posted Aug 8th, 2007 - Today's first two rounds in the 4-way Open class brought some motion into the area of the medal positions, as well. Hayabusa Defence seems to be committed to hang on to the first place and bring the biggest success for a Belgian 4-way team back home. France Maubeuge continues with a clean and strong performance.

Only the Russian Sky Panthers have fallen behind, and the downslope began already in yesterday's Round 6. The Sky Panthers lost three more points in Round 7 and one more point in Rond 8 and have little chances for gold medals any longer.

The first cut will now take place. Only the best 10 teams continue with Round 9, the semifinals. The best 10 European teams will continue for the European Championships 2007 with one team per nation (Belgium - Hayabusa Defence, France - Maubeuge, Russia - Sky Panthers, Norway - Arcteryx, Germany - Next Generation, Sweden - Team Spaï, Denmark - Danish Blaze, Ukraine - Paraskuf, Lithuania - Magig4, Great Britain - Fusion).

The best 10 teams of the World Cup 2007 include more than only one team per nation. Four teams from Russia (Sky Panthers, Black Cat, Sky Tec-BBC and Crossroads), the best three teams from France (Maubeuge, Aerokart Seloger.com and Maubeuge Perros), Belgium (Hayabusa Defence), Norway (Arcteryx) and Germany (Next Generation) will compete in Round 9 and try to make it to the finals and Round 10.

Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle has more insights from the competition site in Stupino, Russia.

Exi's World Cup Corner

The team from Iceland received the first re-jump of the meet after they fell out of the unbalanced jump plane. Bad luck for Iceland in the re-jump after two busts. Two points are at least better than the one point after the exit funnel in the first attempt.

Denmark's Danish Blaze had the team's best jump of the meet and was lucky at the same time. The juging panel did not see an incorrect grip in the Murphy at the end of Block 17.

The Sky Panthers lost another scoring point due to unclear separation and finish with 21 points in Round 7. The Russian team has already protested judging decisions three times in this meet. Reason for the protests has been inconsistent evaluation of the different teams by the judges.

Black Cat has become the better looking Russian team at the moment with a cleaner performance. The Black Cat style looks currently like Hayabusa Defence and France Maubeuge. All three teams scored 24-pointers.

The Sky Panthers' feeling of unfair judging ist not covered by any rules and cannot be protested. The total of 150 Euro is lost, and the reputation of the team has not improved. It also does not look very promising for the Sky Panthers as of the chances for gold medals, or even silver medals.

It's now time for the semifinals, and we all anticipate the exciting duel of the two top teams in Stupino.