posted Sep 21st, 2011 - The ESL Championship 2011 welcomed more teams from different European nations than ever before. Especially the Rookie Class competition was most colorful with four teams from four different nations (Czech Republic, Greece, United Kingdom and Netherlands).

The whole field of 15 teams included only one team that had competed at the World Cup 2011 a few weeks earlier. Whooops from the Netherlands was the Dutch national team in Germany.

Another team had tried to enter the World Cup competition, as well, as the NSL News reported on 15 September 2011. The international Thunder lineup was not accepted as a guest team and then competed at the ESL Championship in Texel.

ESL Championship 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	6,Q,B,A	22,1,10	15,17,16	C,12,7	20,E,3	18,M,K,J	13,N,P,9	L,19,21	D,14,5	11,8,4	Total	Avg
1	Thunder	27	15	17	20	19	26	20	19	19	16	198	19.8
2	Whooops	19	12	13	13	13	16	13	13	14	12	138	13.8
3	Ignition	16	11	11	13	11	15	12	12	12	11	124	12.4
4	Turbulence Unloaded	15	8	8	10	10	14	10	11	9	8	103	10.3

Thunder walked away with the 1st place in the AAA Class and left far behind the other three teams from the Netherlands, with Whooops in 2nd place at the team's fifth competition this year. The ESL Championship 2011 was the third meet for Whooops within seven weeks, after the World Cup and the Dutch Nationals 2011 where Whooops won and confirmed the status as the national team.

Whooops posted almost exactly the same meet averages (13.9 - 13.8) at the Dutch Nationals and the ESL Championship. The competition draw at the World Cup was apparently slower, as Whooops finished with a 13.1 average in Germany. It could have been even closer to the other Whooops averages without the four point deductions in Round 4 and Round 6.

The extended leaderboard of the World Cup shows the penalties, and Whooops would end up with a 13.6 average after the nine rounds disregarding the point deductions.

World Cup 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	Total	Avg
9	Australia Rotor Out	14	18	15	13	17	18	16	15	17	143	15.9
10	UK SonicNutz	11	16	16	12	15	16	16	16	16	134	14.9
11	NL Whooops	11	15	13	11 (-2)	14	12 (-2)	16	13	13	118	13.1
19	Austria Skyraiders	10	7	10	8	9	9	9	9	9	80	8.9

The Whooops scores at the World Cup and the ESL Championship reflect indirectly what the Thunder situation might have been at the World Cup. Thunder's 19.8 average at the ESL Championship would have been a 19.5 average at the World Cup according to the Whooops scores and disregarding any penalties.

Paratec-Saar, the unofficial amateur champions and Thunder's main target, won the bronze medals at the World Cup with a 19.6 average after ten rounds, which brings both teams really very close together. Whooops completed only nine rounds at the World Cup, and Round 10 had a fast sequence, which would increase Thunder's average somehow.

At the same time, and just as it happened to the German 4way team and others, it is very possible that Thunder might have lost a few points here and there due to the judging at the World Cup. However, there is no doubt that it would have been a nice race to watch between those two teams and the two Russian contenders for the bronze medals.

Whooops finished right in the middle of the field in 11th place and made the first cut. The Sky Raiders from Austria also completed Round 9 after qualifying for the semifinals in the European Championship of the same event.

The on-line judges have a new opportunity to check out the judging standards at the World Cup, as the Whooops videos offer more interesting situations. Each of the four penalties is questionable and a close call. The break of the Bunyip on the second page of Round 4 (10th point) surely comes from the "wrong" position and is premature. But is the Bunyip incomplete because of that? The completing grip of the Bunyip comes first and before the break on the other side, which is visible even without slowmo or "frame work". Whooops is also being punished for the following transition to the Satellite for an "Incomplete Separation" (11th point) than can easily be argued. Being out of synch is not a good situation for a team, but it is not an infringement of the rules.

The Whooops point deductions in Round 6 bring back the discussion about the weather situation in Germany. The on-line judges can make their own calls: The 7th and 8th points did not count as scoring formations due to "Camera Angle / Grip Visibility". The scoresheet made sure for Whooops that it would be worthless asking for a rejump, as it adds: "No Weather Problems"...