posted Jan 5th, 2017 - The recent updates from Belgium, which began with the end of Thunder ISR's team project, did not only have an impact on the 4-way and 8-way situation in the homeland of the reigning 4-way world champions, NMP PCH HayaBusa.

The Sun Path Products NSL News has covered extensively the future of the two Thunder members from Belgium, Sven Ibens and Wesley Claessens, who will both continue with HayaBusa's new 8-way lineup, Fly-In Machine 44, and a new Belgian 4-way team, FireFlash.

The Dutch half of Thunder ISR, Paul Hofstee and Jacco van Eerden, had also trained and competed with HayaBusa's first 8-way team, the Thund8rbirds, who announced after the Weembi 8-way competition that they would not continue.

However, the end of both Thunder projects is unlikely to become the end of Paul Hofstee's and Jacco van Eerden's competition career.

FAI World Meet 2010			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		10,7,12	3,11,5	J,M,Q,P,L	19,1,13	N,18,20	K,17,8	2,15,H	4,D,6	O,E,9,G	22,B,16	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	21	22	56	20	22	24	22	24	40	26	277	27.7
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	22	21	53	23	20	24	23	25	40	23	274	27.4
3	Sky Panthers	RU	19	21	56	21	19	21	23	22	41	21	264	26.4
4	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	21	21	55	20	17	20	23	22	36	18	253	25.3
5	Evolution	CA	19	19	51	20	18	22	21	21	31	18	240	24.0
6	Sinapsi	IT	19	19	49	16	20	17	21	19	37	19	236	23.6
7	Paratec-Saar	DE	16	18	53	17	15	18	16	19	30	-	202	22.4
8	Satori	UK	18	18	47	16	17	18	17	18	29	-	198	22.0
9	Dynamic Fource	NL	17	18	44	16	16	15	16	18	26	-	186	20.7
10	Pro Team	FI	17	16	43	14	15	17	17	17	28	-	184	20.4

In fact, the end of the Thunder project, with the mixed Durch/Belgian lineup, coincides with the beginning of a new project in the Netherlands, where Paul Hofstee and Jacco van Eerden could find a new mission and help re-define Dutch 4-way competition.

Erwin van den Braak and Alex Egberink recently launched a 4-way project with the main goal to lift the performance level in the Netherlands back up to where it was when both project leaders were training and competing themselves.

Erwin van den Braak and Alex Egberink were both team mates with Thunder member Paul Hofstee years ago.

Erwin van den Braak was in the Dynamic Fource lineup with him, the Dutch national 4-way team at the world meets in Maubeuge 2008 and Menzelinsk 2010, who still own the highest Dutch 4-way outdoor average (20.7) and the national record for a single round (44).

FAI World Meet 2006			1	2	3	4	5	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		N,20,16	K,J,C,G,3	D,19,B,6	L,14,10	F,17,M,2	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Fire	US	20	27	25	17	28	117	23.4
2	Gap Nice Icarius Autrement	FR	17	25	23	21	25	111	22.2
3	Sinapsi PD	IT	19	26	22	19	24	110	22.0
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	21	23	23	17	25	109	21.8
5	Arcteryx	NO	18	25	21	17	24	105	21.0
6	Spa HayaBusa	BE	19	25	18	17	23	102	20.4
7	EADS	DE	17	23	20	16	18	94	18.8
8	Danez	DK	15	22	15	17	21	90	18.0
9	Spain	ES	16	18	17	14	19	84	16.8
9	Evolution	CA	15	14	19	14	22	84	16.8
11	Team 42	SE	13	20	17	14	17	81	16.2
11	British Army	UK	14	21	16	12	18	81	16.2
13	Voodoo	ZA	15	20	15	12	18	80	16.0
14	Punky Fish	NL	16	13	17	14	19	79	15.8
15	Airtite	AU	12	17	17	13	17	76	15.2
16	FILA	AT	13	16	16	12	17	74	14.8
17	Japan	JP	12	18	14	12	15	71	14.2
18	CTR Optimum	BR	13	14	14	12	17	70	14.0
19	Sky Service	CZ	12	16	13	11	14	66	13.2
20	Lithuania	LT	9	14	11	9	8	51	10.2
21	New Zealand	NZ	10	11	11	7	11	50	10.0
22	Kazakhstan	KZ	8	6	7	6	13	40	8.0
23	Estonia	EE	4	7	7	7	9	34	6.8
24	Ireland	IE	6	6	7	4	6	29	5.8
25	Cyprus	CY	3	7	7	5	4	26	5.2

Alex Egberink goes even farther back in history with Paul Hofstee. They trained and competed together with Punky Fish in 2004 - 2006 and represented the Netherlands at the world meet in Gera 2006.

Punky Fish disbanded at the end of the 2006 season, and Paul Hofstee joined the next national 4-way team, Dynamic Fource, where he trained and competed together with Erwin van den Braak.

Erwin van den Braak, Alex Egberink and Paul Hofstee might get back together this year in some way for the new Dutch 4-way project, and Thunder team mate Jacco van Eerden could be a part of the project, as well, if goals, training plans and performance level are promising enough for both former Thunder members.

The project is officially called "Dutch Formation Skydiving - Project 20+" which defines clearly what Erwin van den Braak and Alex Egberink have in mind for the Dutch 4-way competitors.

The selection of the participants is scheduled for January 21st and former HayaBusa member Roy Janssen is coaching at the event and for the project. The Sun Path Products NSL News will follow up soon with more information.