posted Dec 30th, 2012 - It seemed like there could be only one winner in the NSL Poll for the unofficial title of the world amateur champion of 2012. Thunder was far ahead of Satori and Ex3mo before the Russian 4way team SportLoto was added to the list of candidates.

Thunder was still clearly in the lead a day later, even though SportLoto collected the first votes rather quickly. Now the picture has completely changed, with only one more day to go before the poll will be closed. SportLoto has indeed caught up after a total of over 400 votes have been submitted. In fact, the Russian world class amateur 4way team has taken a thin lead at the moment.

It is quite amazing that the vast majority in the NSL News audience has decided to vote for two teams who both did not compete at the Mondial Dubai 2012. It may be the first time that a team will win this unofficial title who is not an official national team and did not compete at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

There is nothing in the way for such a vote. It seems to be only fair that the unofficial title for an amateur team could be awarded to a team who cannot compete at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving where only the best team of each IPC sanctioned nation is eligible. There are enough other competitions that allow all teams to show what they have to offer. Thunder is one great example for a team that likes to go to all kind of different meets.

A closer look at the new duel between Thunder and SportLoto shows that the NSL News audience has good reasons to honor the performance and progression of the Russian team. Thunder and SportLoto are both relatively new teams, however, the Russian team has an even younger history than Thunder's international lineup.

Thunder competed at the ESL Championship 2009 for the first time, more or less as a pickup team. They followed up with a training camp and the Valentine's Meet at Skydive Arizona in February 2010. The Thunder project really began after the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia, where Center Outside Paul Hofstee still competed for the Dutch team Dynamic Fource.

World Challenge 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	10,C,5	20,P,2	H,M,Q,K,A	L,J,16,12	E,7,15	O,11,22	14,B,17	6,13,9	4,3,21	1,G,8	Total	Avg
6	SportLoto (RU)	21	23	49	23	29	20	25	23	21	21	255	25.5
10	Thunder (BE)	13	20	41	23	27	20	23	21	19	17	224	22.4

The SportLoto team project was launched at the beginning of the 2011 season. Two former Kaktus Hunters (Egor Gusev, Andrew Kharitonov) joined forces with Yuri Drozdov and Dima Samochval. SportLoto and Thunder then met for the first time shortly after both teams launched their first more intensive years with the current lineups.

SportLoto won the World Challenge 2011 over Thunder without a problem and impressed the audience with a 25.5 average in 6th place. Thunder was not even close at that time.

This changed at the World Challenge 2012 where Thunder impressed the audience with a 24.1 average in 7th place just as much as SportLoto did in 2011. However, SportLoto's 19.9 average does not count, as the Russian team did not have the complete lineup in Bedford this year.

World Cup 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	1,19,2	14,18,15	N,16,20	E,6,J,A	C,K,9,13	F,8,11	Q,22,L,21	B,17,H,P	12,D,0,4	G,10,7	Total	Avg
2	Thunder (BE)	20	17	20	24(-6)	27	20	20	31	20	19	218	21.8
3	SportLoto (RU)	16(-1)	17	21	29(-2)	20(-1)	19	20(-1)	31(-1)	19	20	212	21.2

Then both teams met again with their complete lineups at the same time and the same place for their first outdoor competition. Mansur Mustafin was now on camera for SportLoto. It was the World Cup 2012 where Thunder and SportLoto also met the other two candidates for the world amateur title, Satori and Ex3mo.

The difference between both teams (21.8 - 21.2) was similar to the indoor results in 2011 and 2012 (25.5 - 24.1) as they were not separated by much. The indoor difference was only so much larger due to the Super Sequence that was still a part of the World Challenge in 2011 and boosted the meet average of all teams.

The race at the NSL Poll for the world amateur title of 2012 is now as close between both teams as the outdoor competition was in Prostejov this year. Both teams are also making plans for the 2013 season, and the race will continue.