posted Aug 27th, 2018 - The NSL News story on 18 August 2018 was a preview of new expected battles in three of the four categories at the ESL Championship 2018. Last year's AAA Class teams featured exciting competition, as well, and some of the involved teams will again be traveling to Saarlouis in Germany in September.

In fact, one of the most exciting battles took place on the top of the AAA Class leaderboard, where Germany's AtomiX YUU and 6.1.0. from Italy were separated by only four points after Round 10.

The three teams in last year's AAA Class medal positions were all back this year for training and competition. AtomiX YUU is in the middle of the German Nationals and once again in 2nd place behind the German national team in 4-way Open, Airbus FSZ Saar, after four completed rounds.

Dark Energy is competing at the same event officially as a guest team, due to the eligibility status of team members Luc Vereecken and Marco Arrigo. The Airbus lineup includes coach and guest competitor Solly Williams in the inside center slot; however, Airbus is not listed as a guest team. The ESL Championship has no eligibility limitations for the lineups.

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

NeVa FSZ Saar and HorschD both competed for the German ESL delegation last year, and they are also in the field of the currently competing teams at the national championships.

Czech team HF Flying Circus and JETMAX from Belgium had their own AAA Class 6-point battle last year, and both teams will be back for the same event and a re-match. HF Flying Circus visits Saarlouis as the new Czech 4-way outdoor champion and on a new 13+ performance level, as the NSL News reported on 6 August 2018.

JETMAX have not posted any outdoor scores this year so far. They make the trip from Belgium to Germany right after their national championships, and they will also have the next re-match opportunity. HF Flying Circus won the duel at the ESL Championship 2017 and defended the upper-hand position by two points at the World Challenge 2018. A new showdown between the same two teams can be expected in September.

The German 4-way teams completed their first four rounds at the national championships on Sunday and did not get any further on Monday. One 8-way round was completed, as well, and the new Airbus lineup had a strong start with a 14-pointer.

German Nationals 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	B,11,7		C,9,3		K,4,1		5,L,H,G		18,19,M		D,17,13		22,P,12		E,20,8		O,14,N,10		16,Q,J,15		2,6,F		Total	Avg
1	Airbus 4-way FSZ Saar	22		24		19		26		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		91	22.8
2	AtomiX-YUU Skydive	20		18	-4	16		21		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		75	18.8
3	Paranodon Bardarbunga	19		17		15		16		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		67	16.8
4	Dark Energy	17		19		13	-1	17	-2	-		-		-		-		-		-		-		66	16.5
5	NeVa FSZ Saar	17		14		12		16		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		59	14.8
6	Paranodon Eyjafjallajökull	16		15		14		13		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		58	14.5
7	Skynamite FSZ Saar	17		14		11		15		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		57	14.3
8	Skyweed Illertissen	14		14		12		14		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		54	13.5
9	Wolf Pack	14		13		10	-2	15		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		52	13.0
10	HorschD FSZ Saar	14		13		8	-2	11	-1	-		-		-		-		-		-		-		46	11.5