posted Sep 11th, 2022 - The Belgian 4-way teams have completed their ten rounds of the national outdoor championships, including NMP PCH HayaBusa. Six teams performed the same ten AAA sequences that the nine U.S. teams and the three Qatar teams used for their 4-way Open Class competition at Skydive Chicago. Six additional teams competed in Belgium, four in the A Class and two in the Rookie Class. The NSL News will follow up soon with more details and competition videos from Belgium.

The completion of the 10-round competition in Belgium now allows a closer look and a direct comparison of the scores between the three medal contenders for the FAI Outdoor World Meet at Skydive Arizona.

There are still differences in the logistical area between the two hosts in Belgium and the United States, which will also soon be evened out when the same three teams will meet each other again in Eloy. Arizona Airspeed and Qatar Tigers exited from the same Twin Otters at Skydive Chicago, while the 4-way teams in Belgium had a Cessna Caravan for their exits.

The judging panels were different, as well. Arizona Airspeed lost four points in Ottawa, Qatar Tigers six. The Belgian judges hit the red button six times for their national 4-way Open Class team.

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USPA Nationals 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Combined		G,9,M,8		P,3,O,E		7,13,18		B,21,Q,14		20,L,2		D,1,A,19		5,11,15		10,17,N		F,C,K,H,22		12,J,16		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	28	-2	32		23		26	-1	22		26		22		21	-1	35		23		258	25.8
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	27		29	-1	18	-1	23		20		25		18	-1	21		26	-2	20	-1	227	22.7
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	23	-2	21	-3	20		23		19		23		18		20		29		19	-1	215	21.5

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Arizona Airspeed - Qatar Tigers at the USPA Nationals 2022 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

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Arizona Airspeed won nine of the ten rounds. One of the four point deductions in Round 8 allowed NMP PCH HayaBusa to match the 21-pointer highscore for the round. The Qatar Tigers were ten points behind NMP PCH HayaBusa after the first day in Belgium. They lost two more points in the remaining six rounds and ended up 12 points behind NMP PCH HayaBusa.

The 31-point difference between Arizona Airspeed and NMP PCH HayaBusa seems to be way too much for any other team to get anywhere close to the U.S. team. The French national team in 4-way Open had produced a 22.1 average at the first outdoor competition of the new lineup. Qatar Tigers and France will probably be busy enough to challenge NMP PCH HayaBusa for the silver medal position that seems to be very much in reach for the defending 4-way world champions. Arizona Airspeed may have just a walk in the park on their home turf in Eloy.

The progress of the Belgian top contender is still more than impressive, even though NMP PCH HayaBusa is surely running out of time to catch up with Arizona Airspeed. Both teams met in March this year at the Shamrock Showdown, where Airspeed won by 50 points. New member Neal Willems then had to go through his military training and procedures, and he could not spend much time with the team. Team videographer and reigning 4-way world champion David Grauwels trained with the team and competed at the CISM world championships.

The point difference between Arizona Airspeed and NMP PCH HayaBusa is down from 50 to 31 after this weekend's ten rounds. The Belgian team will surely continue to work on reducing the difference in the five weeks until Round 1 at the outdoor world meet.

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Shamrock Showdown 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		G,Q,12,C		K,N,P,18		L,2,20		F,1,5		7,3,19		10,6,D		B,H,16,13		J,E,A,4		14,O,8		11,22,15		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	29		33		23		29		23		24	-1	27		32		22		20		262	26.2
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	22		24	-1	18	-1	23	-1	20		20		23		30		17		15		212	21.2

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Arizona Airspeed - NMP PCH HayaBusa at the Shamrock Showdown 2022

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