posted Nov 27th, 2011 - Another high-profile 4way competition took place before the 3rd Dubai Championship 2011 brings together many world class teams. Indoor Skydiving Roosendaal, the 14-footer windtunnel in the Netherlands, held the annual ISR Grand Prix on Saturday.

NMP-PCH Hayabusa won the meet in 2010 with a 32.9 average but could not attend this weekend since the Belgian team is in Dubai to race once again for the top position in the world with Aerodyne Aerokart from France. In fact, no Dubai team was in Roosendaal, as the 2011 schedule of both events made that impossible.

However, Roosendaal still registered record participation, with 13 teams in the AAA Class, 8 teams in the AA Class and 20 teams in the Rookie Class.

ISR Grand Prix 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	M,22,14	G,O,C,3	12,D,L,J	B,5,18	H,15,9	10,2,K	F,6,21	A,N,11,Q	K,16,7	Total	Avg
1	Thunder	22	29	26	24	27	19	27	30	26	230	25.6
2	Germany ISB Air Remscheid	19	24	23	17	25	17	21	23	22	191	21.2
3	Netherlands Dynamic Fource	18	23	23	19	21	16	22	22	22	186	20.7
4	Netherlands Whooops	15	21	21	15	21	15	20	22	19	169	18.8
5	Netherlands Creeps	17	19	19	15	22	13	20	21	18	164	18.2

The ISR Grand Prix 2010 was only a 7-round competition. This year, all teams completed eight rounds, and the Top 5 in all categories qualified for Round 9. The nine rounds exhausted the dive pool since the 14-foot flying chamber does not allow the application of the complete dive pool. Blocks 1, 4, 8, 13, 19 and 20 are not in the ISR dive pool for the AAA Class, and additional blocks remain unused for the AA Class competition.

This year's winning average of 25.6 was significantly below last year's results not only because Hayabusa's absence. The 7-round meet of 2010 included a few very fast sequences, while Saturday's competition draw exhausted the whole dive pool and did not offer the possibility to lift the average in specific rounds.

2011 winner Thunder scored even lower than last year (26.4 - 25.6) even though the team is performing on a higher level. The same counts for silver medalist ISB Air Remscheid and Dynamic Fource.

ISR Grand Prix 2010		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	G,7,3	F,B,P,D,6	15,Q,16	H,M,C,9	L,2,18	21,11,10	E,17,N,4	Total	Avg
1	Belgium NMP-PCH Hayabusa	28	43	25	52	23	20	39	230	32.9
2	Netherlands Dynamic Fource	24	35	22	49	18	17	34	199	28.4
3	Thunder	23	33	22	41	19	18	29	185	26.4
4	Skytrax	20	28	19	38	17	15	25	162	23.1
5	Germany ISB Air	20	32	18	33	15	15	26	159	22.7

It was not a surprise that three of the Top 5 teams in 2010 changed their positions after this year's nine rounds. Last year's silver medalists, Dynamic Fource, Dutch national team of 2010, is not training any longer and has a different lineup. Former Center Outside Paul Hofstee now has the same slot for Thunder, and Bert Hajee filled the open slot for Dynamic Fource. ISB Air Remscheid, with substitute Dieter Schwarz of Paratec-Saar, also outscored Dynamic Fource this year.

However, the former Dutch national 4way team still managed to hold off the new team that represents the Netherlands at the IPC meets, Whooops. The Dutch role model for a team starting from scratch and moving through all competition classes to become the national 4way team attended the 6th meet this year in Roosendaal. Whooops started with a 1.7 average in the Dutch Rookie Class of 2005 and now represents the Netherlands at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in 2012 after also competing at the World Cup 2011.

ISB Air Remscheid did not have a comeback with the complete lineup and Sarah Hajooze. However, it was the team's first meet after the World Challenge 2011 where coach Gary Smith filled the open slot. This time, Paratec-Saar member Dieter Schwarz took the Center Outside position. Point Petra van Overveld reported the ISB Air experience in Rosendaal to FSC Remscheid President Klaus Mathies.

She said that her team was very happy with the results. ISB Air Remscheid knew that they would not be able to keep up with the well trained Thunder lineup. On the other hand, the German team did not really expect to end up ahead of Dynamic Fource in 2nd place, even though the former Dutch national team does not train any longer. She also pointed out that her team's meet average was only slightly below the scores at the World Challenge 2011 where the team was well prepared.

ISB Air Remscheid was able to fly 45 minutes with Dieter Schwarz on Friday evening at their home tunnel in Bottrop before the competition began on Saturday in Roosendaal. They went quickly through all blocks, random formations and exits, which turned out to be hard and intensive work after only a few hours of sleep to be in Bottrop very early on Friday morning. Center Inside Pia Weingart had a 10-hour train trip behind her to get to the training session in Bottrop.

However, the team felt that it was all well worth the efforts, as Petra van Overveld finished: "We really had several great rounds, only Round 4 was not so good, as we had at least four busts. However, you cannot expect to be perfect without much training. The team energy was wonderful, and it felt great to fly again with our team." Petra van Overveld had helped out Paratec-Saar at the German Nationals 2011 and won gold medals in 4way and 8way.

Original Center Outside Sarah Hajooze joined the training session on Friday morning for a few flights and traveled to Roosendaal for support, as well. The team was thrilled to have her back so near to the competition action. The ISB Air Remscheid plans for the 2012 season are almost finalized, and the NSL News will follow up. More information of the ISR Grand Prix 2011 can be found on Facebook.