posted Aug 10th, 2007 - The FAI World Cup 2007 has just been concluded in Russia, and the new 4-way Open champion, Belgium's Hayabusa Defence, is probably still recovering from the competition pressure and the following celebration. However, Hayabusa member Roy Janssen already took the time to provide the NSL News with a meet summary and the fresh impressions from inside the team right after the competition.

His insights confirm what NSL News commentator in Russia, Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle, observed when Round 10 was shown on the DZ-TV screens: "Hayabusa Defence looked nervous and shaky. They could finally be glad that they did not have to swallow two busts around points 16 and 17."

The same counts for the jump-off where Exi and the audience saw Hayabusa's problems with a false start into Block 5 and a brainlock. Exi and Roy Janssen both think that the team lost two points right there.

Last not least, the Hayabusa member mentioned that his team really liked the squence of the jump-off round. Hayabusa had been the stronger team in the previous four memory sequences before H-A-18-5 came up in the very last jump of the meet. Roy Janssen mentioned: "The draw was one that felt good to us."

World Cup in Russia

By Roy Janssen

What a race!! This was more exciting than we ever dared to dream about! One week ago, we were hoping to get a medal on the World Cup podium, and here we found ourselves leading the field after six rounds.

The first round wouldn't be the best for us, because we know that we still have some difficulties with Block 8 (Canadian T - Canadian T). We hoped for a score of 21 points, which we knew wouldn't be enough to keep up with the top teams. The 19 was surely disappointing for us.

It felt like we already lost the connection with the Panthers and the French team. The Panthers were already four points ahead. So the only thing to do was look ahead and take each round, one by one. Fortunately, in Round 2 we came back strongly and could close the gap between the French team and the Russians. This also gave us the trust that we could beat the other teams if we keep focused enough. Of course, we still made mistakes, but this was the best performance so far ever done by Hayabusa.

Starting from Round 6, we were leading the field, which was something completely new to us, at least at a World Cup!! We felt the pressure from France and Russia all the time. This wasn't too much of a probleme until Round 9. However, it effected our performance in Rounds 9 and 10. We felt we could maybe win a World Cup. We were already very close, and we were not willing to give up our dream by any means! In Round 10, we made mistakes because we were nervous, and the French team was able to win that one point.

Looking at the big screen, the judging of the French team and us was just thrilling. We knew that we had a bad performance and thought it was over. And then the outcome! TIED! Wow, this was amazing. A jump-off? This only happens in our dreams...

So, the jump-off next day. We had a night of sleep and all felt confident to win the jump-off. The draw was one that felt good to us. The first part of the jump went very well until there was almost a false start into Block 5. We recovered, but right after that came a brainlock when we built the Bow. Result of this confusing situation was that we lost for sure two points. We thought we lost this meet when we were tracking away.

We crossed fingers and waited to see what the French team did. They were also more nervous then they normally are, with little brainlocks and slower blocks. So we had a score of 22, and they missed the 22nd point by a hair for a score of 21. What a relieve!!!

Unbelivable! For the first time ever, a Belgian team won a World Cup or gets even close to that.

Some things seem to be going really fast for us. Hayabusa has now existed for four years, and this is the first year as a professionel team. We did 450 training jumps and about 20 hours of tunnel time. We are still in full progression mode, and this meet was a unique chance to learn how to deal with all this pressure. It is also even amazing for ourselves how we were going from 20.5 average last year to 23-average eight months later. It's like a dream, and it isn't over yet!!

We will evaluate this meet when we are back home and work on the shortcomings of our team. There is still a long way to go for us. But at least we are on the right track! For now we will ENJOY our moments!!!!!

Roy Janssen