posted Jan 14th, 2016 - The Sun Path Products NSL News covered the 8-way project of NMP PCH Hayabusa and Thunder ISR a few times before the Thund8rbirds eventually competed for the first time at the Belgian Nationals 2015.

Both 4-way teams had also planned to attend the FAI World Cup 2015 and then compete together in 8-way in Teuge. Thunder's eligibility to compete for the Belgian delegation or as a guest team was challenged before the competition began, and the team eventually withdrew from both events, 4-way and 8-way.

It was a disappointing experience, especially for Thunder ISR, however, the Thund8rbirds pulled together and then posted a 16.3 average at the Belgian Nationals.

Clash of Champions			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		L,F,C,7	5,6,19	2,9,3	G,A,12,10	B,11,22	16,1,21	K,M,18,P	E,O,J,8	Q,17,15	N,H,4,D	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	34	26	30	30	37	34	35	25	31	42	324	32.4
2	France Weembi	FR	29	22	25	26	30	30	28	27	28	34	279	27.9
3	Tanay	RU	29	22	20	22	31	30	27	23	25	38	267	26.7
4	Thund8rbirds	BE	24	23	22	22	21	28	28	23	24	35	250	25.0
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	24	19	20	21	25	24	20	19	23	26	221	22.1
6	Dubai Asaar	AE	21	19	19	19	20	23	22	19	21	26	209	20.9
7	Monaco Vitalsea	MC	7	13	16	14	13	11	17	18	17	22	148	14.8

NMP PCH Hayabusa and Thunder ISR also still had the 8-way competition at the Clash of Champions 2015 to look forward to, and this event offered the same what both teams had hoped to do at the FAI World Cup: Compete in both Formation Skydiving categories.

It turned out that only the three 8-way powerhouses in the world (USA - France - Russia) finished ahead of the Thund8rbirds, who posted an impressive 25.0 average at Inflight Dubai.

Thunder ISR had to go home after the Clash of Champions, while NMP PCH Hayabusa also competed at the World Air Games 2015 a few days later. The 16.3 average of the Thund8rbirds at their national championships would have been good enough for the 4th place at the outdoor competition, as well.

World Air Games 2015			Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		20,13,4	F,L,B,G,P	22,D,7	14,O,5	9,C,J,H	19,K,3	Q,17,E,A	15,21,18	12,16,1	8,11,2	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	22	33	19	19	18	22	21	22	29	17	222	22.2
2	Tanay	RU	17	26	17	14	19	21	17	17	24	13	185	18.5
3	France Weembi	FR	16	23	13	15	16	20	17	17	22	13	172	17.2
4	Dubai Asaar	AE	14	17	13	14	15	16	16	16	15	11	147	14.7
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	13	16	14	10	13	16	15	14	16	11	138	13.8

The Clash of Champions was not the first time that Dennis Praet, David and Andy Grauwels competed at an 8-way indoor competition. They had a pickup team at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2014, Voltevobusa, who performed the last four of the ten 8-way rounds in Raeford.

It was a very colorful lineup, with Damien Gouriou, Pierre Emmanuel Balages, Mathieu Bernier, Julien Degen and Katie Woods in the other five slots.

Thunder member Paul Hofstee has attended several Paraclete 8-way meets in the past years and will be back soon for this year's event. The other four Thund8rbirds enjoyed the 8-way vacations just as much, and the team will try to attend a few 2016 meets, as well. However, 4-way training and competition is still top priority for the reigning world champions in a world meet year...