posted Feb 13th, 2012 - Arizona Airspeed seems to be in great shape and ready for the battle with Aerodyne Aerokart and NMP-PCH Hayabusa at the Shamrock Showdown 2012.

The US national 4way team delivered a convincing performance at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championships 2012 and now followed up with great outdoor scores at the Valentine's Meet 2012.

In fact, Airspeed opened another chapter of 4way competition with last weekend's scores on home turf at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. The 26.0 average was the highest result at an outdoor competition where the draw did not include a Super Sequence of only Random Formations. The highest meet average in 4way outdoor history is still Aerodyne Aerokart's 27.7 posted at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia, which included the 56-pointer world record sequence (J,M,Q,P,L).

Valentine's 2012		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,O,F,K,2	10,A,J,8	4,C,P,11	M,3,17	G,B,14,1	7,15,H	21,D,E,16	12,6,9	20,L,18	22,19,Q	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	37	23	25	27	25	28	26	23	23	23	260	26.0
2	6 for 5 for 5	17	4	12	11	11	12	-	-	-	-	67	11.2
Rank	AA Class	N,O,F,K	A,J,8	4,C,P	M,2,11	G,B,14	7,15	21,D,E	6,9	20,L,18	22,19	Total	Avg
1	Ninja Cow	8	7	6	8	5	5	-	-	-	-	39	6.5
2	Untitled	7	7	6	6	4	4	-	-	-	-	34	5.7
3	MiniOkies	4	4	3	3	4	3	-	-	-	-	21	3.5

The new chapter of 4way competition is related to another topic. Last weekend's Airspeed scores were also the first time that any team completed an outdoor 10-round meet with a 23-pointer as the lowest score for a single round. The French national team was the only one so far who made it through a 10-round meet with a 22-pointer as the lowest score, which happened at the World Cup 2011.

The French 25.5 average in Saarlouis, Germany, was also the highest meet average without a Super Sequence until Airspeed finished with the 26.0 average last weekend in Eloy. Airspeed posted four 23-pointers at the Valentine's Meet, and NSL-TV will follow up with the meet videos as soon as possible.

Judy Celaya, Randy Connell and Tim Wagner were the judges in Eloy and had also four other teams to evaluate who completed only six rounds each. Judy Celaya and Randy Connell were at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championships 2012 the week before where they watched Airspeed videos and approved a total of 300 indoor points after ten rounds.

Bottom view of Rounds 1 to 10 on NSL - Bottom view of Rounds 1 to 10 on Paraclete XP

The Valentine's Meet 2012 was surely nothing more or less for Airspeed than another training meet on home turf. There was once again no serious competition. However, Airspeed has been very much aware of this difficult situation and the lack of pressure. Mark Kirkby explained in the latest NSL Talk with Airspeed that he tries to convince himself that there is imaginary pressure and that his team is actually behind in the meet.

It worked well again last weekend in Eloy with only one other pickup team in the AAA Class competition and the three critical judges evaluating the Airspeed competition jumps. This year, Airspeed seems to be better at meets without serious competition.

The time of meets for Airspeed without serious competition and real pressure is over now. The next competition brings Airspeed together with France and Belgium at the Shamrock Showdown in DeLand. Super Sequence or not - the scores and the performance level will be the highest that 4way competition has to offer at the moment and in the history of the sport.