posted Jan 3rd, 2011 - The NSL News is ready for the coverage of the Dubai Championship 2011. The event pages with the preview stories, polls and discussion options on Facebook are set. The first scores will hopefully be posted on Friday, along with reports from correspondents in Dubai.

The leaderboards show the registered teams, and the team names in the Open Class field indicate that the total of $45,000 will be divided between Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, Arizona Airspeed and NMP-PCH Hayabusa. This would be a copy of the Dubai leaderboard in January 2010.

Russia has registered two strong teams, as well. However, it is not the bronze medalist at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010, Sky Panthers, making the trip to Dubai. Black Cat and Gradient Alpha are probably not ready yet to challenge the medal and money positions.

Dubai Championship 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Total	Avg
Rank	Open Class	20,D,14	4,C,9	L,16,12	10,5,J	3,O,22	G,19,Q,7	H,21,1	13,P,N,K	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	21	26	22	21	20	26	24	26	186	23.3
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	18	26	22	23	19	26	22	25	181	22.6
3	Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge	19	25	16	18	18	26	22	25	169	21.1

The situation between the three top contenders is interesting though and leaves room for speculation, which was reflected by the first results of the Open Class poll. Airspeed had a strong position at the very beginning.

Hayabusa took the top spot after the first preview stories and had a significant lead for a while. Eventually, the reigning 4-way world champions from France took over and are still in the lead at the moment.

The uncertainty of each team's current performance level is probably the reason for the changes. None of the three top contenders comes back to Dubai with the same lineup of the 2010 season. Each team has one new member, as the NSL News explained with earlier stories.

The personnel changes for the French national team and for Hayabusa were planned ahead of time. Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge has not posted any scores with the new lineup yet, while Hayabusa competed at the ISR Grand Prix 2010 in November and finished with a 32.9 average after seven rounds with a limited dive pool. The Belgian indoor scores with new member Dennis Praet may have convinced the audience earlier that Hayabusa would be the strongest team in Dubai.

Airspeed's lineup is different since Mark Kirkby trains with the new team while Eliana Rodriguez, Craig Girard and Andy Delk will compete with John Eagle in the Tail slot. There is no indication on which scoring level Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge and Arizona Airspeed will perform in Dubai.

The first French scores will be more telling than Airspeed's. Hayabusa and Mark Kirkby with his new Airspeed lineup will study the numbers very carefully, as they will be in direct competition with the new French lineup for the next two years. The old Airspeed lineup is only on a "vacation" in Dubai.

Video: NMP-PCH Hayabusa with Dennis Praet at the ISR Grand Prix 2010 in November

All other world class teams will soon know what the new standards are before the three top contenders with their complete new lineups will compete directly with each other at the Shamrock Showdown 2011 in March, along with many other world class and national teams.

The competition in Dubai will still be tight and exciting, even though France and Belgium have higher goals and 2-year plans. The $45,000 jackpot alone is a good reason, and the direct confrontation with the opponent of the next two years is another one.

France has brought in a 4-way and 8-way veteran, Emmanuel "Manu" Sarrazin, with a broad collection of competition experience, while young Dennis Praet still has to go through the emotional rollercoaster of high-profile 4-way competition. The indoor competition in November was nothing like that, as the team in second place was miles away. The Dubai Championship 2011 will show how the French veteran and the Belgian joungster master their first serious 4-way challenge. Airspeed's John Eagle has seen it all and done it all...

The polls are open again.

Dubai 4-way Open Class?
Who wins the Dubai Championship 2011 in the 4-way Open Class	USA Belgium France Others
	Current Results