posted May 6th, 2007 - The last NSL News update of the Hayabusa Defence plans for the 2007 season was posted with the NSL News story on March 5. The update introduced the new line-up with Luc Verstrepen, who replaced Sven Ibens at the end of the 2006 season.

The team plans included the World Challenge 2007 at Bodyflight Bedford, and the NSL News saw Hayabusa Defence live in action at the wind tunnel competition in April. It was a great opportunity for a live interview with the new line-up, and the team members took the time for the interview after the completion of the event in Bedford.

Hayabusa Defence finished in 4th place at the World Challenge 2007, with a 24.7 average after the 10-round meet. The NSL News was interested to hear how the team evaluated its own performance at the first competition with the new Center Inside.

The Belgium team could also take a good look at the other top teams and use their scores and performances for an evaluation of the Hayabusa position on the international stage.

The team members introduced themselves during the interview. The line-up of the past years has had the Grauwels brothers flying the front piece, David in the Center Outside position and Andy as the Point. All team members provided their insights and thoughts in the live interview.

The new Hayabusa Defence line-up already managed to keep up with the Russian world-class team Sky Panthers most of the time and finished four paints ahead of the Sky Panthers. The Sky Panthers lost plenty of points due to non-judgeable video footage. The Sky Panthers flew on a level that was too high and too close for the tunnel camera.

Hayabusa studied the other top teams, Airspeed Odyssey, Team Fastrax and XL, and noticed that there is a specific area where the top teams in the first three places were better then the Belgian team. The Hayabusa members noticed that they use the same energy and speed for the block maneuvers. However, Hayabusa does not have the same starting times into the blocks as the other teams.

FAI Anton Malevsky Memorial International Cup 2007 4 - 6 July 2007, Stupino - Russia The NSL News coverage of the Malevsky Cup 2007 is brought to you with the help of:

Hayabusa Defence plans to complete 800 - 900 jumps until the military world championship in India, and the team is on track so far. The start into the blocks will have priority in the upcoming training. The Hayabusa members are confident that they will then be able to give the Golden Knights a good competition at the world meet in India this year.

The whole team was satisfied with the overall performance at Bodyflight Bedford and was planning to attend the first meet of the Belgian Skydiving Trophy this weekend. At the time of the interview on April 8 at the World Challenge 2007, Hayabusa did not mention that the team would compete at the Malevsky Cup 2007. The plans recently changed, and the event in Russia at the beginning of July is now on the Hayabusa agenda.

This is great news for the Malevsky Cup management and also for the NSL News. The live coverage of the Malevsky Cup 2007 will now include another world-class team. The preparations for the Hayabusa trip to Russia are already on the way.

The video of the whole interview with Hayabusa Defence at Bodyflight Bedford can be viewed by clicking here.