posted Jan 9th, 2011 - The leaderboards of the Dubai Championship 2011 were updated late. In fact, the penalty information was available earlier than the complete scores.

This is the reason why some teams are not in the proper rankings in the tables that show the penalties.

The numbers indicate the point deductions, and they looked funny without the actual scores. Some negative numbers stick out, the worst can be found on the leaderboard of the 4-way Female Class.

The Russian Illusions lost four points in Round 5, which was the slow 3-block sequence.

The official score for this round will most likely not look very pretty. The same had happened to a Russian team in the 4-way Open Class. Gradient Alpha had an unusual 11-pointer, which was caused by a 4-point damage in this round.

However, the Russian 3-team line is still in the same order, as soon as FS3 has a number for Round 6.

Dubai Championship 2011		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Female	P,17,18	M,N,F,3	H,A,6,B	Q,1,C,14	4,10,15	16,O,J,22	K,2,E,11	G,9,8	Total	Avg
1	FranceAerodyneCypres	20	26	28	20	15	19	-	-	128	21.3
2	USAAlphaArmada	17	26	30	17	14	19	-	-	123	20.5
3	RussiaIllusions	16	21	22(-1)	15	9(-4)	17	-	-	100	16.7
4	SpainEmpuriaGatas	11	14	13	10(-2)	10	12	-	-	70	11.7
5	DenmarkLadyVikings	8	13	12(-1)	11	9	11	-	-	64	10.7
6	Canada	4	9	8	0(-2)	2(-2)	7	-	-	30	3.8

The competition in the 4-way Female Class is still interesting, even though the reigning French world champions on vacation in Dubai keep stealing a point here or there to increase the lead carefully.

They still have to be on alert. The female American Alpha Armada has shown in Round 3 that they can strike strongly at any time.

The remaining two rounds have the potential to change the 5-point lead. However, the US team would probably need help from the Deep Blue members, and chances are little that the experienced world champions are willing to help much.

There is still a very good chance that Alpha Armada may improve the highest meet average that a US team has posted in this category.

Unfortunately, it is only an 8-round meet, and any record averages will have lower relevance in the records. However, first of all, there are still two rounds, and the Fat Lady has not started singing yet.

Dubai Championship 2011		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	P,17,18	M,N,F,3	H,A,6,B	Q,1,C,14	4,10,15	16,O,J,22	K,2,E,11	G,9,8	Total	Avg
1	FranceAerodyneAerokart	24	33	33	20	18	25	-	-	153	25.5
2	USAArizonaAirspeed	23	33	31(-2)	23	19	23	-	-	152	25.3
2	BelgiumNMP-PCHHayabusa	24	34	30(-2)	23	19	22(-1)	-	-	152	25.3
4	RussiaGradientAlpha	19	29	28	20	11(-4)	21	-	-	128	21.3
5	RussiaBlackCat	20	22(-1)	25	18	16	19	-	-	120	20.0
6	FranceMonacoAerial	10	19	16(-2)	14	11(-1)	17	-	-	87	14.5
7	FranceAirForce	10	18	18	14	11	14(-1)	-	-	85	14.2
8	QatarTigers	13	14	17	12	10(-1)	14	-	-	80	13.3
9	RussiaFS3	14	18	22	14	11	15(-1)	-	-	94	15.7
10	QatarFalcon	9(-1)	14	13	11	9(-1)	12	-	-	68	11.3
11	U.A.E.	9	11	13	8(-1)	9	12	-	-	62	10.3
12	SouthAfrica	9	14	12	9	8(-1)	9	-	-	61	10.2
13	GermanyBlackMoon	8(-1)	8	11(-2)	8(-1)	9	10	-	-	54	9.0
14	GermanyConnatural	5(-3)	10(-3)	9(-4)	6(-3)	6(-1)	11	-	-	47	7.8
15	Brazil	5	5	9	5	1(-2)	5	-	-	30	5.0
16	Slovakia	0	7	7	4	5	3	-	-	26	4.3
17	Malaysia	3	4	6	3	3(-6)	4(-1)	-	-	23	3.8
18	BahrainMilitary	3	2	3	2	1(-1)	4	-	-	15	2.5
19	SaudiArabiaA	1	2	0	0	2	1	-	-	6	1.0
20	SaudiArabiaB	0	0	0	0	0	1	-	-	1	0.1

The competition has also moved forward over the pond water. The Canopy Pilots have now completed four of nine rounds.

Guillaume Bernier, Aerodyne Aerokart's Tail and leader in the 4-way Open Class competition, is actually also performing very strongly under his parachute.

He must have missed the entry gate in the Speed category where he scored a Zero. Without that, he would most likely be within the Top 10. The Zero dropped him down to the 41st place in the Overall Rankings.

Jay Moledzki is the leader, Jonathan Tagle in 3rd place, Ian Bobo 12th, Pete Allum 23rd, Alexander Golovkin 38th and Nina Engel 50th in the field of 90.

The weather is expected to change tomorrow, with more wind and clouds moving in.

The participants in Dubai will have to be ready to land at last year's location after enjoying the outskirts of the palm tree this time.