Bagpuss

Below Rico & Nicholls I think the rest are all much of a muchness. At least Bridger has age on his side I guess. Has been awful tonight so far though. I think the Batchelor v Woffinden debate can be put to bed already too.

Absolutely, even better. And go back even further than that, get them used to bikes and racing with other riders when they are old enough to get on a machine. Requires a whole infrastructure which unfortunately the British authorities won't create.

We'll agree to disagree. And see what incidents the final brings

But still not good enough! Time to accept that we won't get anywhere with the current generation and pour all of our resources into the next lot like Auty, Cook, Howarth, Garrity, Worralls etc

Thats where first bend bunching comes in to play. Povhazny was locking up to make sure he didn't run out of track in order to get down the straight. Not saying he was dirty but I think he pushed AJ just a bit too far.

For me the position of the rider on the inside at the end of his corner ie just before he gets his wheels in line usually speaks volumes. Correct decision IMO. Brilliant from Barker

Not saying we wouldn't still be last but it seems a bit daft the way the gates are arranged throughout the card.

Hmmmm, according to that there will be Emil and Grigory but no Artem!

Not quite to that degree though, there was nothing at all on the inside after the first set of races. The track has been different this year I agree, I expect its prepared as the riders want it and the racing has been excellent, I just felt that on Monday the action didn't reach those heights. As I said earlier the tractor is usually out every 2-3 heats normally so it must have been difficult to keep it tip top on Monday with a grading break after every five races. I feel like I'm being harsh because there were several decent heats but last year's SWC event saw passing on every part of the track and the round-the-boards line was prevalent only towards the end of the night. As others have said I think the gulf between the teams didn't help either, last year the scores were much closer as were the abilities of the riders in each race generally speaking.

Fair enough. As a paying customer though my opinion is that the dirt was too wide from too early on.

If it had been prepared like a normal Wednesday night it would be fine. Only being able to grade every five heats didn't help but they ripped the outside up before the meeting for some reason, doesn't normally happen. No doubt somebody with an ego stuck their nose in, should just have let Buster get on with it!

Far be it from me to question a former world champion's opinion on track conditions, but as a Norfolk Arena patron who rarely misses a meeting I don't think last night's circuit looked anywhere near as good as the one for last year's Event Two, or the year before at P'boro. For me it contributed significantly to a pretty mundane meeting.

I believe Olly would have scored very well last night, but with all due respect to him he's not the future of Team GB and it was good for Barker to ride and get the experience. Agree with SL, if Scott was never going to ride Thursday then Bridger should have got the nod last night.

Don't see the sense in having Barker in last night then dropping him for Thursday, and I don't see that Stead, King or Allen would do better at Gorzow anyway. Can't see us troubling the other three sides much but will be good experience for the four younger team members. However that experience alone is useless, if we are going to do better next year there has to be some kind of structured approach with some overseas Test Matches, more help and advice for these guys and more investment in the Under 21 scene.

Starman, you really think Poland wouldn't have won had it been at Poole? They are head and shoulders above what we can track. In any case I remember the same argument being trotted out last year about Australia flying round Lynn and we beat them! I'd imagine that tracks apply for events like the SWC so its not just a case of Team GB picking a track randomly to hold the event. As for the thread title Middlo can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but his Joker choice was bizarre to say the least. Saw Olly there tonight (not in team shirt though) but not King, Stead or Bridger, and as squad members you'd think they would be. The team spirit didn't seem as good this year but I guess that could have been affected by the awful start we made. Hope the lads can give it a good go on Thursday night and that they're not outclassed.

Regarding the organisation side of things the overflow carpark wasn't signposted (the usual entrance wasn't in use) which seemed a bit daft and Buster definitely needs to get some extra loos when 5k people are expected!

Compared to a Wednesday night in the EL the track was poor tonight I thought, the dirt line was far too wide from too early in the meeting. The racing got better as the evening went on but in my opinion it was inferior to last year's SWC meeting or to the vast majority of league matches this season. Team GB's poor start cost us a proper shot at Poland but I don't believe we'd have beaten them even with a decent start, their gating was far too sharp for the Brits. The Czechs want shooting for not finishing third, but all credit to the Russians who showed lots of spirit all night, will be interesting to see who they track on Thursday evening.

Standing on the first bend without Union Jack specs on I thought that exclusion was a bit iffy.....

The racing in this set of five heats has improved immensely, much more like what we are used to.

Who said Kennett can't ride Lynn? He looks our quickest rider.

This is a world away from last year's meeting......there is just one line out by the fence and the meeting is pretty much decided with three fifths of the programme still to go. The only thing which is better is the atmosphere, these Poles are noisy beggars

Shambolic.

I sympathise with Sayfutdinov to be honest, he is sticking to his principles and isn't obliged to represent his country in the SWC. Like Richardson and Sullivan he has issues with his governing body and its those authorities that the FIM should punish if they can't field a full side or are keeping money that riders should be getting as expenses.

SCB, agree with pretty much all of that, Barker is in the side on merit and is definitely the right choice, and the fact that he is riding PL is neither here nor there for me......he's not missing many Brum meetings because of it and the big scores for Plymouth can only be doing him good. However the last bit about Stead is a little unfair, I don't blame him for turning down his eventual British Final spot after the way he was treated initially. As usual it was shown that if your face fits you're ok.