Bagpuss

1. Yes indeed he did! I'm not saying King should have been selected anyway 2. It didn't ever say that 5th and 6th would qualify as far as I am aware but the ONLY fair way to do it after Screen and Nicholls declined is surely to select the next two in the scorechart. Was it ever said that qualification may be left to one person's discretion? 3. I can't take this point seriously due to your obvious dislike of Lanham or indeed anything Arena Essex. True his away form doesn't pull up too many trees but he still finished ahead of the chosen two in the British Final! No doubt if Lanham was a Rye rider and EK wasn't you would still hold the same opinion 4. I have no chip on my shoulder, just observing (as have many others) that Kennett appears to be the favourite. Good luck to him but I personally don't think its fair. The reason I took the U21 final into account for Cardiff reserve selection is that the authorities obviously did when selecting Ben Wilson! If Bridger and Kennett were chosen as the two highest averaging young Englishmen then fair enough, I would have had absolutely no arguments. Good luck to the chosen two in the qualifiers but I would imagine Lanham and Smith feel very miffed. Middlo obviously does rate EK very highly, so do I, but so too do I Danny King and James Wright and Steve B. I have nothing to 'get over' in that respect. Happiness and joy to you old boy

I would like to point out the same before I get accused of bias against Rye

1. Maybe the only reason Ed Kennett qualified was that the Semi was on his own track (not arguing about the venue as Rye do more than anyone to produce British talent and therefore deserve to hold such a meeting) 2. If there was an agenda as to who would go through anyway then why label the British Final as a 'qualifier' as such? I hope those interested who finished above the riders chosen (ie Lanham et al) kick up a fuss 3. Lanham must be able to ride Belle Vue as well as a Arena to have finished where he did you berk 4. While King has no relevance to this debate the decision to make EK (or indeed Bridger as originally intended) Cardiff reserve ahead of him stunk to high heaven consdering Danny finished ahead of them both in the U21 Final. I'm all for helping British youngsters more but I wish it was spread out evenly and they were all treated the same