posted Aug 7th, 2007 - Russia (Sky Panthers) - France (Maubeuge) - Belgium (Hayabusa Defence), all tied with 87 points after four rounds, what a race. The Belgian team seems to have the strongest momentum at the moment. Hayabusa Defence was four points behind the Russian Sky Panthers after the first round and made up the deficit in the following three rounds with such a very strong comeback. Two sole highscores (Rounds 2 and 4) are now on the Belgian account. The Sky Panthers have the other two highscores for Rounds 1 and 3.

The young French national team has not posted the highest score for a round yet and is still tied for the lead. This speaks for consistent performance so far and might pay back over the whole 10-round meet.

The incredible Airspeed streak of keeping all scores at or above 20 points is already out of reach for the teams at the FAI World Cup 2007. Each of the three leaders has a 19-pointer as the lowest score after four rounds. The Sky Panthers and France Maubeuge kept the chances alive for three rounds and lost it with the sequence for Round 4 (21-3-6).

Hayabusa Defence scored a 20-pointer for the same 3-block sequence. However, the 19-pointer in Round 1 had already stopped the Belgian team when the challenge of Airspeed's record run had hardly started. Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle had some more additional insights.

Exi's World Cup Corner

Round 3 brought several busts for several teams. The judging included the first time in this competition that a video was reviewed four times.

However, as often, the call for an "Absolute", which stands for a serious mistake by the judging panel, turned out to be a "Judgement Call".

It is a challenging situation in the judging room. Tuesday has been a very busy day. There was only a very short break for a snack. Seven people are crowding the small judging room, sometimes even eight when the Chief Judge joins in. It is hot summer weather in Russia, and the judging room has no air condition. Tough job.

The Meet Director in Stupino has decided to continue with two more rounds in 4-way. The judges have already fallen behind earlier and work hard to catch up. The teams need to know the latest standings before they go up for the next round...