posted Sep 11th, 2009 - There is some pressure on the new national 4-way champion of the United Kingdom at the ESL Championship 2009. The pressure on Satori is not put up by another 4-way team on competition site in Hibaldstow this weekend. It is more the team's situation after the UK Nationals 2009 and the FAI World Cup 2009.

The NSL News story provided some insights with the story on 8 September 2009. So far, Satori is fully living up to the great expectations and stands with a 22.3 average after today's seven rounds. The only question this weekend is whether Satori will set another new national record average after ten rounds.

The ESL Championship has brought together a total of 23 European teams, which compete for the ESL 4-way titles in all four categories, and also for the ESL Spirit. The popular trophy goes to the national delegation that collects the highest number of points scored by the four highest scoring teams in any of the four competition classes.

There were more teams that scored points for their nations in the past. The rules were adjusted this year and make it easier now for any nation to get into contention for the ESL Spirit. Not many nations were able to sign up enough teams to be competitive in the earlier years of the ESL Championship. The total number of four scoring teams is supposed to bring the delegations closer together.

However, the ESL Championship 2009 seems to be once again an affair between the top contenders of the most recent years, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The UK delegation is the defending champion. The Netherlands won the ESL Spirit in 2005 and 2007, the UK teams took it for the first time in 2008.

The United Kingdom has the majority of teams (14) competing for the ESL Spirit on their home turf. However, the six teams from the Netherlands are giving the UK teams a hard time, at least in three competition classes. Three of the Dutch teams are holding the top positions in their categories, while only Satori is in 1st place in the AAA Class. Ignition is the leader in the AA Class, Creeps is on top of the A Class leaderboard, and Meo has a big lead in the Rookie Class.

The UK delegation still has the advantage after six rounds since the AAA Class teams are scoring significantly higher than the teams in the other three competition classes. The four highest scoring teams of the UK delegation are all competing in the AAA Class (Satori, Spinapsi, Voodoo SA, Phobia).

The Netherlands have only 4tunate competing in the AAA Class, and the Dutch team is on the bottom of the leaderboard. The other Dutch teams that are currently collecting the points for the ESL Spirit are competing in the AA Class (Ignition), the A Class (Creeps) and in the Rookie Class (Meo).

The three first places don't help the Netherlands very much so far. The four UK AAA Class teams have combined for a total of 429 points after the first six rounds. The four Dutch teams have collected a total number of 290 points.

All the Dutch teams are doing very well, compared to their previous results this year, especially Rookie Class team Meo. However, the new ESL rules seem to favor the UK delegation's situation with higher scoring teams in the AAA Class.

The scores of Round 7 will not change much of this situation. Dutch Rookie Class Meo scored higher than all other teams on the leaderboard with the 21-pointer in Round 6. However, this was probably the only time in the 10-round meet where the AAA Class teams were outscored by a team of a lower competition class. The UK AAA Class teams will probably help the UK delegation to defend the ESL Spirit successfully.