posted Jan 13th, 2011 - It seems to be time for the final countdown at the Dubai Championship 2011. The winds have slowed down more than enough on Friday morning, and the scores of Round 8 will hopefully be posted today.

The latest results of the NSL Poll for the Open Class competition clearly show that the majority of the voting audience sees Aerodyne Aerokart, the new French national team, as the top favorite for winning the meet and the $20,000 for the 1st place.

NMP-PCH Hayabusa, tied with France in 1st place after seven rounds, has worked out a significant lead over Arizona Airspeed. It is quite unusual that Airspeed is not the leader in the polls, it may be the first time ever.

Even the new Airspeed lineup (Mark Kirkby, Thomas Hughes, Josh Hall, Niklas Hemlin) is impressed by the French and Belgian performance in Dubai. The NSL News spoke with Center Outside Thomas Hughes on Thursday to get some feedback from Eloy.

Airspeed is in the middle of a training camp, and Thomas Hughes was on his way from the dropzone to the Skydive Arizona's wind tunnel. The outdoor training was completed, and additional tunnel time was on the agenda.

Thomas Hughes said that the Airspeed videos from Dubai show the lack of training. Elianan Rodriguez, Craig Girard and Andy Delk made just a few jumps with substitute John Eagle before getting ready for Round 1 in Dubai.

Dennis Praet's performance in Hayabusa's Point slot caught the most attention, and Thomas Hughes gave him a lot of credit. He also mentioned that the Belgian national team seems to have matured from a team with great performance in training to a team that will post the best scores in competition.

He added that it is impressive how new member Dennis Praet apparently doesn't need this maturing process. He seems to be physically and mentally ready to go through the rollercoaster of a high-profile competition. And he still finds time and has the nerve to be creative as a video producer...

The new Airspeed lineup has scheduled their own meet with the Dubai sequences for next Wednesday. Thomas Hughes promised to provide scores and a few videos. For now, it is time to go back to Dubai and wait for the first updates. Friday morning is breaking on the other side of the planet.