posted Jan 15th, 2010 - Round 8 is over in Dubai, and the winner is Arizona Airspeed - at least according to the latest results of the NSL Poll. The real scores have not been posted yet.

Not much has changed ever since the poll options were reduced to Arizona Airspeed and Hayabusa Defence. In fact, the final vote (55% - 45%) somehow reflects the scores and rankings throughout the meet. Airspeed is a little bit further ahead in the poll than the real scores actually show. However, 45% for Hayabusa is also evidence that many observers expect the Belgian team to win a meet at any time now.

By the way: Airspeed's video of Round 7 is now available for reviews in yesterday's NSL News story of Round 7.

The first outdoor scores of the 2010 season naturally found the attention of people from all over the skydiving world.

Some of the most interested observers are located in California. The Perris Fury members followed the action, of course. Center Inside Chris Farina told the NSL News that it is hard to watch the competition from far away and not be there:

"It is really nice to see a good competition between Airspeed and Hayabusa. It's not so nice to not be there in the mix with them. But we are certainly excited about seeing both of them at upcoming meets."

Fury will meet Airspeed on Arizona home turf in February for the Valentine's Meet and then again in DeLand in March for the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010. The French national team will join both at the Shamrock with the complete original lineup. All three teams will then travel to Bedford for the World Challenge 2010.

Chris Farina said that the scores are as they were expected and would be even better with different aircraft:

"The scores look to be about what I would have expected. I'm sure they would probably be slightly better if it was out of a more familiar aircraft, but it seems both teams are taking exiting the helicopter very well and not letting it effect their skydives. Once again, at least so far, Airspeed has kept their scores above the 20 pt. mark in each round and are showing another very consistent performance."

Airspeed has shown once again how their competition experience keeps paying back over and over again. The meet is not over yet and until the scores of the last round are posted.

However, the Airspeed video of the last round confirms how Airspeed felt after the jump: "Landed from Round 8 with a solid jump... we are excited to see the final results."

Chris Farina acknowledged the special Airspeed skill of consistencey:

"I would have to say they have proven to be the masters at consistency round by round and meet by meet. It will be a lot of fun to see how things play out when the French are back in the mix with their complete lineup and we are able to join the race too."

Dubai Championship
Who will win the 4-way Open Class?	Arizona Airspeed Hayabusa Defence
	Current Results