posted Nov 28th, 2016 - Thunder ISR's farewell competition at the ISR Grand Prix 2016 was a random party, and the best amateur 4-way team in the history of the sport could finish off the 8-year team career with a new record average.

Wesley Claessens (Point), Paul Hofstee (Outside Center), Sven Ibens (Inside Center) and Jacco van Eerden (Tail) had started the Thunder team project with a 17.4 average at the Valentine's Meet in February 2010 and posted a 29.3 average last weekend with exactly the same lineup.

The dive pool for the ISR Grand Prix favors a higher AAA Class average than usual, as only 16 of the 22 blocks are used for the eight sequences. Three of the 16 blocks were not drawn this time, while all 16 random formations created a fast Grand Prix 2016 draw. The 28.4 of 2014 was the highest Thunder average so far in Roosendaal, and last weekend's scores were still significantly higher. Thunder ISR leaves behind a very high benchmark for any other amateur teams in the future.

ISR Grand Prix 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		A,17,9	12,P,L,18	C,B,O,11	14,21,M	6,K,D,E	N,3,J,D	22,16,F	7,Q,H,2	Total	Avg
1	Thunder ISR	BE	35	23	33	25	33	28	26	31	234	29.3
2	Flying Squad	FR	31	22	30	22	31	26	20	26	208	26.0
3	Amnesya	IT	24	19	22	21	30	22	19	27	184	23.0
4	Energy Garzigliana	IT	26	19	24	21	27	20	19	25	181	22.6
5	Monaco Tunnel Team	MC	23	18	24	19	25	19	17	23	168	21.0
6	M4trix	NL	22	16	21	18	23	19	16	21	156	19.5
7	Flyzone Les Affranchis	FR	20	16	22	19	22	15	17	21	152	19.0
8	Ludo's Pinkcakes Deluxe	DE	17	13	22	16	21	17	14	19	139	17.4
9	Murphy Mania	NL	19	13	18	16	20	14	14	17	131	16.4
9	Crash Test Dummies	BE	17	13	19	15	19	15	14	19	131	16.4
11	Hoppaaaa	BE	14	11	17	14	18	14	12	18	118	14.8
12	Cool Runnings	NL	16	11	11	14	15	11	14	13	105	13.1
13	Blue Rebels	GR	14	10	13	13	15	11	10	14	100	12.5

Thunder ISR claimed all eight highscores and did not allow other teams to get anywhere close this year. However, the team in 2nd place also impressed with a 26.0 average.

It was a French-Italian 2-2 combination, including two members of the French national 4-way team in 4-way Open, Mondial bronze medalists Laurence Herve and Damien Gouriou. They competed together with two well-trained Italian 4-way competitors, Max Alberdi and Matteo Roncari.

Both have attended several indoor 4-way camps with Laurence Herve, and also with NMP PCH HayaBusa members. Their indoor 3-way often included Michele Silvi in the past, who is not available any longer after joining the Italian 4-way team Amnesya, Max Alberdi's team at the World Challenge 2016. Laurence Herve brought her French team mate Damien Gouriou to fill the slot, and the Flying Squad finished far ahead of the Italian team.

Laurence Herve said that the Flying Squad had only three days of indoor training in Madrid the week before the ISR Grand Prix 2016. The player coaching project will continue in the near future, and it will take place at the RealFly wind tunnel in Sion, Switzerland.

RealFly has decided to sponsor the French national team in 4-way Open. Laurence Herve, Damien Gouriou and their team mates Charles Rommel and Kevin Mansion will have to travel from France to Switzerland more often. Laurence Herve is working there as an instructor, and she has already been covering the 4.5 hours of driving distance on a regular basis.

Her team mates live all over France (Bordeaux, Agen, Paris, Dunkerque) and have to get ready to spend a lot of time in Switzerland. The French 4-way Open Class team will surely try to turn bronze into silver or gold in two years, and the RealFly sponsorship comes in handy at the beginning of the new 2-year cycle...