posted Jan 1st, 2013 - The verdict is out, and Thunder is the unofficial World Amateur Champion of 2012. Almost 600 voters participated, and Thunder collected just 32 more votes than SportLoto. It was a great contest.

The vote is identical with the results and the rankings of the World Cup 2012 where all four candidates competed at the same time. The outcome of the Mondial Dubai 2012 did not change the impression of the majority of the NSL News audience that the two "guest teams" earned their Number 1 and 2 positions, even though they were not IPC sanctioned national 4way teams.

The poll has now been replaced by a new one, which puts out the question who is the best 4way team in the world behind Arizona Airspeed, NMP-PCH Hayabusa and Aerodyne Aerokart. SDC Rhythm XP had a slim lead after the first votes on New Year's Evening.

Mondial Dubai 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/Open Class	5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	16,F,P,Q	Total	Avg
7	Ex3mo 4 (IT)	17(-1)	24(-2)	20	14	17	19	22	18(-1)	28(-1)	179	19.9
8	Paratec-Saar (DE)	18	26	21	13	14(-2)	16(-1)	21(-3)	18	30(-1)	177	19.7
9	Rotor Out (AU)	14(-2)	25(-1)	18(-1)	15	17	18	22(-1)	17	28	174	19.3
10	Bardagi (SE)	17	26	20	14	16	15(-2)	23	17(-2)	24(-2)	172	19.1

The NSL News now goes back to the Mondial 2012 with a closer look at the teams who in the past years used to battle alone for the unofficial amateur title. The six teams who made it into the finals and Round 10 were usually excluded from the recognition as unofficial amateur teams. The winner of the teams who were finished after the semifinals and Round 9 was honored with this unofficial title.

This time, Ex3mo from Italy did not get the confirmation by the NSL News audience, and not even finalist Satori was able to outscore Thunder and SportLoto. However, the four teams in the semifinals had a very exciting battle with Satori for the 6th and last slot in the finals, and each of the four teams was close enough to be in the mix almost throughout the whole meet.

The special scoreboard with only the four semifinalists between the 7th and the 10th place shows the point deductions and the highscores for each round. Each of the four teams posted at least one sole highscore for a round, which shows that the potential was there to win the race in this semifinals group.

Ex3mo finished only three points behind Satori after picking up the pace in Round 5. The pressure from the other teams was probably helpful too. In fact, Ex3mo was only in 9th place after Round 4. Paratec-Saar from Germany, themselves unofficial former amateur world champions and bronze medalists at the World Cup 2011, were tied with Satori in 6th place after Round 3 and then fell behind round by round, while Ex3mo went the other and better way.

Rotor Out from Australia was one of the impressive surprises of the Mondial 2012. The Aussies had won the national championships with a 17.0 average in April and were then in the semifinals mix of the four best "amateur teams" in Dubai with a 19.3 average after Round 9. Bardagi from Sweden was just as impressive with the 19.1 average after posting a 16.6 at the national championships in July.

Coach Shannon Pilcher was in charge of Rotor Out and Bardagi both and could watch an exciting 2-point battle between his two teams. He had tested their competitive skills once in a while before with remote meets that he was judging online. He knew that it would be close. Bardagi also had to fend off Voodoo from South Africa for the 10th slot in the seminfinals. But that's another story...