waiheke1

Last year they effectively dropped from 42 pts to 35iah for team building so Im not sure why you are saying they dropped quite a lot this year with a 1 point reduction? Which actually is needed if the league is expanding to 10-12 teams

KK certainly not on 2017 form

To side track, how would you rank those three? Ayres the best? Crang was the worst rider I ever saw given a regular aces spot. While Im not sure I ever saw Collier score a point in his sporadic aces appearances. Fully agree, decent juniors/colts they may have been (Collier and Ayres, from memory crang was purchased, part of a disastrous 85 spending spree), but no way should they be getting free passes.

Yeah, I knew the answer Rob. Further, every year this decade (until this year) a rider outside the 25-35 age group finished on the podium.

Gp is a 25-35 year old game? How many world champions this decade do you think have come from inside that age range vs those outside it?

WOuld be disappointed if that happened. Rather they had both the swc and pairs (with no reserves) or run them on alternate years. Definitely prefer having both each year though. The pairs would simply require one extra Saturday.

Hancock pedersen vaculik lebedevs would be my picks. If not lebedevs then puk or milik. Madden has had a great league season, but mediocre in SEC. possibly he has been the best Danish rider this season, but Puk and pedersen whose seasons were curtailed bybinjury have much stronger claims for the wildcard.

Were the riders whose averages dropped those with inflated averages from riding reserve in 2016? I presume the only riders who may have skipped 2017 but return in 2018 are likely to be HL? Would be interesting to see the multiplier if you base it on riders who rode in 2016 predominantly as HL. Id expect it to be a chunk higher than 1.08.

Out of interest how did you come to that figure? Im surprised its not higher

Pm sent

ITs been explained why he is in. Im not sure how many more times or different ways it can be explained. Its rhe same way the British wildcard at Cardiff is chosen.

AGreed. Would be surprised if Watt isnt more competitive than the likes of starostin and ondrasik who qualified for the old world finals.

ANDy Smiths BL averages are remarkably mediocre for a rider who averaged over 7 in the BL as an 18 year old, was a three time British champ, was a gp regular and scored double digits in both his world final appearances.

So you e gone from 6 point rider earning 250k to 8 ptvrider earning 150k. But your figures are still out.Assuming the rider takes 5 heats per meeting, then from 30 top flight meetings at 200 quid a point they would earn 60k. Assume they ride 35 2nd tier meetings at 150 a point then thats around 52k (or 35k if you use 100 per point)So 95-112k total. Now, thats of course before u get to the fact that the likes of Harris and lambert, who most would consider to be among the top double uppers, averages below 8 in the PL. and of course that figure has extensive costs to come out. Not saying riders cant make a living, but Id say its fantasy that any are making 250k from Britain alone.

The initial multiplier was 1.4 not 1.2. Thats why it was a farce that no multiplier applies to Musielak (And any other rider introduced to the league later in the season). If the initial multiplier was 1.2 there would have been no issue with the multiplier being removed when the limit dripped

He was the first name I thought of (along with Neil and les Collins). But pretty sure he had 2 or 3 seasons without aBritish club. 1996? And one or two others?

I assumed you meant him when you said a rider not in the top 30 in the world would be in the series next year. Guess u meant one of the Danes?

You're assuming holder gets a wildcard?

Many thanks to R&R plus all the other competitors, in particular false dawn for playing fair on the last round. Thought kK had blown it for me when he crashed in his 4th heat!

Updated. Apologies and thanks to all

But there is an argument to use a multiplier, the same as there was last season. Riders who rode as a HL in 2016 have an artificially low average due to the heat format. Additionally, the standard of the league was lowered in 2017. The only mathematically logical thing to do is to apply a multiplier.

If they had a high average from a hard format why would you reduce it for an easier format and league? That's BSPA maths right there?! What possible argument is there to lower it?

The suggestion that one of the meeting reserves replaces Fricke is because the riders bikes have already been shipped out for the GP. Therefore it makes sense to use a rider who has bikes already in Aussie.

Except of course if they didn't get an average in 2017. In which case I'd say if they rode cl they should have a 1.2 divisor, if they riode 2016 EL then a 1.2 multiplier.

Logically any rider who skipped 2017 should have a 1.2 multiplier attached if 2016 averages are used for 2018. But then that logic wasn't used for mid season signings in 2017 which was ludicrous.