waiheke1

If I recall correctly (iirc) Hl heat leader

People have quoted the relevant rule for you more than once.Why do u persist on posting this nonsense?

I agree the loss of Kerr weakens you.But nki bjerre milik and porsing at home should get you what Lambert would. And you can't tell me that lindgren for Lambert away isn't an improvement? Exactly. People were saying north wouldn't try in his last meeting as a guest and he scored double figures

I think the gp line up is stronger Sid, not by a lot, but is stronger imo Do u have a link to it? Was it part of his long awaited statement?

Iirc guests used to only be for hl as well, with number 8s or Juniors covering for absent 2nd strings and reserves.

Or RR at home and horses for courses guests away. Don't think this weakens kl at all.

Rr at home for Lambert, away you could use the likes of lindgren north and cook as guests. Potentially it could actually make u stronger, depending on guest availability

What is Lambert's rolling average? Given it has been achieved as a second string surely they can potentially get stronger riders as guests, who have a similar average but from the hl spot?

Agree about the first part, but nothing "cheap" about winning this year's world title.

Lindgren 1500 more A laguta 1000 more Lindback 300 more

Can't believe he got another gp after his contribution to the warsaw shambles

The issue is though is that people fixate on certain red herrings( tr, guests,play offs, sky) which have nothing to do with the decline of the sport, and in fact in some cases have helped slow the decline. The number of people on here advocating a return to what worked 50 years ago, rather than what the sport actually needs which is bringing into the 2010s. Business is littered with failures where successful ventures ultimately failed due to sticking with what had worked in the past rather than changing to meet consumer demands.

Top 4 of Lambert cook Morris and Kurtz I reckon

Cmon wolves!!!

The Cradley side of 83 is an interesting example. They actually didn't start the season that well, losing the premiership to the mighty Aces, and failing to make the League cup semi. It was really only when they strengthened at reserve, by recruiting Ravn in place of Andy Reid that things clicked. From then on I can't see that they would have needed to swap anyone had play offs been in effect, they were head and shoulders above any team. Another point to note is that Jan O, an untried teenage Dane, had to start on a 6 point assessed average . And of course the following season, when Cradley's team were weakened by the 49(if I recall correctly, it may have been a mere 48!) point limit they engaged in early season average manipulation to enable them to fit Simon Cross back in to their line up. So I would suggest that mid-season changes and average fixing aren't a modern phenomenon.

My thoughts: Started rubbish, but later there were some truly brilliant races. overall, very enjoyable, and helped by Tai extending his lead and having some money on Killer to win. Kildemand got very lucky not to be excluded on two occasions. TBH I though Tai was going to be excluded as soon as Killer went down, but was amazed that Killer escaped exclusion when he cleaned out Nicki and Zagar. He's entertaining though, but far more dangerous a rider than Nicki imo. That of course made it inevitable that he would win the re-run of the final, the only thing going to stop him was that Zagar was the only finalist that I didn't have money on How many moves did we see that were very similar to Nicki Ps on Hancock from a month back without riders (apoarty from Killer) going down, and with noone feeling the need to launch themselves post race at the other rider? The gate bias was quite strange in that in only one of the first five heats did red win, and the only one of the last three red won was in a a fortuitous re-run. But in between they won almost every heat? Is it that riders are so evenly matched that a slight advantage is enough to give them the edge, or are inside gates this year really so favourable. The ref will never stop the race for unfair riding unless a rider goes doen. How many times did we see riders colliding in the run to the first corner (ala Gollowb/Pedersen in EC the other week, but as no rider went down the ref lets the race go. Tai is showing the real mental toughness of a world champ. I don't agree with GRW who stated he got lucky, The mark of a champ is to win those pressure races to make the semis, Tai did that, and while his lead is only around a dozen points surely only injury now will stop him The race for 3rd and top 8 hearing up, ith only 11 points seperating 3rd from 9th. Personally think the top8 will remain the same, would pick Puk for 3rd, could be an interetsing toss-up again as to whether MJJ or Killer will get a wildcard for next year I think Doyle has blown more points than any other rider this year, often costing himself places in the semi or final with rash moves or other mistakes. He's only 5 points off a rostrum spot, but I think he could have easily been level with Nicki on points with a little more composure at certain times. Not intended as a criticism, has been an excellent debut season. Don't understand people continually making digs at Harris, he's competitive and riders to his level, averaging around 5 a GP is about right I'd say (indicates against top class riders he will be beaten by two, but beat one).

In 1975, when he won his last European title, Mauger was no longer considered elegible to race for Great Britain in the WTC, no longer went through the British final round, so I think it's fair to say at that stage he was a kiwi and not representing GB.

I assume you are aware that Ivan mauger is a four time winner? And know where new Zealand is?

Good choices. Ideal would be pawlicki jnr lindback and kildermand to go through, but would be happy enough with zmarzlik or Harris.

I don't think mauger would have won a gp series after 74 tbh, I think Collins/Olsen would have won the next four and then Lee in 79. Mauger would have still been on the podium most seasons though

I think everyone acknowledges they were deserving world champs, and that egon was a world class rider.But that's different from saying they were the best rider in the world, I think it's quite clear neither was in their respective seasons (best on the night though).

Yet wouldn't have finished ahead of Nielsen gundersen sigalos Lee or Carter over a full season.

Without a doubt a gp series that season would have been a battle between pc and Olsen for the title

I thought you would be delighted with a series featuring mjj, the and batch? Pbd?

qI went to two as a youngster and loved them, despite the fact that they were at two of the less salubrious stadiums to host finals (norden in 83 and Bradford in 80). I also loved the earlier qualifying rounds - overseas, commonwealth and ic finals. But unquestionably the gp series is a better measure of best rider in the world Egon was a class act, but would never have got near to top 3 over a gp season. Edited to add: doesn't get much better than a 3 man run off to decide the world title, even if the rider you wanted to win (shooey) wasn't in it, and the final missing the local rider who would have been red hot favourite to win the meeting