posted Oct 8th, 2011 - The NSL News moved from the extensive 20-pointer coverage almost as quickly to the 22-pointers as the best teams in the world moved forward. Only the story on 14 February 2011 mentioned Arizona Airspeed's 21-pointer performance at the Valentine's Meet 2011.

It seems as if the scoring progression accelerated when the rules for penalties were changed. DeLand Majik was still forced to pay more attention to accurate performance since each infringement came along with an additional point deduction. The damage of two points for one bust was not worth ignoring the flaws and just move on.

This changed after the World Meet 2004 in Croatia where DeLand Majik won the gold medals with a 22.7 average. DeLand Majik lost a total of eight points in 2004 - for four infringements. The Airspeed Vertical lineup had won the World Meet 2001 in Spain with a 21.4 average. Two world meets later the meet average had increased by a little over a point.

Valentine's 2011

Rd.1

Rd.2

Rd.3

Rd.4

Rd.5

Rd.6

Rd.7

Rd.8

Rd.9

Rd.10

Total

Avg

R.

AAA/Open Class

18,N,9

20,6,5

11,O,7

15,13,P

21,L,D,C

G,F,M,K,4

A,3,22

10,19,H

14,2,B

1,E,17

Total

Avg

1

Arizona Airspeed

25

23

27

23

30

36

23

21

21

21

250

25.0

World Cup 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/Open 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

N,F,A,7

Total

Avg

1

Aerodyne Aerokart

22

27

23

22

26

25

25

24

24

37

255

25.5

Then the rules changed and eliminated the additional point deduction, while the application of slow motion judging was removed as well, for the purpose of real time judging. The door was opened for a new 4way speed on the top level.

Another two world meets later, the winning average in Maubeuge 2008 was up by almost two points, and Airspeed won with a 24.4 average. Only two years later, France won in Menzelinsk 2010 with a 27.7 average, supported though by a 56-pointer for a sequence of only random formations.

The top teams do not waste any time any longer for correcting a mistake. They try as much as possible to keep in synch and move on while swallowing a potential point deduction, and there is also still the chance to "sell the point to the judges" successfully. The NSL News will get deeper into this topic very soon. For now, the audience has the opportunity to compare Arizona Airspeed's 21-pointer performance in February this year with Aerodyne Aerokart's new 22-pointer record in August.