posted Oct 31st, 2010 - The NSL News has recently covered the new Arizona Airspeed lineup with several stories, including Mark Kirkby's new NSL Profile and a live NSL Talk with former DeLand Majik 4-way world champion and Fastrax member Doug Park. One of the topics was the fact that the new Airspeed lineup also has an impact on two other top teams of 2009 and 2010.

Josh Hall left Perris Fury, Airspeed's toughest challenger of the last two years and potential top contender in 2011. Thomas Hughes won USPA silver medals at the USPA Nationals 2009 with Spaceland Force and was not a member of any other US top team this year.

There is still one US top team left that was not directly involved in the recent personnel changes, and the stories of those two teams are still related to each other. Paraclete's XP4 lineup includes three former Airspeed members (Kirk Verner, John Eagle, Andy Honigbaum), and two of them even won world meet gold medals together with Mark Kirkby.

USPA Nationals 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	16,21,11	3,L,K,10	6,22,1	12,20,4	Q,M,2,N	H,D,9,G	19,5,13	F,E,17,O	C,8,7	A,18,14	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	21	23	15	15	32	42	23	40	25	19	255	25.5
2	Perris Fury	21	22	18	16	25	38	22	36	23	20	241	24.1
3	Golden Knights Gold	17	21	17	15	27	32	18	33	22	18	220	22.0
4	Paraclete XP4	18	20	15	15	26	28	20	29	22	19	212	21.2
5	SDC Rhythm XP	17	19	16	15	23	30	19	32	20	14	205	20.5

In fact, Kirk Verner is one of the four original Airspeed members of 1994, as the story of Mark Kirkby's NSL Profile explained. This means that he also won the same 4-way gold medals in 1995 and 1997.

He did not continue with the new Airspeed Vertical lineup after winning his first 8-way gold medal and finishing in 2nd place behind France at the World Meet 1999 with the original lineup. However, he was still a very crucial part of the Airspeed project, as he was now in charge of bringing up the new Airspeed farm team members to full speed in 4-way and guarantee more 8-way medals.

Kirk Verner and Mark Kirkby eventually won two more 8-way silver medals together, in Spain 2001 and in France 2003. They finally separated when Mark Kirkby left, and Kirk Verner helped Airspeed to win another 8-way gold medal in Croatia 2004 and a silver medal in Germany 2006. Then he left Arizona to help building the Paraclete project.

His Paraclete XP4 team mate John Eagle spent very successful years together with Mark Kirkby, as well. He was a member of the first Airspeed 8-way lineup and won the 8-way gold medal in 1999. He became an Airspeed Vertical member when Kirk Verner stepped back, together with Craig Girard and Neal Houston, and won the 4-way gold medal in Spain 2001.

He continued with Airspeed and Mark Kirkby in 4-way and 8-way until the dramatic jump-off with the Russian 8-way team in France 2003. Then he took a break from competitive 4-way and 8-way before returning as a player coach for Arizona Directe in 2007.

John Eagle connected with Paraclete and his former Airspeed team mate Kirk Verner when Directe and Paraclete's 4-way lineup joined forces in the USPA 8-way competition of 2008. Then he fully committed to the Paraclete project and won the 8-way bronze medals for Paraclete in 2009 and 2010. XP4 began to pick up the 4-way pace at the same time.

The third XP4 member who has spent his own Airspeed time with Mark Kirkby is Andy Honigbaum. He joined Airspeed at the end of the 2003 season when Mark Kirkby left to take his break in 4-way.

However, Mark Kirkby still competed for Airspeed when he filled Chris Talbert's slot at the USPA Nationals 2004, and they won the USPA 8-way gold medals together. Kirk Verner and Andy Honigbaum had just brought home the 8-way gold medals for the USA from Croatia. Andy Honigbaum staid in Arizona until the end of the 2006 season and then followed Kirk Verner to Paraclete in North Carolina.

Kirk Verner and Andy Honigbaum first trained and competed with father Tim and son John D'Annunzio in 4-way and 8-way in 2008. Tim D'Annunzio then stepped back in 2009, and John Eagle began to spend more and more time with Kirk Verner, Andy Honigbaum and John D'Annunzio.

Paraclete XP4 at the USPA Nationals 2010

Eventually, this Paraclete XP4 lineup decided to get serious in 4-way, as well, and trained and competed throughout the whole 2010 season. XP4 launched the 2010 season at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010 with a 19.7 average and finished 4th at the USPA Nationals 2010 with a 21.2 average. The 8-way lineup won the USPA bronze medals with a 16.3 average.

It was only the first year of more serious 4-way training and competition for the XP4 lineup with young member John D'Annunzio who is also taking over much of the Paraclete XP business management. The XP4 lineup is the only one on this year's top of the USPA leaderboard that remains unchanged, disregarding the Golden Knights who focus mainly on 8-way, and XP4 plans to continue in 2011.

Kirk Verner said that his team will scramble the slots though. Tail John Eagle will go back to his Point slot that he flew so successfully for Airspeed. Andy Honigbaum switches from Center Inside to Tail. Kirk Verner takes the driver's seat, and John D'Annunzio is the new Center Outside.

The XP4 lineup might become even stronger just by this move. In addition, the second year of training and competition with the same 4-way lineup will surely show results on next year's scoreboards.

It also doesn't hurt that the XP4 members work at the Paraclete wind tunnel and have unlimited access for training. The circumstances are very supportive for the team and its 2011 season.

XP4 finished the 2010 season with a 21.1 average. That is obviously a very good foundation to build on. The only team with the same lineup, new slots and a vast collection of competition experiences could become Airspeed's toughest challenger next year.

USPA Nationals 2011
Who has the best chances to win next year?	Arizona Airspeed Perris Fury Paraclete XP4 Others
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