posted Apr 10th, 2011 - The fast sequence of random formations in Round 3 of the World Challenge 2011 had separated the three top teams significantly, and Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge even dropped to the 4th place. The French national team would make it back to the 3rd place eventually. However, that was all that could be done as of adjustments on the top of the leaderboard after Round 3.

NMP-PCH Hayabusa did not even stop after creating a 7-point lead over Arizona Airspeed. The 29-pointer in Round 4 somehow reminded on the French Round 10 at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010. Arizona Airspeed and Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge both delivered very well in Round 4, however, it was not enough to keep up with the Belgians.

Hayabusa added a perfect Round 4 to the dominating performance of the first three rounds, posted another sole highscore and seemed to be unstoppable with the new 9-point lead. It was almost a relief for the rest of the field and for the audience when Airspeed finally won a round at the end of the first day. The videos of Round 5 will show the first highscore of a different team.

World Challenge 2011		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
R.	AAA Class	10,C,5	20,P,2	H,M,Q,K,A	L,J,16,12	E,7,15	O,11,22	14,B,17	6,13,9	4,3,21	1,G,8	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	27	25(-1)	65	29	33	23	28	28	22	25	305	30.5
2	Arizona Airspeed	26	24(-2)	60(-2)	27	34	24	27	28	23	25	298	29.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge	26	25	52	27	31	25	29	27	24	24	290	29.0
4	XL	25	24	58	24	32	24	26	25	21	23	282	28.2
5	SDC Rhythm XP	22	23	56	23	27	20	24	21	19	22	257	25.7
6	SportsLotto	21(-2)	23(-1)	49(-3)	23	29	20	25	23	21	21	255	25.5
7	NPC Aerokart Maubeuge	24	20(-1)	41(-4)	22	26	21	26	22	21	20	243	24.3
8	Satori	19	19(-1)	57	21	25	19	24	21	17	20	242	24.2
9	Aerodyne DB Defenders	21(-1)	21	44(-1)	20(-1)	27	19	25	21	19	19	236	23.6
10	Thunder	13(-4)	20(-1)	41(-2)	23	27	20	23	21	19	17	224	22.4

The Belgian 29-pointer in Round 4 was the last sole highscore for Hayabusa. The Belgian team was so far ahead that the victory was not really in jeopardy any longer. Hayabusa was able to relax and watch what the other top contenders would be doing.

The NSL News discussed this situation with the Hayabusa members after the completion of the World Challenge 2011, and the video was posted with the story on 4 April 2011. The Belgians did not really plan to slow down or be more cautious after being so far ahead of the field.

However, they also could not tell whether the situation at the end of the first day may have had a subconscious impact on the energy level and input. There was no reason any longer to push hard, and it is also important for a team to learn how to carry a victory situation over the finish line.

Fact is that Hayabusa posted four sole highscores in the first four rounds to create an 8-point lead by the end of the day, including the 1-point loss to Airspeed in Round 5, and then never won a round again in the second half.

It is impossible to find out whether there was a common subconscious agreement between the team members to scale back from pushing the limits to just deliver solid and consistent world class performance. However, this is what happened, and it might be beneficial for Hayabusa to evaluate what brought the team to this athletically and strategically perfect execution. It seems to work well...

The Hayabusa members also mentioned that the situation on the second day is more what should be expected in the future. All teams have blocks and sequences that they like and that they are good at. The highscores could be exchanged round by round, as it happened between Round 5 and Round 10.