posted Jan 10th, 2014 - It's been almost two years that Arizona Airspeed and NMP-PCH Hayabusa competed directly against each other at an indoor competition.

It was at the World Challenge 2012 where the Belgian indoor experts outscored Airspeed by 14 points (304 - 290) and left the French national 4way team Aerodyne Aerokart 13 points behind.

All three teams met each other again at the Mondial Dubai 2012, and Airspeed won the gold medals by one single point over the Belgian national 4way team. Hayabusa and France with the new 4way lineup met again at the World Cup 2013, while Airspeed did not compete at any of the meets that Hayabusa attended last year, and vice versa.

World Challenge 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 Open Class	D,Q,9,10	17,P,11	2,21,7	14,J,O,M	A,L,18,16	N,H,20,G	C,E,19,22	1,8,4	K,6,3	12,F,5	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	34	33	25(-1)	36	28(-2)	35	30(-1)	25	28	30	304	30.4
2	Aerodyne Aerokart	31(-2)	31	25	37	28	33	26(-2)	23	27	30	291	29.1
3	Arizona Airspeed	34	29(-1)	24(-2)	34(-2)	28(-1)	34	29	22	26	30	290	29.0

This means that Airspeed's new lineup has never lost a competition yet, as NMP-PCH Hayabusa has not had the opportunity yet to face off with the reigning 4way world champions. The 2014 season brings the next World Championship of Formation Skydiving to the 4way world in August. Both teams know that they will have to get ready for the final showdown and have planned several test meets before.

The first Hayabusa - Airspeed showdown is coming up next weekend in Spain where the new Windoor tunnel in Empuriabrava runs a money meet. The total of 16,000 Euro (8,000 - 5,000 - 3,000) goes to the first three places and will most likely be shared between NMP-PCH Hayabusa, Arizona Airspeed and Gavroches Maubeuge. Thunder will probably try to challenge the French team for the 3,000 Euro for the 3rd place.

Pete Allum competes with an international lineup (Marin and Martial Ferre, Ivan Quadrio) and will provide scores and meet information.

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
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	40(-1)	37	25	28	28	25	37	25(-2)	42(-1)	20(-2)	307(6)	30.7
2	Evolution (CA)	39	36	24(-1)	23	21(-3)	22(-1)	33(-1)	24(-2)	37(-1)	21	280(9)	28.0
3	Gavroches Maubeuge (FR)	34	35	23	22	24	22	33	24	34	19	270(0)	27.0
4	Paraclete XP4 (US)	34(-1)	34	23	22(-1)	22	23	31	22(-2)	38	20	269(4)	26.9
5	XL	30(-5)	35	22	23	23	23	29(-2)	24	37	19(-1)	265(8)	26.5

It's the first competition in 2014 for Hayabusa and Airspeed, and both top contenders will be interested to see the real distance at this point in time. The online audience saw Hayabusa far ahead in the world rankings poll at the end of the year.

The new Arizona Airspeed lineup, with Point Thiago Gomes and Center Inside Chris Farina, was put together by Mark Kirkby and Thomas Hughes after the Mondial 2012. Airspeed then attended four meets in 2013 and posted a 26.1 average at the only indoor meet, the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2013.

The 25.5 average at the USPA Nationals 2013 was the highest result of the three outdoor meets over ten rounds. The Windoor showdown next weekend in Spain opens a very competitive schedule between Airspeed and Hayabusa where the teams will meet each other several times before the world meet.