posted Sep 29th, 2018 - The Fööni wind tunnel in Helsinki, Finland, was opened just a week ago and hosted the first meet of the Finnish Tunnel League on Saturday, which is a new part of the World Tunnel League network.

Eleven Finnish teams made their way to Finland's capital city to be a part of the inaugural event at a first-class facility. Vesa Vuorenkoski, member of the Blackjack 4-way team, organized the event and the league and plans to run WTL meets on a regular basis.

The ten rounds of the first WTL competition were all completed on Saturday, while the normal wind tunnel operation continued with numbers of students who mostly sign up after visiting a shopping mall, which is also brand-new and opened a week ago, as well.

The combination of the 4-way competition and the student and business operation created a very busy weekend for the new wind tunnel. However, the meet was conducted as planned and perfectly on schedule, and the eleven teams were done with ten rounds at 5 p.m. in the afternoon. Only the judges had to work a few over-time hours to complete the leaderboard with all scoring numbers.

WTL September 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	O,18,17		6,L,14		D,7,3		5,21,A		M,16,F,Q		P,G,K,9		22,12,H		20,10,4		N,8,2		E,19,B,J		Total	Avg
1	Pro Team	22	-1	23	-1	23	-1	24		32		39		18		14	-3	19	-1	30	-3	244	24.4
2	Blackjack	17		16	-1	17		17	-1	27	-1	25	-1	11	-2	13		13	-2	27		183	18.3
3	Tempo	16		12	-4	15	-2	19		27		23	-2	12	-2	13		17		24	-2	178	17.8
4	Telakka	16	-1	18	-1	19		17	-1	25	-2	20	-6	13	-1	12	-1	14		19	-3	173	17.3
5	Tahma	7	-1	14		13		10	-2	16	-1	19		10		8	-1	11	-1	17	-2	125	12.5
Rank	AA Class	O,18,J		6,L,14		D,7,H		21,A,15		M,F,Q,C		P,G,K,9		22,11		20,4		N,8,2		E,19,B		Total	Avg
1	Ompeluseura	11		10		14	-2	10	-1	16		14		8		5	-3	8		12		108	10.8
Rank	A Class	O,J,H		6,L		D,7		21,A		M,F,Q		P,G,K		C,9		4,2		N,8		E,19		Total	Avg
1	Kurt's Old-Stars	27	-3	16		19	-1	15	-1	36	-1	19	-1	17	-2	10	-1	9	-1	13	-1	181	18.1
2	No Name	25		8		14		10	-1	33	-1	17	-2	12	-5	8	-3	10	-2	10	-1	147	14.7
3	4K	25		11		15	-2	11	-2	33		10	-4	10	-4	8		10		10		143	14.3
4	Flailing Sirkus	20	-1	10	-1	12	-3	13		24	-5	14	-3	14	-3	9		8		10	-1	134	13.4
Rank	Rookie	O,J,H		L,C,B		D,N,K		A,E,O		M,F,Q		P,G,K		C,J,L		H,C,D		N,B,A		E,M,P		Total	Avg
1	Dr. Spot & Patients	7		3	-1	6		2	-1	9	-4	2	-1	3	-1	5		0		2	-4	39	3.9

Even the Pro Team made the long way from Rovaniemi, a Finnish city north of the Arctic Circle, to Helsinki, and featured top-level 4-way performance at Fööni.

The five AAA Class teams all have a scoring history, even though each has a very different one. The Pro Team has been competing in the AAA Class for a very long time and represented Finland at the FAI World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk. The lineup has changed and now includes Kalle Pohjola at indoor and outdoor meets, together with father Kimmo Pohjola.

The NSL News covered the Blackjack comeback with the story on 12 April 2018. The Finnish national 4-way team of 1997 started the comeback in the A Class and was back in the AAA Class a year later. Blackjack now finished in 2nd place behind the Pro Team this weekend.

Tempo moved up into the AAA Class at the end of the 2017 season, which included the 1st place in the AA Class at the World Challenge 2018. The youngest Finnish AAA Class team has taken the 3rd place in the national rankings in the first year of AAA Class competition.

Telakka has been competing in the AAA Class since 2015 and maintained the performance level after a recent slot scramble. Telakka was happy with the performance after the changes.

Tahma is another new team in the AAA Class, after three years in the AA Class. Team member Ari Laukkanen is another former national competitor, who attended a few world meets. His team Mad Way placed 4th at the FAI World Meet 1993 in Eloy.

The World Tunnel League event at the new wind tunnel brought together all generations of Finnish 4-way teams and competitors, and some of them even just came to watch and share time with their former team mates and 4-way fellows.

Meet organizer Vesa Vuorenkoski has very good reasons to make plans for more meets to come to the same place very soon. His team Blackjack is also planning to offer programs for beginners and advanced 4-way teams and competitors and guide them into the 4-way world. At this point in time, after completing their ten rounds at Fööni, the Finnish teams are waiting for more scores on the same leaderboard coming from other locations...