posted Mar 13th, 2017 - The Sun Path Products NSL News is turning to 8-way competition before the upcoming Shamrock Showdown 2017 will focus back on 4-way, especially on the first outdoor confrontation between SDC Rhythm XP and Arizona Airspeed.

The 8-way update relates to the same event where both U.S. 4-way top teams posted their first indoor scores this year, the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2017. The event includes an 8-way competition that participants from France and other European countries have attended on a regular basis. French 8-way world champions Martial Ferre and Damien Sorlin have been organizing these visiting teams for several years, and they were back again in Raeford last month.

The best French 8-way team, Veloce QRF (Quick Reaction Force), was actually an international lineup with team members from five different countries. Only player coaches Martial Ferre and Damien Sorlin are from France and guided the team to the 3rd place with a 21.7 average this year. Uwe Soppa, Petra and Henning Stumpp are highly experienced 4-way and 8-way competitors from Germany. Seth Erickson competed for Sweden at the FAI Mondial 2012 in Dubai. Former Thunder ISR member Paul Hofstee and Jérome Héritier from Switzerland completed the Veloce lineup at Paraclete.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		L,17,3	P,22,M,H	15,G,21	N,5,A,Q	B,K,J,4	12,13,C	F,18,19	D,1,10	11,9,E	16,7,2	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	37	35	30	32	41	26	27	32	29	29	318	31.8
2	XP8	US	32	33	27	28	33	21	24	26	24	21	269	26.9
3	Veloce QRF	FR	28	22	21	22	30	17	18	24	17	18	217	21.7
4	8-way XP	US	21	23	20	23	26	13	18	21	17	21	203	20.3
5	Elisa and Friends	FR	21	20	22	16	23	13	14	15	15	19	178	17.8
6	Veloce Nico's	FR	21	20	19	17	20	9	15	19	16	16	172	17.2
7	Sugar Free Spaland Gummy Bears	US	18	15	17	17	21	13	14	17	16	15	163	16.3
8	Spaceland Lite	US	18	15	14	16	17	13	14	15	13	15	150	15.0
9	Team Meh...	US	19	12	15	14	16	12	12	14	8	14	136	13.6
10	NEXT Rhythm	US	16	12	15	15	18	8	12	13	10	15	134	13.4
11	Paraclete XP Surprise	US	15	13	12	14	16	7	14	13	7	11	122	12.2
11	Eight Balls	US	11	15	14	11	17	9	11	10	11	13	122	12.2

Veloce QRF will be back for the next 8-way indoor competition at the French Indoor Nationals 2017, where 12 teams are registered, exactly the same number as in 4-way Open in Raeford. The Veloce lineup will be even more colorful.

Paul Hofstee, Seth Ericson and Damien Sorlin will not compete for Veloce at Weembi; however, Martial Ferre found adequate replacements. His Tenanine team mate Marco Arrigo, who competed for Italy's national team Sinapsi PD years ago, his 4-way world champion brother Marin Ferre and French national 8-way competitor of 2014, Nicolas David, are filling the three open slots at the end of this month in Lille.

Veloce QRF is set in 2nd place in the current power rankings for the Weembi competition, where HayaBusa's new 8-way Fly-In Machine 44 will be posting the first indoor scores. The Weembi Girls have a 20.8 average in the team records after the first 8-way competition, and the three teams could be very close to each other.

French Indoor Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Fly-In Machine 44	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Veloce QRF	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Weembi Girls	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Boshido	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Monaco 8	MC	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Weemay	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	VAirmaxxx Véloce	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	Team Hell Veloce	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Skolems	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Shamalairlouche Clermont	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Ibmeews	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	8way Donut PCP	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

There will be several other French 8-way competitors who competed at Paraclete last month and will be back at the French Indoor Nationals in the same event.

Elisa & Friends placed 5th at Paraclete, with player coaches Brian "BK" Krause and Marco Arrigo in the lineup. The team name was related to teenager Elisa Camproux who once again visited Paraclete together with her father Arnaud Camproux. They will join another very colorful lineup at Weembi, Monaco's 8-way indoor team.

Elisa's Paraclete friends Samir Jordan Demierre, Elsharkway and Nicolas Lesch will compete with V'Airmaxxx Veloce's 8-way team, and Martial Ferre and Marco Arrigo will be their player coaches again. Several other French 8-way experts and world champions (Manu Sarrazin, Thomas Perrin, Bruno Perin, Julien Degen) are also helping as player coaches. France is not fielding a world class national team at this event, while the 4-way competition is the qualifier for the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017.