posted Apr 3rd, 2018 - The coverage of the Shamrock Showdown 2018, first major outdoor competition of the new year with world class participation, went by quickly, as the attention shifted to the next interesting indoor events shortly after.

The French Indoor Nationals 2018 were next on the NSL News event calendar, and the upcoming World Challenge 2018 in Bedford will once again deserve all the attention. Shamrock Showdown and French Indoor Nationals connected directly with three teams who competed at both events, the French national teams in 4-way Open (Aerodyne Realfly) and 4-way Women (Aerodyne Weembi) and the Qatar Tigers.

Shamrock Showdown and World Challenge connect in a way that is different compared to the past years. It was the World Challenge 2012 when Arizona Airspeed traveled to Bedford the last time. Airspeed had won the first four World Challenges (2006 - 2009) consecutively until the French national team of 2010 (Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier) stopped the U.S. winning streak.

NMP PCH HayaBusa took over control in 2011 and has been undefeated at the World Challenge ever since. Airspeed still tried a few more times after the last victory in 2009 (2010 - 2012) before skipping the trip across the Atlantic Ocean in April every year.

Shamrock Showdown 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		B,J,17,20	M,10,O,3	Q,22,2	A,D,P,F,16	N,12,14	15,9,C	K,4,G,E	21,1,13	7,6,11	H,5,19	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	28(-1)	26	24	34(-1)	21	29(-2)	31	20(-1)	23	28	264(-5)	26.4
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	27	23	23	33(-1)	18	27	29	20	23	25	248(-1)	24.8
3	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	27	24(-1)	21(-1)	28(-4)	17	28	31(-1)	19	23	27	245(-7)	24.5
4	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	26(-1)	23	21(-1)	33(-1)	15(-2)	26	27	19	22	23(-1)	235(-6)	23.5
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	25	23	22	29(-2)	17	25	26(-2)	18	21	23	229(-4)	22.9
6	FL Defiance	US	16	14(-1)	8(-4)	15(-3)	12	16	16(-1)	13	15(-1)	15	140(-10)	14.0
7	SCZ ZEUS	US	12	12(-2)	12	12(-1)	9(-1)	12	13	11	11	10(-1)	114(-5)	11.4
8	Adventure Flyers	PY	11	11	9	14	9	11	10(-1)	6(-1)	9	10	100(-2)	10.0

SDC Rhythm XP competed the first time at the World Challenge when Airspeed lost the first time in 2010 and kept returning to Bedford even after Airspeed skipped the spring trip. Rhythm missed only the World Challenge 2014 ever since and has a 2nd place behind HayaBusa in the records at the 2015 event.

SDC Rhythm XP and Arizona Airspeed both competed at the Shamrock Showdown, while the World Challenge attendance changes back to the years before Rhythm traveled to Bedford, as well. Airspeed has a comeback at the World Challenge, while Rhythm is going to miss the meet this time.

Steve Lefkowitz explained in the NSL Live Talk after the Shamrock Showdown how his team was shifting from a more technical phase in the training to the required meet mode for the competition in DeLand.

Rhythm was pleased with the results, even though the team did not score higher compared to previous 10-round meets. The main purpose in DeLand was to square off with Airspeed at the beginning of the 2018 season.

Arizona Airspeed is approaching the trip to Bedford in a similar way. The new lineup is eager to meet the reigning indoor and outdoor world champions from Belgium again at the beginning of the world meet season.

Both teams met each other for the first time with their current lineups at the USPA Nationals 2017 where HayaBusa won by 12 points with the highest outdoor average (27.0) of this lineup. The indoor duels began at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 and a 25-point difference in Montreal (327 - 302).

Only 16 points (332 - 316) were left after the Wind Games in February, and a much shorter distance is the new target for Airspeed.

Airspeed's outdoor performance at the Shamrock Showdown was more than convincing, and the starting point for the 2018 battle with SDC Rhythm XP has been defined.

The 26.4 outdoor average is dangerously close to HayaBusa's highest average last year in Perris, and the upcoming duel in Bedford might bring both teams closer together at indoor competition, as well. The NSL News will provide live coverage of the World Challenge 2018.