posted Sep 25th, 2018 - The NSL News pointed out a few times that there was a guest team at the Belgian Nationals 2018. Echochamber, Sweden's national team in 4-way Open, placed right behind NMP PCH HayaBusa in 2nd place and outscored ISR FireFlash at the 10-round meet.

The story on 21 September 2018 explained how Echochamber and ISR FireFlash represent the world's top level of the unofficial and undefined amateur teams and how the two teams battled for the spot behind Belgium's 4-way world champions.

NMP PCH HayaBusa and Echochamber will travel to Australia next and represent Belgium and Sweden at the FAI World Meet 2018, while ISR FireFlash has to follow the competition downunder from their homeland and cheer for their former 8-way partners via the internet.

Echochamber finished with another impressive 21.1 average in Belgium. The NSL News had reported on 4 August 2018 how the Swedish national team did not even bother with the 20+ average and lifted their record average to the 21+ level in August this year. Echochamber's highest 10-round average before was 16.5 at the national championships in 2016. Last year's 20.0 average came after only six rounds and with the support by a 31-pointer for a very fast sequence (J-F-C-H-9) in Round 2.

Belgian Nationals 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	8,H,E,1		19,3,4		N,11,G,10		A,17,14		B,D,7,5		21,15,9		12,F,L,M		6,C,J,O		P,2,Q,22		K,20,16		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	26		25		23	-1	24		37		25		32		34	-2	26	-1	24	-1	276	27.6
2	Echochamber	23		18		19		17	-3	26	-1	20	-1	24	-2	27	-3	19	-4	18		211	21.1
3	ISR FireFlash	18	-2	17		19		20		27		18	-1	25		25	-2	20		19		208	20.8
4	JETMAX	15		11	-1	11		9		14		11	-2	16	-1	15	-1	14		11		127	12.7
5	Falco	10	-1	9		11		11		12		7	-2	11		13		12		6	-2	102	10.2
6	Lentonopeus	9		10		8		10		10		7		11		12		11		7	-1	95	9.5

The 21.1 average in Belgium might even have a higher value than the previous 21.1 at this year's national championships. Echochamber had lost six point in the Swedish judging room in August. The damage in Belgium accumulated to a total of 14 point deductions, which means that Echochamber is already moving on a 22+ outdoor pace.

The Swedish team has shown a proper cleaning phase before and is aware of the potential and the results that come with minimum damage by penalties. Echochamber had realized after the Wind Games 2018 and the Swedish Indoor Nationals 2018 that they lost too many points and worked on this part of 4-way competition.

There is a good chance that Echochamber will show the 22+ average in Australia if the last cleanup session before the world meet is successful.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	24	25	35	26	19	22	27	39	23	22	262	26.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	23	31	26	18	22	27	40	23	23	254	25.4
3	France	FR	21	20	30	21	18	21	27	39	21	20	238	23.8
4	Black Cat	RU	22	20	30	24	17	21	24	33	21	19	231	23.1
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	21	20	30	24	17	20	23	36	17	18	226	22.6
6	Evolution	CA	20	18	29	24	16	18	23	32	18	16	214	21.4
7	Satori XL	UK	18	19	27	24	16	18	22	30	18	18	210	21.0
8	Airbus	DE	16	18	29	19	15	18	22	29	14	19	199	19.9
9	Savolo	ZA	15	15	25	19	14	15	16	28	17	15	179	17.9
10	Final Fire	AT	16	15	25	17	12	16	18	29	17	13	178	17.8

A 22+ average would bring any team into contention for the next spot behind the FAI medal rankings. Belgium (NMP PCH HayaBusa), Unites States (Arizona Airspeed) and France (Aerodyne Realfly) are probably out of reach for all other teams and will battle within this group for the medal rankings.

Black Cat is not competing for Russia in 4-way this year, and the Qatar Tigers will be the top contender for the 4th place without any unknown surprises by a national team stepping up to the 22+ level.

Switzerland has a strong 4-way team with the Airheads who finished not that far behind the Qatar Tigers (31.4 - 29.1) at the CISM Championships this year.

However, Echochamber could have an opportunity to place better than any other Swedish 4-way team in history. The scoring average is already on Swedish record level, and the best placing could follow in Australia.

The 5th place at the FAI World Meet 1993 in Eloy (14.8) is the target for Echochamber, and the 4th place could be in reach...