posted Aug 18th, 2018 - After the recent video invitation to the ESL Championship 2018 by organzier Mike Pennock the NSL News took a closer look at the currently registered field of the 2018 event and at the teams that will be back after attending last year's competition.

Aeropotam's from Belgium, last year's winner of the Rookie Class competition, moved up into the A Class shortly after the ESL Championship 2017. The team's first A Class meet was the ISR Grand Prix in November 2017 where they finished right away in 2nd place (18.5) of ten A Class teams. They followed up with a 3rd place and a 19.3 record average in the new competition class at the Belgian Indoor Nationals in December.

Aeropotam's then launched their 2018 competition season in the A Class at the World Challenge and missed the bronze medals only after a tie-breaking extra round against 4eigners from Italy. The Belgian team will have their first outdoor meet in the A Class at the Belgian Nationals 2018 before traveling straight to Saarlouis for Round 1, after Round 10 in Belgium. They can be expected once again as a strong point-getter for the Belgian ESL delegation.

The Heartbeat Skydive Team from the Netherlands will be back in the A Class and try to defend this category's territory against the A Class newcomer from Belgium.

World Challenge 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		H,F,D	6,G	P,L,E	4,M	9,B	N,C,8	K,7	19,2	Q,21	O,J,A	E,2	Total	Avg
1	Oman Wolf	OM	35	17	23	16	25	19	22	14	17	30	-	218	21.8
2	Omega4way	PL	36	16	28	19	20	14	22	12	17	29	-	213	21.3
3	4eigners	IT	29	15	23	15	24	18	14	13	17	21	16	189	18.9
4	Aeropotam's	BE	29	14	21	16	23	15	18	11	15	27	14	189	18.9
5	One Shot	IT	29	12	25	19	26	10	14	14	11	24	-	184	18.4
6	The Flying Penguins	RO	24	15	19	16	21	14	17	11	14	16	-	167	16.7
7	Nebula	UK	29	14	17	13	21	9	17	10	14	19	-	163	16.3
8	VR UniQ	IE	21	13	17	13	18	9	16	8	12	22	-	149	14.9
9	Recruitz Ice	UK	18	13	10	10	15	9	16	9	14	16	-	130	13.0
9	Black Magick	UK	18	10	14	12	15	13	13	10	11	14	-	130	13.0
11	Anemoi	UK	14	10	16	10	18	11	12	9	11	18	-	129	12.9
12	Anaconda	IE	10	7	6	8	9	7	8	4	6	13	-	78	7.8
13	Back Panthers	UK	10	7	4	7	5	7	6	3	7	13	-	69	6.9

Ayro from Belgium had added eight ESL points to the Belgian account with the 2nd place in the A Class last year. They attended the same two events (ISR Grand Prix - Belgian Indoor Nationals) after the ESL Championship 2017 in the same category, which brought Aeropotam's and Ayro together on the same A Class leaderboard in Roosendaal and Liege. Ayro won both meets.

Ayro them moved up into the AA Class with the beginning of the 2018 competition season at the World Challenge, where they finished in the bronze medal position in a 14-team field.

Ayro has already completed the first outdoor competition in the AA Class at the Tomscat Trophy 2018 and collected valuable competition experiences after a 10-round battle for the AA Class gold medals. They finished tied with Team Red of the Dutch 20+ project in 1st place after Round 8. Ayro ended up in 2nd place since Team Red had the highest score in Round 3.

Ayro will have a AA Class re-match with Team Red at the ESL Championship. Ayro will compete for Belgium and Team Red for the Netherlands, and this year's previous scores promise the next battle for the AA Class top spot. Ayro will also compete at the Belgian Nationals 2018 right before the trip to Saarlouis.

ESL Championship 2017				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		ESL	3,10,11	J,H,14,4	C,21,B,2	18,Q,G,M	13,A,5	E,22,K,17	20,19,D	16,F,L,P	7,N,15	6,12,1	Total	Avg
1	AtomiX YUU	DE	10	14	17	17	21	16	16	16	22	18	11	168	16.8
2	610	IT	8	13	17	17	19	16	14	15	22	17	14	164	16.4
3	Dark Energy	DE	6	12	15	14	18	12	14	13	19	15	11	143	14.3
4	Ookpik	FR	5	11	16	14	16	12	14	13	21	15	9	141	14.1
5	NeVa	DE	4	12	15	13	15	11	14	13	21	14	11	139	13.9
6	HF Flying Circus	CZ	3	11	12	13	14	11	14	13	19	13	9	129	12.9
7	JETMAX	BE	2	11	12	14	15	11	9	10	17	13	11	123	12.3
8	4theQueen	UK	1	10	11	12	13	9	10	8	12	11	7	103	10.3
9	HorschD	DE	1	8	10	12	12	8	8	11	11	11	8	99	9.9
Rank	AA Class		ESL	M,J,F,Q	2,H,18	13,D,L	O,4,8	11,C,6	14,19	22,21	B,7,20	E,K,G,N	1,A,15	Total	Avg
1	Falco	BE	10	26	10	12	10	11	9	9	10	15	9	121	12.1
2	Das KOs	DE	8	23	9	7	11	9	6	8	12	13	8	106	10.6
3	Dimension	NL	6	22	9	9	8	9	7	8	11	11	7	101	10.1
4	Blok 43	NL	5	17	10	7	10	7	8	9	12	9	9	98	9.8
5	Windfall	DE	4	17	8	5	8	7	6	5	9	11	6	81	8.1
6	4midable	NL	3	15	4	5	8	7	4	7	7	8	4	69	6.9
7	Manticore	UK	2	12	7	4	7	2	3	4	8	6	5	58	5.8
Rank	A Class		ESL	21,19	K,F,B	D,G,C	J,N,8	9,A	P,7	4,L	O,Q,6	M,E,2	H,N,K	Total	Avg
1	Bazinga	DE	10	8	18	10	10	10	11	8	12	11	15	113	11.3
2	Ayro	BE	8	7	16	12	8	10	11	8	9	12	13	106	10.6
3	Heartbeat Skydive Team	NL	6	3	13	5	7	7	7	5	8	10	11	76	7.6
Rank	Rookie		ESL	P,F,J	E,H,Q	O,G,D	K,M,N	A,B,L	C,M,J	P,K,L	E,G,H	N,D,A	C,O,B	Total	Avg
1	Aeropotam's	BE	10	17	15	8	11	12	15	11	14	9	17	129	12.9
2	Scratch That	UK	8	6	6	4	6	4	4	5	7	1	6	49	4.9
3	Flying Cowboys	DE	6	4	3	4	2	5	1	4	0	2	0	25	2.5

Team Red from the Netherlands have not attended the ESL Championship yet, while Blok 43 travel to Saarlouis for the third consecutive time to compete for the Dutch ESL delegation.

Blok 43 started with a 7.9 average in 6th place at the ESL Championship 2016 and finished in 4th place with a 9.8 average last year. The Dutch team competed in the AA Class at the two events last year (ISR Grand Prix - Belgian Indoor Nationals) where Aeropotam's and Ayro were both on the A Class leaderboard.

The two Dutch (Team Red - Blok 43) and Ayro from Belgium then all meet each other for the first time on the same AA Class leaderboard at the Tomscat Trophy 2018, which ended with the dramatic tie-breaker finish between Team Red and Ayro. The same three teams will have their re-match soon at the ESL Championship.

The NSL News will follow up with a preview of returning teams in the AAA Class competition, where AtomiX YUU from Germany are the defending champions.