posted Apr 12th, 2018 - The NSL News introduced the first AA Class winner from Finland at the World Challenge 2018 with the story on 9 April 2018. Tempo won the AA Class competition after an internal battle with a second team from Finland, Tahma.

The situation was very similar in the AAA Class, where Telakka and Blackjack caught the attention of the NSL News in the absence of the Pro Team or the Tigers. Telakka and Blackjack did not compete for the medal positions in the AAA Class, as Tempo did in the AA Class. However, the internal battle of the teams from Finland was even much closer compared to the AA Class competition.

Telakka won this Finnish duel still by six points, while Blackjack has moved significantly closer compared to the last meet where both teams competed together in February this year (162 - 145).

The NSL News had introduced Blackjack with the story on 2 April 2018 when the team had a reunion comeback, 20 years after their last 4-way competition, which was the FAI World Meet 1997. An earlier indoor event in Finland connected Tempo with Blackjack, as both teams competed in the A Class at that time. The AA Class winner of the World Challenge 2018 had easily outscored the Finnish national 4-way team of 1997 at the meet in April last year.

World Challenge 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		10,H,F,13	20,6,22	12,1,11	4,M,G,J	9,B,P,A	N,C,8,3	K,7,L,D	18,19,14	5,Q,21	15,16,O	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	31	25	25	38	62	32	47	26	31	32	349	34.9
2	Weembi Mix MF	FR	29	25	24	40	59	33	45	27	32	31	345	34.5
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	29	24	23	35	59	26	43	24	33	28	324	32.4
4	IFS-Moscow	RU	26	21	23	33	50	26	40	23	29	24	295	29.5
5	ACM Weembi	UK	24	21	21	29	48	21	36	21	25	23	269	26.9
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	23	17	17	31	46	25	35	21	26	26	267	26.7
7	ISR FireFlash	BE	23	17	20	28	45	27	35	21	25	24	265	26.5
8	Chimera	UK	23	21	20	26	44	24	31	21	24	24	258	25.8
9	NFTO	UK	21	19	19	29	42	23	31	19	22	19	244	24.4
10	Odin Parachute System	FR	22	19	18	26	44	23	30	19	23	-	224	24.9
11	Tenanine	MR	23	20	18	29	39	23	27	17	25	-	221	24.6
12	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	17	17	24	40	20	25	17	20	-	200	22.2
13	JETMAX	BE	19	17	17	23	38	18	31	17	18	-	198	22.0
14	Eclipse	UK	19	16	14	26	36	12	24	17	18	-	182	20.2
15	Les Affranchis Flyzone	FR	17	15	15	24	35	15	28	17	15	-	181	20.1
15	Jazz Republic	ZA	16	15	15	24	30	18	28	16	19	-	181	20.1
17	Alakran	ES	18	17	15	23	34	14	23	17	17	-	178	19.8
18	Eros	UK	19	17	14	23	30	18	25	14	17	-	177	19.7
19	Aladeen	HU	18	16	14	22	36	16	21	15	-	-	158	19.8
20	Chicas Recycled	DE	17	15	14	23	28	18	27	14	-	-	156	19.5
21	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	16	13	17	25	25	19	25	15	-	-	155	19.4
22	Telakka	FI	18	11(-2)	13	19(-1)	32	17	27	15(-1)	-	-	152(-4)	19.0
23	Le 4 Cretins	FR	17	15	12	21	29	15	25	15	-	-	149	18.6
23	Antimatter	UK	18	16	11	21	28	17	23	15	-	-	149	18.6
25	Pajama Pumas	UK	16	15	15	20	23	18	24	15	-	-	146	18.3
25	Blackjack	FI	17	14	13	20	28	16	24	14	-	-	146(-0)	18.3
25	Aggrieved Bucaneers	UK	17	14	13	20	29	16	22	15	-	-	146	18.3
28	H40	IE	19	16	15	22	25	15	18	15	-	-	145	18.1
29	Skyfool	UK	15	15	12	18	26	17	21	13	-	-	137	17.1
30	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	18	15	10	23	21	17	17	15	-	-	136	17.0
31	Vantage	UK	13	13	13	21	24	16	22	13	-	-	135	16.9
32	Falco	BE	13	12	12	14	25	15	21	12	-	-	124	15.5
33	Nova	CH	10	11	10	17	23	11	19	12	-	-	113	14.1
34	Salty Jacks	UK	11	12	10	16	22	11	18	11	-	-	111	13.9
35	White Squall	FR	11	9	8	14	18	11	12	11	-	-	94	11.8

