Bagpuss

Well done Tai Woffinden, and a large slice of humble pie for me as I had him down as a stone wall fifteenth before the series started. Absolutely delighted to be proved completely wrong! His attitude, professionalism, machinery and all round approach has been raised several notches this year and to achieve what he has done so soon after his Father's passing is a remarkable feat. As others have said lets hope the people who run the sport make full use of this opportunity, although I won't be holding my breath. Massive congratulations Woffy

Philip I agree with everything you have just typed, he certainly is a master craftsman and to have ridden in every GP since 1995 is an astonishing feat but he just doesn't excite me on track. Off track he is fantastic but for me he is dull on it, give me Darcy or Emil or Tai any day.

Good that a racer rather than a gater won the GP.....huge respect for Hancock and what he has and is achieving at his age but my God he is boring on track, if not off it.

If Cook has any ambition at all he'll be nowhere near the PL in 2014.

I have to say I didn't think it was as bad as people are making out. It was hard but not dirty IMO.

Dudley must be huge favourites over the two legs, going to be hard enough for the Young Stars to win the home leg let alone on aggregate so they really do need to keep it tight on Tuesday. Vital that Lewis Rose is fit and that the TR's are used to full effect. Agree that the Dudley reserves look much stronger but if Lynn's top five can all chip in you never know.

Bates' fall and subsequent withdrawal effectively ended the tie as a contest but hats off to Mildenhall for having a bloody good go and never giving up. A few decent heats but most races well strung out due to there being a wide range of ability on show.

Rob Henry reckons Mildy missed Jon Armstrong 'big time' yet his R/R rides dropped just one point

Exactly, and riding on big continental circuits is going to be much more beneficial to him in the future than somewhere like Mildenhall. GB has far too many riders who are completely lost when they ride on a big European circuit in World U21, SWC and GP qualifying meetings. In any case the argument is pretty irrelevant as he is honouring the first agreements made, as he should.

Worrall did a great job covering for Lambert, as did Hughes for Rose but R/R for Kerr only accrued five points when Lewis would probably have been in double figures. Certainly is a pity that Lambert doesn't ride in the weekend away meetings but its been known from the beginning that he's committed to racing on the continent most weekends against more experienced riders which must be doing him more long term good.

Especially when you race on a Friday night.

I could, and I could have mentioned Lynn having one too glad that its an eight point lead rather than twenty as it would have made Wednesday a bit of a non event. As it stands it couldn't be poised any better really. Certainly not moaning about Lambert & Kerr being absent, great for their careers that they were racing elsewhere at a higher level. Developing young riders is what the NL is all about after all.

Yep, should be

Had Lambert & Kerr ridden today then the Young Stars would have had the tie well under control IMO. Will be tight on Wednesday but I'd make the Young Stars slight favourites as I don't see Halsey being anywhere near as effective around the NA. We really need the engine room of Mallett & Knight to step up to the plate, they don't win enough races considering their experience and Wednesday would be a great time to put that right.

What an excellent effort by the Young Stars today against a rather top heavy Fen Tigers side. That final heat 1-5 takes the shine off a little but it sets the second leg up perfectly.

Bearing in mind the main purpose of the NL its great to see Connor Mountain and Josh Bailey racing in opposition tomorrow and getting their chance in an important meeting.

Fen Tigers 1 Nielsen 2 R/R 3 Bates 4 Baseby 5 Halsey 6 Mountain 7 Rumsey Young Stars 1 Worrall 2 R/R 3 Mallett 4 Knight 5 Hughes 6 Waldron 7 Bailey Once again the Young Stars head to West Row with more than half the side absent for one reason or another. Need to keep it within ten points to have a chance of winning the tie IMO which appears a tall order. Good luck lads.

I had no idea he had otherwise I may have done

I think Dudley's lead is just too much, don't really see where the 5-1's that Lynn need will come from as the Heathens have great heatleader strength.

I wonder if Cook ever gets bored?

I'm sure I read somewhere that Somerset promised Kurtz a place for 2014 when they couldn't fit him in this year?

Next Wednesday.

Fantastic stuff once again from Lewi Kerr

Extremely biased I'd say 'TheScotsman' IMO it should be a discussion between the two riders and the TM as to who takes which gate in heat 15. If you need a heat advantage you have to give yourself the best possible chance of getting it, and as Cook had been winning races by yards and was the best rider on show it was a big ricket to not put him off four. I quite agree about gate bias but its nothing new and is present at many tracks, especially GP venues.

It does seem bizarre to not put your best (unbeaten) rider off the worst gate when you need a heat advantage.