posted Jun 26th, 2019 - The evaluation of the situation after the breaking news from Belgium and Arizona cannot be complete without the thoughts of NMP PCH HayaBusa coach Gary Smith. He has been working with the team since 2013 and has guided HayaBusa to the very top position in the world. He continued the HayaBusa project after their time with his former DeLand Majik team mate Joey Jones and the dramatic 1-point battle in Dubai 2012.

Gary Smith was involved in the selection process of the new HayaBusa member who will join the Belgian indoor and outdoor world champions after the FAI World Meet 2020 in Tanay. He confirmed what the team members mentioned when they broke the news on June 3rd. HayaBusa were looking into all options, as it was not easy to find a talented and experienced Belgian 4-way competitor who would be ready to do what it takes for a slot in the team.

The selection process happened quietly, and new member Michele Silvi kept his interest for himself, as well, as he did not want to stir up the progress of the 2018/2019 season too much, especially not for his own team, Amnesya. The biggest challenge was the test for entering the Belgian military, and HayaBusa waited with the announcement until he passed all requirements.

Gary Smith said that training with the new member will begin earlier, not only after the world meet next year. HayaBusa plan to experiment with the slots at the early training to find the best constellation.

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NMP PCH HayaBusa have been through new slot assignments before. Brothers David (outside center) and Andy Grauwels (point) were front piece partners for the first five years (2004 - 2008), with Roy Janssen in the tail slot, and Sven Ibens/Luc Verstrepen in the driver's seat (inside center).

This changed when Luc Verstrepen left and Waedong So became the new point in 2009. David Grauwels switched to the rear piece, where he has been setting the pace as inside center ever since. His brother Andy Grauwels moved to outside center to make room for the new members in the point slot, first Waedong So, followed by Dennis Praet in 2011.

New member Michele Silvi is trained in different slots, as well. He started off in Amnesya's front piece (outside center). Then he moved to tail for his meets with the Weembi Unicorn lineups. The new HayaBusa lineup seems to have several promising options.

Gary Smith was in Germany at the time of the new NSL Live Talk. The Qatar Tigers had scheduled a training camp at Skydive Paranodon in Illertissen, shortly after the annual Paranodon Cup at the same place. He said that he met the German national 4-way team Airbus in Illertissen, who were training with Marco Arrigo in the lineup. The Airbus 8-way team was scheduled for training after the 4-way team.

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FAI Mondial Dubai 2012			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Open - Top 6		5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	16,F,P,Q	2,J,4	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27	34	27	22	23	23	32	25	40	26	279	27.9
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	25	34	27	21	23	24	32	27	40	25	278	27.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	26	30	27	21	23	25	29	23	37	24	265	26.5
4	Evolution	CA	22	31	24	17	19	21	28	22	30	22	236	23.6
5	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	19	29	22	21	21	18	28	20	35	20	233	23.3
6	Satori	UK	18	26	21	17	15	18	23	17	27	18	200	20.0

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The conversation eventually shifted to the other major topic, the recent personnel change for Arizona Airspeed. Gary Smith confirmed that HayaBusa had actually recommended Michele Silvi to Airspeed. They were fortunate that Airspeed did not need a new team member at the time of the recommendation.

There is nothing unusual for Airspeed to have team members with different nationalities. Niklas Hemlin is originally from Sweden, Thiago Gomes from Brazil, Mikhail Markine from Russia. Ari Perelman was the only U.S. born member in the previous lineup.

Gary Smith was also looking at the Airspeed days after Matt Davidson, who has committed until the completion of the FAI World Cup in October. He and NMP PCH HayaBusa are hoping that Airspeed will put a strong lineup together at the end of the year that can put pressure on the reigning world champions. He said that the best memories in the competition world are created by the most exciting events and not by walks in parks. He related to the 1-point drama in Dubai 2012 and the 2-point battle in Australia 2018.

Gary Smith said that he would not be surprised to see Arizona Airspeed reaching out to SDC Rhythm XP members for the selection of the new lineup. He sees Rhythm's point Andrew Happick as the top candidate for the slot that Ari Perelman had. Most of all, he believes that the major HayaBusa strength is found in the team's group dynamics and the team spirit, which is like in a loving family...