Both teams were back in 4-way action a year later in Bedford, and they did not compete in the same category any longer. Tempo moved up into the AA Class with the beginning of the 2018 season, while Blackjack left the same category behind after one meet in October 2017. Blackjack was aiming at a comeback in the AAA Class, which was eventually accomplished in February this year.

The World Challenge 2018 was the perfect opportunity for the NSL News to meet Finland's national 4-way team of 1997 and invite them for a new NSL Live Talk on World Challenge TV. It is a very interesting team story and might end up in the NSL News records as the reunion and comeback covering the longest time period. In fact, Blackjack is probably the longest standing active 4-way team by now.

Blackjack is far from being done after the World Challenge 2018. The event was only a stepping stone of the comeback, and the team members are highly motivated to increase training and competition efforts.

Blackjack is one of the teams and competitors in Finland who benefit much from a new wind tunnel in the center of Helsinki. The team members plan to train regularly and lift their performance levels to the current indoor and outdoor top standards.

World Challenge 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	10,H,F,13	20,6,22	12,1,11	4,M,G,J	9,B,P,A	N,C,8,3	K,7,L,D	18,19,14	5,Q,21	15,16,O	Total	Avg
1	Blackjack	17	14	13	20	28	16	24	14	-	-	146	18.3
Finnish Indoor Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	22,D,7	14,5,H	E,3,K,20	10,O,15	C,B,L,16	18,F,12	17,9,J	19,8,Q	A,M,4,6	P,2,G,21	Total	Avg
1	Blackjack	13	12	11	15	19	13	18	13	18	13	145	14.5
Sirius Indoor 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	N,6,20	21,8	H,15,F	18,Q,E	G,K,P,7	2,A,B	4,M,22	14,D,C	9,19	L,J,11	Total	Avg
1	Blackjack	14	12	20	13	20	15	14	16	15	19	158	15.8
Finnish Indoor Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	6,O	B,9	M,8	A,24	4,21	K,J,L	P,E,N	D,C,G	7,Q	F,19	Total	Avg
1	Blackjack	15	23	15	12	11	24	22	20	16	10	168	16.8
FAI World Meet 1997		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	13,Q,D,9	5,K,F,12	1,14,22	H,M,11,7	A,E,3,G	15,18,3	20,L,23	O,19,4	17,10,J	6,C,2	Total	Avg
1	Blackjack	19	12	13	13	16	12	10	16	11	-	122	13.6

Things have surely changed significantly between 1997 and 2017, even though Blackjack still applies some of the training techniques and analyzing programs that they used in the earlier days of 4-way competition.

The progression of the competition performance indicates that Blackjack is on track to get to the scoring level that they are aiming for.

The 14.5 average at the first AAA Class competition in February this year was left in the dust with the 18.3 at the World Challenge.

Blackjack and Telakka both received only their scoring numbers through Round 8, as they missed the first cut.

However, Blackjack was familiar with cuts, which were a part of world meet competition 20 years ago. Blackjack made it to the semifinals in 1997 and missed only the final Round 10. The AAA Class competition in Bedford was stronger, and both AAA Class teams from Finland missed Round 9 and Round 10 on the leaderboard.

This is only a motivating factor for Blackjack. The team is aiming at the 20+ average level and at least a slot in the semifinals at the World Challenge 2019. There will be a lot of AAA Class competition in Finland this year...