posted Apr 11th, 2017 - The new part of the World Challenge 2017 aftermath begins with a review of the French Indoor Nationals 2017.

Several teams traveled from France to England, and the Sun Path Products NSL News had mentioned previously that the Belgian teams NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash had both events on their meet schedule.

The third and fourth showdowns between the Belgian indoor and outdoor world champions and Weembi Lille have received a lot of attention and came to a peak at the World Challenge. The Sun Path Products NSL News also followed the first competition performance of the Belgian 8-way Fly-In Machine 44 carefully in France and now follows up with the competition videos. Only six of the ten meet rounds were judged and processed on InTime, as there was not enough time left for the French judges to go through the missing four rounds.

The Belgian 8-way performance was logically not only depending on the HayBusa members, and their FireFlash 8-way partners also competed as a guest team in 4-way at the French Indoor Nationals. The second video features the ten FireFlash 4-way rounds in Lille.

French Indoor Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way		10,12,A	21,E,9	M,J,22,G	15,6,Q	4,N,14	19,2,F	18,A,16	D,20,3	B,17,8	P,13,K,1	Total	Avg
11	ISR FireFlash	BE	18	26	22	23	21	22	20	22	21	21	216	21.6
Rank	8-way		18,10,3	C,J,4,13	5,N,A,7	2,G,M,19	21,E,8	Q,P,F,16	B,H,17,L	K,9,6	O,1,15	11,12,D	Total	Avg
1	Fly-In Machine 44	BE	27	29	25	24	20	42	29	27	36	35	294	29.4

NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash could focus only on their 4-way performance at the World Challenge, which does not include 8-way, and it became obvious that HayBusa needed all available energy to fend off the Weembi challenge.

Two FireFlash members, Sven Ibens and Wesley Claessens, have attended each World Challenge with their previous team Thunder ISR since 2011. Maya Van Campenhout competed in Bedford two times in 4-way Women (2014, 2016) with Les Stunts, the Belgian national team in this category, and she scored for the first time on the AAA/Open Class leaderboard. Glenn Cuylaerts was new in Bedford.

It was not only beneficial for HayaBusa to focus only on the 4-way competition at the World Challenge. ISR FireFlash had posted a 21.6 average at the French Indoor Nationals and followed up with an impressive 24.2 average two weeks later in Bedford.

The competition draw was faster last weekend, as most teams at both events scored higher than in Lille. However, the FireFlash progression was still better than all others.

World Challenge 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		D,B,6,22	12,E,17	20,G,C,10	N,M,15,H	Q,19,K,4	8,21,L	P,9,J,7	O,11,1	13,A,16	3,18,5	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	33	29	29	46	34	28	47	28	28	29	331	33.1
2	Weembi Lille	FR	33	31	29	43	35	28	46	29	29	27	330	33.0
3	French Weembi Girls	FR	30	29	28	38	32	24	43	28	26	25	303	30.3
4	RealFly-Sion	FR	29	29	26	38	31	26	42	27	24	23	295	29.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	26	24	37	30	26	40	27	24	23	286	28.6
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	27	26	23	35	29	23	39	23	21	21	267	26.7
7	IFS-Moscow	RU	26	26	23	35	29	21	40	24	24	18	266	26.6
7	Espoir Saumur Weembi	FR	27	26	23	33	28	23	37	24	23	22	266	26.6
9	Volition	UK	25	24	19	34	23	21	36	24	22	21	249	24.9
10	ISR FireFlash	BE	25	21	21	33	23	21	35	22	21	20	242	24.2

ISR FireFlash had finished in 11th place at the French Indoor Nationals. The field was even stronger at the World Challenge, where SDC Rhythm XP, IFS Moscow and Volition also claimed their Top 10 spots. FireFlash still managed to climb up to the 10th place in Bedford.

Tenanine and Amnesya Fly-In had to make room for the Belgian team, especially the Italians despite a significantly improved (21.7 - 23.9) scoring level. Tenanine had Moulay Abbas back in the lineup and matched the scoring level of the French Indoor Nationals.

FireFlash's inside center Sven Ibens joined the Sun Path Products NSL News live in Bedford for an evaluation of Round 4, and he provided a lot of information of the Formation Skydiving and team development in Belgium, which is more than promising, even behind the HayaBusa world champions.

However, Sven Ibens was also very realistic about the chances for Fly-In Machine 44 to compete next year in Australia. His team knows that the 4-way gold medals have priority for their 8-way partners, and there is no guarantee for an 8-way trip downunder. There is still a lot of 8-way fun to come for both teams - with or without FAI 8-way competition in Australia 2018...