posted Aug 11th, 2012 - No more news or scores have arrived from Norway where the DeLand Norgies were ahead of Polaris after Round 5. The national championships in France have been completed, and the NSL News will update the leaderboard later today. The UK Nationals 2012 are also in full swing, and the first scores will follow this NSL News update.

In the meantime, Finland's 4way teams have completed their national championships, as well. The NSL News mentioned in the preview on 9 August 2012 that there might be a dark horse waiting until the national championships to show what the team has to offer.

This strategy is unusual these days, but it worked well for the Silver Knights who the NSL News pointed out as the unknown 2012 factor. Silver Knights won the AAA Class competition and the national 4way championship title of Finland.

Finnish Nationals 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	2,6,5	20,L,E,7	K,C,10,D	9,M,19	13,11,J	B,18,P,12	4,O,G,21	22,1,16	17,3,15	A,N,8,Q	Total	Avg
1	Silver Knights (FI)	10	15	13	13	11	11	14	10	10	16	123	12.3
2	Tigers (FI)	12	12	11	17	11	11	14	9	9	15	121	12.1
3	Honeymoon (FI)	5	8	9	8	6	7	7	3	5	5	63	6.3
Rank	A Class	2,6	L,E,7	K,C,D	9,M	19,G	B,P,F	4,O	H,L,Q	J,21	A,N,8	Total	Avg
1	Napapiirin Sankarit (FI)	11	11	18	18	10	16	12	12	-	-	108	13.5
2	Hovinarrit (FI)	6	11	7	13	8	11	10	13	-	-	79	9.9
3	Umppa Lumpat (FI)	7	10	6	14	8	12	9	10	-	-	76	9.5
4	Kutina (FI)	7	9	10	10	7	11	7	9	-	-	70	8.8
5	Belly Boys (FI)	4	3	4	5	1	9	4	6	-	-	36	4.5

The Silver Knights competed in the A Class of 2011 and posted impressive scores last year. It could be expected that the team would move up into the AAA Class competition this year, as Finland has not applied the AA Class category in the past.

There was tough competition for the 4way gold medals though. In fact, this year's battle with the Tigers started in Round 1 and was over with a 2-point difference after Round 10. Both teams were tied in 1st place after Round 8. Silver Knights took a 1-point lead in Round 9 and defended it successfully in Round 10 by winning the last round of the meet by a point.

It's the first time since 2006 that neither the Tigers nor the Pro Team won Finland's national 4way title. The Silver Knights might be the beginning of a new generation of top competitors in and from Finland.