posted Mar 16th, 2009 - The introduction of the lineups for the World Challenge 2009 continues with a group of very interesting visitors from the USA. The NSL News fans who read the fine-print have probably already detected the team name GKXP on the event page and the names of the team members: Matt Davidson, Andy Honigbaum, Brian Krause and Kirk Verner.

The GKXP lineup is obviously a powerful combination of two Golden Knights 4-way experts (Matt Davidson, Brian Krause) and two Paraclete XP veteran 4-way competitors (Andy Honigbaum and Kirk Verner).

Paraclete XP already competed with its original lineup (Tim D'Annunzio, John D'Annunzio, Andy Honigbaum, Kirk Verner) at the World Challenge 2008 and finished with a 22.7 average in 9th place. Andy Honigbaum and Kirk Verner now return to the same place a year later and with an even stronger lineup.

Golden Knights Matt Davidson and Brian Krause have been training and competing with the US Army team for a long time. Matt Davidson competed with the Army's 8-way team already in 1998 and 1999 when the Golden Knights won the USPA gold medals in Sebastian. He took a break between 2000 and 2002, while Brian Krause joined the 8-way lineup in 2001.

Matt Davidson and Brian Krause then trained and competed together for the first time in 8-way after Matt Davidson's comeback in 2003, and also in 4-way with the second lineup, Golden Knights Black.

Things changed in 2004 when the Army had decided to focus on 4-way. Matt Davidson and Brian Krause were now partners in 4-way, together with John Hoover and Brooks Weiner. They ended up in second place at the USPA Nationals 2004 behind DeLand Majik, the fresh 4-way world champions after winning in Croatia.

The same Golden Knights 4-way lineup with Matt Davidson and Brian Krause continued in 2005 and lost the USPA Nationals after a jump-off with DeLand Fire. A very slow 2006 season followed for the Army team. However Matt Davidson and Brian Krause still competed for the the Golden Knights 4-way team at the USPA Nationals and finished in 4th place.

The Golden Knights re-built their 4-way lineup in 2007, this time once again on a high intensity level. John Hoover was back in the lineup, and Kurt Isenberger came back to work with John Hoover in the center. Matt Davidson (Tail) and Brian Krause (Point) continued in their slots. This new line posted the Army's highest meet average of 23.0 at the USPA Nationals 2007, and it was still only good enough for the 3rd place behind the new Airspeed Odyssey lineup and Team Fastrax.

Then John Hoover retired, and Eric Heinsheimer came back in the Tail slot, while Matt Davidson became the new Center Inside for the Golden Knights in 2008. This lineup finished in 3rd place at the USPA Nationals 2008 behind Airspeed Odyssey and Perris Fury.

Matt Davidson and Brian Krause made new plans for the 2009 season, while Kurt Isenberger and Eric Heinsheimer left the team. This time, the Army team decided to switch back to the 8-way event, and the two 4-way partners since 2004 go back to where they once started in 2003.

However, the World Challenge 2009 brings Matt Davidson and Brian Krause one more time back to the 4-way event, and they have two other 4-way experts in their GKXP lineup.

Kirk Verner was a member of the legendary first Airspeed lineup that started the 4-way and 8-way powerhouse in Arizona.

Jack Jefferies, Mark Kirkby and Dan BC were his 4-way teammates in the earliest Airspeed years. He won 4-way gold medals with Airspeed in 1995, 1997 and left the first Airspeed 4-way lineup after the silver medals behind France and 8-way gold medals in Australia 1999.

He still competed with Airspeed in 4-way and 8-way when Craig Girard formed Airspeed Vertical in 2000 and won another silver medal in 8-way, one single point behind Russia in Spain 2001. His Airspeed Zulu lineup also won the bronze medals at the USPA Nationals the same year. However, Kirk Verner was now more in charge to bring any new Airspeed members up to speed, while Craig Girard moved the Vertical and then Odyssey lineup forward.

He worked with new Airspeed members in the Zulu 2002 lineup and won the 8-way competition, which bought him the next trip to the World Meet in France. The Golden Knights had beat Airspeed Vertical in 4-way.

Airspeed's 8-way team ended up once again in 2nd place behind Russia in 2003, and both Airspeed lineups finished behind DeLand Majik at the USPA Nationals 2003. Kirk Verner and Andy Honigbaum connected that year when Andy Honigbaum was the alternate for the Airspeed 8-way lineup that won the 8-way competition in Lake Wales.

Kirk Verner then guided the new Airspeed 8-way lineup with Andy Honigbaum to new gold medals in Croatia 2004. Airspeed did not even try to win the 4-way competition at the USPA Nationals 2004 and took the next set of gold medals in 8-way.

Kirk Verner and Andy Honigbaum then trained and competed together in 4-way with Airspeed Velocity in 2005 and won the USPA 8-way gold medals, which qualified the team for the World Meet 2006 in Germany. They spent another year together to prepare for the World Meet 2006 and lost against the strong French 8-way machine. Kirk Verner then accepted the management position at Paraclete XP, moved to North Carolina and did not compete for the winning Airspeed 8-way lineup at the USPA Nationals 2006.

Andy Honigbaum still competed with Airspeed Velocity at the USPA Nationals 2006 and then followed Kirk Verner to North Carolina in 2007 where they formed the Paraclete XP 4-way team and have worked for the Paraclete XP windtunnel ever since. Owner Tim D'Annunzio and his son John complete the Paraclete XP lineup.

The complete Paraclete XP lineup made the trip to Bodyflight Bedford last year. The World Challenge 2009 now features the two high-profile Airspeed/Paraclete and Golden Knights pieces together in 4-way. The GKXP lineup is especially very well trained for indoor events, and it would be no surprise to see the team compete for the top spots on the leaderboard.