations so far. Most of the teams are well known, and the NSL News will introduce the whole field piece by piece.

Shamrock Showdown and World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2012 are very far away from each other. The NSL News story on 12 January 2012 explained how the national teams have to consider the timing of the 2012 season. NMP-PCH Hayabusa provided information of the Belgian schedule for this year.

The three top teams have their own and different timing and scheduling. Arizona Airspeed and Aerodyne Aerokart are already in full training swing, while Hayabusa launches the outdoor training in March after ten hours of tunnel training between now and Shamrock. The French national 4way team in the Open Class is currently in Eloy and trains side by side with Airspeed. Aerodyne Aerokart will not stay through the Valentine's Meet this year.

French national manager Jeremie Rollett and 4way coach Marin Ferre have to consider different circumstances than Hayabusa and Airspeed. All members of the French 4way team are also in the 8way lineup this year, which makes the timing much more challenging. The 4way lineup gets into action first and early, and the 8way training will begin after the Shamrock Showdown.

Arizona Airspeed has an earlier start too, compared to the Belgian team. It will be interesting to see how the different timing will play out at the first meet of the 2012 season where all three top teams compete with and against each other.

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

The new Shamrock polls will also provide interesting information. The NSL News audience was right on target in the runup to the Shamrock Showdown 2011 last year and expected Arizona Airspeed to win again after the first victory at the Valentine's Meet 2011.

Only the 2nd place turned out to be different than expected. Aerodyne Aerokart recovered much quicker and outscored Hayabusa in March 2011. The NSL News audience had expected the Belgian team in 2nd place.

Everything could be different this year, but it could also be exactly the same when the same three teams are done with their ten Shamrock rounds a year later. The new Airspeed lineup has not lost an outdoor meet so far, but Aerodyne Aerokart and NMP-PCH Hayabusa were in great shape in Dubai in December. The Shamrock race seems to be wide open and will probably see the three top teams closer to each other than last year.