posted Mar 16th, 2012 - The first day has been completed successfully at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012. It was all 4way, and it was loaded with exciting action. The last video of the day features the TOP 3 teams with their Rounds 4 and 5.

The meet went as expected - and it did not at the same time.

The first three rounds would not separate the top teams, and it did not. The sequences were too slow for any team to run away. However, it was still a surprise to see the Belgian NMP-PCH Hayabusa speed experts on top of the leaderboard after Round 3. That was the first surprise.

The next surprise was the fact that Arizona Airspeed took advantage of the next two faster rounds. The US champion posted sole highscores in Round 4 and Round 5 and created a 3-point lead over NMP-PCH Hayabusa, while Aerodyne Aerokart fell significantly behind in Round 5. The faster rounds have hurt Airspeed in the past here and there, now they play out to their advantage.

The order will be reversed tomorrow. The first three rounds probably combine for the fastest part of the meet, before Round 9 and Round 10 will bring back the slow pace of the opening rounds and probably no major changes to the whole field.

The 8way teams will start their competition on Saturday morning. Golden Knights and Sky Panthers Barkli both warmed up today and are ready to challenge the 8way scoring records of 1997. The sequence of Round 9 has the potential for a new world record for a single round. However, Eric Heinsheimer, defending record holder as a judge, made a good point: "Have been there before..."