40-38

The very same Ms Turnbull! Perhaps she was trying to redress the balance 😉

Christina Turnbull. I think the Becker one was 50/50 maybe. Kurtz dropping it on his own bend 1 and all 4 back, and then the inordinate amount of time for the 2 mins to go on, was ridiculous.

Bends 3/4 were like a sandstorm towards the end, so bad I couldn't fill my program out!

I agree, but that's what happened to JT as well last year, his confidence was shot and he was well adrift. I don't know what the answer is, but I don't think it's either of them.

Who else is left on the RS list? I don't remember Joe Thompson being particularly better than Hagon in his last spell so not sure that swap would be any better.

I think it unlikely Cook would be back at Leicester again even if he was suddenly OK. It's a shame, on his day he can still be a good rider, but those days are getting fewer and fewer.

Sam Masters confirmed.

It probably should be something along the lines of having to use your no.7 plus AN Other rider. If you don't want to restrict to not using riders from Heat 15 then at least because the scoring system for the superheat is meant to encourage team riding, it's better with a heat leader trying to protect their no.7.

Howarth got 7 for Sheffield at Leicester whilst riding at no.2 which is the sort of score you'd expect a no.2 to get. Fricke is also a good team rider as shown by how well he rode with both Lawson last year and Sedgman the year before. Of course it's a downgrade of sorts and Lawson was by far the best Lions rider last year, but ultimately what cost us last year was 3-5 being so inconsistent. Masters and Douglas might be at their level now but Becker will be the key. If he can become the rider everyone thinks is there that could be a trump card. Also there's no guarantee that this years big improvers for other teams will continue to improve, so any team, even Ipswich, might not have it all their own way.

If that's the case then we need Becker to ride to his potential, if he does then that might be the difference.

I certainly wouldn't be excited if it's true. At No.6 I might be a bit happier with it, but I've seen nothing in his latest visits to make me think he's going to recapture great form. Having said that, if it means we get a good No.5 in for a weaker engine room? I could take that.

Think I'd sooner have Sedgman at 6, especially around BP.

I'd refuse to go if that utter arse Worrall ended up anywhere near a Lions jacket.

I'd be more inclined to thinking that we'll be getting a rider already in the UK but forced out due to points.

Is the laydown engine of today massively different to that of say 1995 when they were fairly new? Was the difference so great that it made the upright obsolete quite quickly?