posted Aug 12th, 2012 - The leaderboard of the Norwegian Nationals has been updated with the missing scores, and the DeLand Norgies topped things off with a 38-pointer in Round 8. Polaris posted a 29-pointer for the same Super Sequence.

The 72 teams at the UK Nationals keep posting great scores and have some exciting battles going on the top of the four leaderboards and within the field. The NSL News will explain more about the competition later on.

The pressure test for the national 4way and 8way lineups in France is over. Aerodyne Aerokart (4way) and Aerodyne Maubeuge (8way) both completed ten rounds within a few days. The other French 8way teams completed only eight rounds, while Aerodyne Maubeuge added two more rounds to apply the whole dive pool.

French National 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8way	F,18,17	2,14,1	G,H,L,19	21,16,13	9,O,3	A,M,P,K,15	10,N,4	11,C,6	20,D,5	J,12,Q,B	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Maubeuge (FR)	21	19	21	22	21	28	23	21	19	24	219	21.9
2	Monaco Aerial (FR)	12	11	16	16	14	16	15	10	-	-	110	13.8
3	Espoir Maubeuge (FR)	9	8	12	6	11	14	12	9	-	-	81	10.1
4	Annecy Veloce NoLimit (FR)	5	4	7	9	5	8	6	2	-	-	46	5.8
5	Cahors Norme (FR)	5	3	3	1	3	1	2	3	-	-	21	2.6

The 13.8 average of the team in 2nd place, Monaco Aerial, deserves some attention, as well. Monaco's 4way lineup lost the battle with the Air Force team from Nice for the first time this year. However, the 8way results were probably a good compensation for the team.

The three world class 8way competitors of the 80s and 90s, Didier Boignon, Jean-François "Jeff" Ronzevalle and Franck Vazille, surely enjoyed some great 8way jumps. They had scored a 13.0 average to win the silver medals at the World Meet 1987 in Brazil. Last week's 13.8 average would have won the gold medals in 1987. The Golden Knights with team captain Andy Gerber took 8way Excalibur in Brazil with a 13.2 average and placed 2nd in 4way.

The other way around, the 13.2 average of 1987 would not have been good enough to make the 5th place at the World Cup 2011.

French 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

4way

4,E,M,H

17,20,6

7,12,P

3,K,13

5,14,O

L,8,F,11

15,16,18

2,G,Q,A

10,22,1

D,N,C,B,19

Total

Avg

1

Aerodyne Aerokart (FR)

34

23

24

23

23

26

19

30

17

30

249

24.9

Rank	8way	F,18,17	2,14,1	G,H,L,19	21,16,13	9,O,3	A,M,P,K,15	10,N,4	11,C,6	20,D,5	J,12,Q,B	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Maubeuge (FR)	21	19	21	22	21	28	23	21	19	24	219	21.9

The French national teams will now evaluate their double duty performances and try to learn as much as possible from their experience at the French Nationals. Arizona Airspeed and NMP-PCH Hayabusa will study the 4way scores carefully and use the sequences in their next training camps. Golden Knights and Sky Panthers Barkli will do the same in 8way.

The 21.9 average in 8way matches exactly the Golden Knights average at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012. The teams will compare the competition draw and try to find out where they stand compared to each other.

France has three more months to share time and money between 4way and 8way training. The current scores confirm the previous performance level in both events. It will be interesting to see if the French lineups will be able to lift their scores up to a higher level from here on forward...