posted Oct 20th, 2010 - The story of the new Airspeed lineup continues with the 2007 season where Thomas Hughes and Niklas Hemlin connected with each other. It was the last, the busiest, the most intense and the most successful year for Team Fastrax.

John Hart continued with Niklas Hemlin and Doug Park, while Thomas Hughes replaced Mark Kirkby who went back to Arizona and took his Tail slot for the new lineup with Eliana Rodriguez, Craig Girard and Andy Delk.

The new situation was very exciting and very competitive, as Thomas Hughes joined Fastrax after his own 1-year adventure with Arizona Airspeed's Velocity lineup (Natasha Montgomery, Thomas Hughes, Eric Gin, Andy Hongbaum).

Velocity finished far behind Fastrax at the USPA Nationals 2006 (21.6 - 19.3) while Fastrax with Mark Kirkby defeated Airspeed's 2006 lineup. Mark Kirkby would then help Airspeed to move back up to the top of the leaderboard, while Thomas Hughes now had the opportunity to perform on a significantly higher level compared to all of his previous teams.

Fastrax' new Center Inside began to push the pace right away, and the Fastrax 2007 lineup with Niklas Hemlin and Thomas Hughes was determined to make Airspeed's life with Mark Kirkby very difficult.

Both teams had a great start into the 2007 season at the Shamrock Showdown. Airspeed came back with Mark Kirkby on a significantly higher scoring level than in 2006 (23.0) and won the first direct confrontation in DeLand. However, Fastrax with Thomas Hughes also scored much higher than in 2006 and finished only three points (22.7) behind Airspeed at the Shamrock Showdown 2007. The battle had begun.

The race between Mark Kirkby with Airspeed and Thomas Hughes and Niklas Hemlin with Fastrax continued a few weeks later at the World Challenge 2007 in Bedford, and it became even more exciting.

Thomas Hughes, also formerly known as the "King of the Tunnel" during the early years of SkyVenture Orlando, guided Fastrax to a 27.9 average performance in the wind tunnel. Airspeed was still able to fend off the Fastrax charge by one single point (280 - 279), but the challenger had surely come closer.

Next stop on the Airspeed - Fastrax Tour 2007 was the Malevsky Cup in Russia. It turned out to be the meet where both teams joined the 20+ club of teams that score 20 points and higher for each round. It was also the start of a record series of 20-point meets for Airspeed.

Fastrax with Thomas Hughes and Niklas Hemlin posted new team record scores for a single round (43) and the best meet average (24.7) in Russia. However, Airspeed with Mark Kirkby had moved much farther in the meantime and posted the highest meet average in history (26.0) at that point in time.

Fastrax still had two months until the USPA Nationals 2007, which would be the qualifyer for the World Meet 2008, but it had become a catchup game after the Malevsky Cup 2007. Fastrax skipped the Paraclete Money Meet and did not travel to Europe for the World Cup, as well. It was time to prepare for the final showdown in September.

Airspeed attended the Paraclete meet and added another victory with only 20-pointers to the records. However, the trip to the World Cup 2007 also did not fit to the Airspeed schedule.

USPA Nationals 2007		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	11,6,K	12,E,C,A	18,17,F	4,8,P	M,20,D,9	19,16,5	B,3,O,G	13,H,2	7,22,15	N,21,L,J	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	23	26	26	23	32	24	28	23	21	27	253	25.3
2	Team Fastrax	22	26	26	22	29	21	27	24	20	27	244	24.4
3	Golden Knights Black	20	25	24	23	29	21	25	21	19	23	230	23.0
4	Perris Fury	20	23	19	20	28	19	21	20	17	22	209	20.9

World Meet 2012
Exits from Pilatus Porter right-hand door at the World Meet 2012?	Yes No Doesn't Matter
	Current Results

Airspeed and Fastrax both performed once again extremely well at the USPA Nationals 2007 and both continued with scores of only 20-pointers and higher.

In fact, Fastrax with Thomas Hughes and Niklas Hemlin had only two 19-pointers at the Shamrock Showdown and then never again scored below 20 points.

It was still not enough. Airspeed's new lineup with original member Mark Kirkby was too strong at the USPA Nationals 2007 and won by nine points.

Airspeed then won the gold medals a year later at the World Meet 2008 in France, while Team Fastrax discontinued the 4-way Open Class team.

Thomas Hughes and Niklas Hemlin focused on their coaching jobs in 2008, while Mark Kirkby continued with Airspeed. Thomas Hughes still competed for the US team in 8-way at the World Meet 2008 before he joined the Spaceland Force 4-way lineup in 2009.