waiheke1

Really good post arnie g. Suspect there may be more than 3 "unknowns". If you look at this year's line up the likes of tai holder killer Doyle zmarzlik pawlicki and janowski were basically unknown.Pedersen Hancock zagar Jonsson hampel nki lindback were in the series. Only Harris was "in between' Against that you have a superb crop of youngsters who will be around their peak in 10 years time so your split could be right. I can't see there being more than 5 or 6 poles in the series, no matter how strong the crop, so if I have to name 12 "known" riders how about: Tai lambert Fricke Thomsen thorssel emil dudek zmarzlik jankowski pawlicki drabik j holder. 3 unknowns including one dane and one poles. And maybe another swede. 2018 I think he and dudek will be genuine challengers to Tai and (hopefully) Emil. And Greg of course could still be in the mix. You could say the same about England in the 70s. Nz and Denmark were minor nations but had one outstanding rider apiece who dominated (Briggs at the start and Nielsen at the dnd of the decade could stetch that to two outstanding riders).

Poole clear favorites. Aces may have been the best side so far this season, but suspect the lack of home advantage and Jacobs at 7 are the weaknesses. Top 3 of both sides comparable. Frick and s worrall pretty similar to Kurtz and bjarne. R worrall and Newman reasonably even. But Ellis clearly stronger than Jacobs. Wolves are an odd one clearly the seasons overachievers, and capable of beating aces and/or Poole over two legs. Heart says aces, head says Poole

Not true. Clubs get no facility for riders missing due to sec. Or can get a facility in which case the ruder gets a 28 day ban.Agree would be hugely beneficial for the likes of cook and lambert, but at the same time can see the bspa perspective.

What an amazing meeting, right up there with the best I've seen. awesome racing, amazing there were only two stoppages given the number of close encounters.

In gps the riders who i see challenging tai are the likes of emil dudek zmarzlik janowski pawlicki, bit of those I would say only emil would be a genuine contender in 2017, bUT the others could be by the end of the decade. You could add the likes of Fricke lambert drabik but I'd suggest it will be more than 5 years before they would be a real tgreat. In the swc an aussie team of holder Doyle fticke and Kurtz could challenge the poles oin a few years. But Poland should be the dominant force at swc level for the next decade.

Morris for fricke is hardly strengthening the aces on this season's form?!?

Umm,yes. I have the feeling one of us is having a gustix moment Phil.

What do you expect them to do, issue a press release? I presume you bought your swc tickets in advance, and therefore at that time bv would have had no idea. Was that even a bv promoted event?As for aj, when u go to a speedway meeting, or any sports event, you know there is the possibility of a competitor being absent. You clearly have Internet access so could have done your own research on this. Oh hang on..got me.. you are trolling aren't you...

Imagine if football commentators shouted when someone scored a goal (or a Gollllllllllllllll!!!!!!). People would probably never watch the sport again.

Tbf it does look a two way battle for the title, though doesn't that sum up the world finals 1984-1989? But look how close 3rd to 7th and 8th to 14th are, it's shaping as a fascinating series. And racing wise, it looks like this will go down as one of the best ever series.

Would suggest that is reflected in the fact he moved from 10th to 4th in the rankings

I know. Give me a dull monotone, or the knowledgeable and articulate sam ermolenko any day.or what they should really do is invent a button which allows the TV volume to be turned up or down, or even off completely, so that if viewers don't like the commentary they gave options...

Easy to forget what an exciting teenage talent Andy Smith was. Was only a meeting away from being a world finalist as a 18 year old. Won the Peter craven shield againSt a top class field as an 18 year old. Lambert far more controlled and better from the gate. Which probably aligns with both previous posts, though personally feel lambert will surpass both Smith and Harris.

I remember SBW giving his world cup medal away to a young fan on the pitch at the end of the last rwc final. I think that kind of thing is a superb gesture, the child will remember that for ever. For the rider, knowing what they have achieved is surely more important than the medal itself?

And yet king comfortably outscored Harris at Cardiff and the British final. There was an argument for Harris to be included sure, but to come here after the event and say Harris should have been in... Did you think gb would win? Did tai score more than you expected? Were you surprised the rest scored "only" 13?

And Lee is probably the greatest natural talent to grace the sport ever. To be short of Lee at the same age is hardly an issue. You also can't compare the line up on Saturday to vojens lat year - none of the Russian or USA teams (bar Grin) were close to the caliber of rider on display last night.

On current ability, you wouldn't have expected cook king or lambert (or Harris or Nicholls) to beat any if the poles. Masters and Josh g probably, but not holder or Doyle. Of the swede perhaps ljung. So anything above 3 or 4 apiece is better than you would expect. Which is why before hand I said 5 apiece would be a good effort, and I stand by that.

Cardiff is a great city to visit for a sports event, compact and a real "buzz" about the place. Only real downside of course is the price of accommodation.

Of course there was a one man team in the competition,but he chose not to race in the race off, preferring to give youngsters like Billy janniro an opportunity instead... And of course our weakest three riders outscored the three lowest scoring aussies in the final....

In no way was I suggesting it replace Cardiff, that's why I stated English gp and that it wouldn't IMHO impact on Cardiff attendances. What I meant by premium was that you could possibly charge more than Cardiff for the cheapest seats - 40quid maybe- and still sell out the meeting.

Kk 200 more

Tbf the only other viable option was Harris. He averages about 5 in gps, last night's field was a little weaker, maybe he'd have scored 7ish. Against that, he has been awful round belle Vue and given the need for quick engines no guarantee he would have outscored any of the side. Similarly not convinced Nicholls or s worall would have scored more. And of course had we done better early on we would not have had the tai ts/joker ride which arguably gained us a 6 point swing (3 for the Joker, he scored probably 2 more than king would have and the opposition scored one less). Right team, right ts/joker IMHO.

Currently he's not up to the standard of the Polish youngsters, but all are older than him. Would suggest they all have much bigger sponsorship deals, and hence quicker machinery. And all are better gaters. I'd suggest all four young poles are a couple of seasons away from being genuine world title contenders, whereas hopefully in a couple of seasons lambert would be competitive in the gp series. Would still love to see him as one of the qualifiers, along with dudek and fricke, though in reality can see a polish 1 2 3 and that would arguably result in the strongest 2016 line up.

I said before the meeting that 5 points apiecewould represent a good return for those brits against that caliber of opposition. Don't think we can be disappointed with Lamberts return. Either way second is a great result. Poland had clearly the strongest line up, Sweden slightly stronger than the other sides (weaker number 1 but certainly more strength in depth), gb side at least good as aussie once Fricke ruled out (tai>Doyle, holder>cook, king=masters, lambert>Josh g)

I struggle to see how anyone can seriously suggest "putting the power in the hands of the clubs" when you look at the utterly shambolic decisions the bspa cone up with each agm...