posted Apr 24th, 2013 - The NSL News reported on 14 February 2013 that Thunder and SportLoto will continue their own race for the unofficial title of the best amateur team in the world this year.

The race had a good start when Thunder competed at the Aerokart Indoor Championship 2013 at the end of February and SportLoto followed up at the Freezone Indoor Championship 2013 at the beginning of March. The scores were very close by then, even though both teams competed at different places and with different competition draws.

Thunder then competed at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship, while SportLoto was preparing for the trip to the World Challenge.

Aerokart Indoor 2013

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

Q,12,L,21

6,D,A,15

P,7,O,10

H,20,2

14,F,M,E

11,16,8

13,B,N,22

C,J,18,5

9,4,19

G,3,K,17

Total

Avg

1

Thunder (BE)

23

29

26

25

34

19

23

27

27

25

258

25.8

Freezone 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	G,10,N,O	14,K,2	8,18,22	7,15,E	M,17,A,21	13,J,20	L,11,F,9	3,C,16	Total	Avg
1	SportLoto (RU)	27	24	20	27	28	22	31	26	205	25.6

Both teams attended the World Challengefor the third consecutive time. Thunder won in 2011 and 2012 and outscored SportLoto at the World Cup 2012, as well. The Russian top contender then had the upper hand in Bedford for the first time and won by three points.

It seemed like Thunder had carried the slight lead at the end of the 2012 season into the new year. Both teams came back with the same lineup for 2013. In fact, both teams went into the third year with the same lineup. Thunder posted a 25.8 average at Aerokart and SportLoto a 25.6 average at Freezone.

The stage was set for the next great amateur top battle, and both teams lived up to the expectations.

SportLoto	Thunder

World Challenge 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Open Class	O,E,J,K,3	M,Q,A,14	4,6,16	8,18,N	H,19,12	2,7,13	11,C,P,9	15,D,10	L,F,17,G	20,1,22	Total	Avg
6	SportLoto (RU)	35	28(-1)	19(-2)	23	24	21(-3)	30(-1)	23	34(-3)	20	257(10)	25.7
7	Thunder (BE)	33(-1)	32	21	23	23	22(-1)	29(-1)	21(-2)	31(-4)	19(-1)	254(10)	25.4

The SportLoto vs. Thunder battle came out even closer than it may look like, as the extended leaderboard with the point deductions is showing. Both teams had also exactly the same number of point deductions, and SportLoto had the same 3-point lead before and after penalties. Thunder eventually had to accept SportLoto being ahead for the first time.

Both teams celebrated the great competition at Bodyflight Bedford together after the conclusion of the competition on Saturday evening. That was the time when the Russian team had to deliver some bad news.

Center Outside Andrey Kharitonov has to leave Russia for several months due to a work commitment in the USA. SportLoto will have a long break and probably skip the remainder of the 2013 season. Unless the team visits the missing member for a training camp across the Atlantic...