posted Apr 21st, 2011 - The Top 10 videos of Round 10 conclude this part of the aftermath of the World Challenge 2011.

It was another slow sequence, in fact the second slowest sequence of the competition, which followed the slowest one of Round 9. No changes were expected any longer for the money slots, and NMP-PCH Hayabusa pocketed the £5,000 for the 1st place easily. Arizona Airspeed won £3,000 and Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge took the £2,000 for the 3rd place. XL still got £1,000 for the 4th place.

However, there were still two open 1-point battles, as the NSL News reported yesterday: SDC Rhythm XP vs. SportsLotto and NPC Aerokart Maubeuge vs. Satori.

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(-1)	28	28	22(-2)	25	305	30.5
2	Arizona Airspeed	26	24(-2)	60(-2)	27	34	24(-1)	27(-1)	28	23	25	298	29.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart Maubeuge	26	25	52	27	31(-1)	25	29	27	24	24	290	29.0
4	XL	25	24	58	24	32	24	26	25	21	23(-1)	282	28.2
5	SDC Rhythm XP	22	23	56	23	27(-2)	20(-1)	24	21	19	22	257	25.7
6	SportsLotto	21(-2)	23(-1)	49(-3)	23	29	20	25(-1)	23	21	21	255	25.5
7	NPC Aerokart Maubeuge	24	20(-1)	41(-4)	22	26(-1)	21	26	22	21	20	243	24.3
8	Satori	19	19(-1)	57	21	25	19(-1)	24	21	17(-2)	20	242	24.2
9	Aerodyne DB Defenders	21(-1)	21	44(-1)	20(-1)	27	19(-1)	25	21	19	19	236	23.6
10	Thunder	13(-4)	20(-1)	41(-2)	23	27	20	23(-1)	21	19	17(-3)	224	22.4

In the first battle for the 5th place, the pressure was on SDC Rhythm XP since SportsLotto had reduced the 8-point difference after Round 4 to a 1-point Rhythm lead before Round 10. Rhythm mastered the challenge in style and won the third round over the Russian team at the right time.

Satori was in the same situation as Rhythm. The French rivals for the 7th place had even taken a 1-point lead after reducing the distance from ten points after Round 3 to three points after Round 8. Satori had to beat NPC Aerokart Maubeuge by one point to tie the French total or by two points to win the 7th place.

Satori's 20-pointer matched the French score for the first time in the meet. The three members of the French 8-way team (Clement Martin Saint Leon, Julien Olek, Thomas Perrin Gachadoat) and new B-Team member Florian Denonfoux had won all rounds except the fast random sequence in Round 3. They were finally rewarded with the 7th place for the hard work after the disastrous Round 3.

The sequence of Round 10 was the ultimate challenge for the Tail slot. The Tails of all teams never took any different grips than the Cat grips on their piece partners, the Center Insides. Every Tail in the sport knows how challenging it is to keep track of the sequence and see the breaks and completions.

First of all, compliments to all Tails of the Top 10 teams who showed great efforts to make it easy enough for the judges. There were all kind of different ways how to fly the Tail slot. Some Tails were flying the Cat pieces with outside grips, others with inside grips, others had one inside grip and one outside grip.

Some Tails were flying each Cat piece of the two blocks (1 and 8) with the same grips, others applied a different grip combination for each of the two blocks. There were also Tails who switched their grip combinations during the sequence, including French world champion Tail Guillaume Bernier.

Such a sequence can be very confusing from the Tail's perspective, and it was heart breaking to see when a Tail got lost between all those cat grips. Unfortunately, one of the Top 10 teams demonstrated an example of the potential for confusion.

Jacco van Eerden, Tail of the Belgian/Dutch Thunder combination, had a great start and two flawless pages before disaster struck at the beginning of the 3rd page. He showed great separation at the wrong time, and the judges appreciated the easily visible infringement. It happened again at exactly the same spot on the next page. The judges saw a third penalty situation, which added up to a 3-point deduction.

Only one other Tail of the Top 10 teams lost track the same way and at exactly the same spot as Jacco van Eerden. Rhythm Tail Thiago Gomes was lucky though, as the working time was already at its end, and no damage was done. Good timing, Thiago...