posted Apr 17th, 2017 - The 2017 triple showdown between NMP PCH HayaBusa and Weembi Lille peaked with the 1-point thriller at the World Challenge 2017 that the Sun Path Products NSL News featured with the update on 9 April 2017.

The story pointed out that the historic duel produced the highest total number of points that two teams have ever posted, even though HayaBusa and the French national team of 2012 together finished only two points short of the 661 total in Bedford when they competed at the Aerokart Indoor Championship 2012.

It was not really that close in 2012, as Weembi's outside center Julien Degen explained later to the Sun Path Products NSL News. He was a part of both battles in 2012 and 2017, as seven of the eight best 4-way competitors in the world were.

Julien Degen said that the scores at Aerokart 2012 do not compare to the ones at the World Challenge 2017. The judging system mistakenly gave all teams 37 seconds of working time throughout the whole competition, which was detected after the completion of the event and could not be corrected orderly. The scores and averages of 2012 are significantly higher, and the two top teams were not as close to themselves in Bedford as the numbers have indicated.

The same 2017 triple showdown has also featured an incredibly unique situation every single time, which has not received the deserved attention yet. However, the Sun Path Products NSL News saved one of the most interesting NSL Live Talk conversations for last and recorded it on World Challenge TV just before the teams left to celebrate or head home.

It is probably one of the most unique facts in sports that the two best indoor 4-way teams in the world and in history each have two brothers in their lineups: David and Andy Grauwels compete for NMP PCH HayaBusa, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier for Weembi Lille.

The Grauwels brothers are two of the four HayaBusa founding members (Sven Ibens, Roy Janssen) who launched the team project in 2003, and the Belgian brothers are now the reigning 4-way indoor and outdoor world champions.

The French Bernier brothers started with their 4-way career at almost exactly the same time. They were selected for the French national teams in 2004 and won their first gold medals together in 8-way at the FAI World Meet 2006 in Germany. They defended the 8-way gold medals successfully in 2008 and almost added 4-way gold at the same event. Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier then won their 4-way gold medals in Menzelinsk 2010, where Mathieu was also in the winning 8-way lineup.

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

The conversation with the two pairs of brothers from Belgium and France at the World Challenge probably featured the most unique collection of competition experiences and FAI medals in the history of the Sun Path Products NSL News, even though it was not so special due to only medals and success.

It is difficult to comprehend that such a unique coincidence is possible at all. Family relationships in 4-way and 8-way teams and generally in sports are not unique and new, and the Canadian LeMay family with three brothers (Martin, Vincent, Benoit) and father Michel have been one of many examples. However, the fact that two pairs of brothers are currently competing directly with and against each other on the highest scoring level in history is special and unique.

David and Andy Grauwels and Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier met each other for the first time at the FAI World Meet in Rijeka 2004, even though they competed in different events, the Grauwels brothers in 4-way, the Bernier brothers in 8-way. The situation was exactly the same two years later in Germany.

They had their first direct confrontation at the FAI World Meet in Maubeuge 2008, where Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier competed in both events and finished one point behind Arizona Airspeed in 4-way. David and Andy Grauwels won their first FAI medals in Maubeuge, three points behind France. Nine years later they were one point ahead of the Berniers in Bedford...