TheCookster

You are deliberately misinterpreting what he said, as I am sure The Third Man will clarify in due course. In the meantime this "Yes, it is" - "No, it isn't" game of tennis doesn't really belong on this thread, where I am sure it will just be an annoyance to other people, so if you still can't help but respond, put it on a PM.

I have some sympathy for the referee's predicament in this kind of situation. As the rules stand, the referee had no option but to exclude someone. In this instance, I would also have ultimately excluded Bates from the re-run, but as Kelvin Tatum pointed out in his commentary, it was harsh and the kind of 'racing incident' where neither rider was really solely to blame. This isn't the first and won't be the last time that this kind of scenario comes up. Perhaps it needs an amendment to the rules in order to allow the referee to declare a "racing incident" option, where neither rider is excluded from the re-run. (Though that could potentially lead to a whole new set of issues too.)

I wouldn't argue with that foursome.

No, that isn't what he was inferring, so stop being silly.

I did follow the conversation and it is perfectly clear to me what The Third Man is implying. Whether I agree or disagree with that implication in neither here nor there, but his implication was nevertheless perfectly clear.

Really? I think it would be blatantly obvious to most on here what The Third Man was implying in his post and it wasn't what you tried to suggest it implied.

I'm not sure that people have been generally talking about relative averages apart from when I brought it up in my post (quoted above) - and they are averages specific to Kings Lynn.

Around '97 would probably be the closest you would get for the whole group of nine listed. I think Cross may have finished in '96 and Wigg was past his best, though still riding in the EL for Kings Lynn. Doncaster was also beyond his prime at this point. All of the other six were at or close to the height of their powers though. Havelock, Screen & Loram were all part of the dominant Bradford team in '97. Screen & Loram had also been British Champions in '96 & '97 respectively, with Louis going on to be British Champion in '98. Smith was active in the GPs at that time and finished 14th (his best) in '97. Tatum was Overseas Champion in '97.

Totally valid point. That said, I think I would still go with King as he is in decent form as well as having a good track record at Lynn. Worrall is another matter, as he is not in particularly impressive form at the moment. I wouldn't be upset by seeing Kerr given the reserve slot ahead of Worrall.

It would seem to make sense to broadly select the five best "horses for the course" at Kings Lynn. Tai Woffinden actually has quite a poor record at King's Lynn, but I would certainly not expect nor suggest that he should not be selected as part of the team. Of the 10 man squad, Chris Harris has the best record at Kings Lynn, followed by Lewis Kerr - though his average is obviously skewed by the fact that the EL draft riders avoid the stiffest competition in meetings and has to be viewed with caution. I would therefore expect the line-up at Kings Lynn to be: Chris Harris Danny King Robert Lambert Richie Worrall (Res) Tai Woffinden This list shows the riders in order of their averages at Kings Lynn. Tai actually has the lowest average of the 5 at only 5.71, but you couldn't really exclude the country's one true world class rider from the main body of the team ... could you??

I am quite aware that the English language isn't based on my book. I was actually in agreement with your point, I simply feel that "processional" creates an image of the riders following one another in an orderly fashion, with no real attempt being made to find a way past ... and that wasn't what I witnessed in the Glasgow meeting last night. Riders did attempt to find an even wider, wide line. Riders did attempt to cut through on the inside line, though the intermittent rainfall clearly made it difficult to find adequate traction there as the meeting progressed.

I think it is a little harsh to say that the meeting was full of processional racing. Granted, the stats will show that there was not a huge amount of successfully executed passes, but that does not automatically class as being "processional" in my book. (Edited for grammatical error!)

I have no major issue with Kennett being excluded from the squad, but I still find it surprising. Of the British riders, only Nicholls and Harris have higher EL averages than him and only Cook & King have higher PL averages. On that basis he would seem to merit including in the initial squad of 10, even if he doesn't ultimately make the team. I also agree with other posters that it is a shame about the Scott Nicholls situation (whatever the exact nature of it may be!). He is in the best form for some time at the moment and on merit SHOULD be part of the GB team.

Now that really is a bolt out of the blue! It will be interesting to see what further information comes out relating to this. Gutting news for the rider!

Edward Kennett seems to be a strange exclusion on paper too. His EL average this season is well in excess of many included in this squad.

But the whole point of forums such as this is so that people can get worked up about nothing.

Again, that is fine - but as has been demonstrated, there are a good many who do not share that viewpoint.

I don't know, though I am not sure that it would have been necessary. They obviously accepted Deddens for Germany - I am not sure where he is riding this season, but last season he was riding in the 2. Bundesliga, which would be roughly equivalent to British NL, so perhaps they would have.

Well, you clearly don't care ... which is fine. But equally it seems that there are plenty on this forum and who were in the Esbjerg stadium on Saturday and who were watching on their televisions around the world who do.

Na, na, na, na, na, na! It's just like being back in the infant school playground!

Talk about semantic pedantry! Pure nonsense, my friend!

This is what makes this all the more ludicrous. The USA pulled out of the event, because they couldn't find a qualified American rider to partner Greg Hancock ... only for Great Britain to replace them with a mixed nationality team. - Credibility out of the window at a rapid rate of knots! Surely for the credibility of British speedway we should have at least fielded two genuinely British riders, even if it meant using a rider of a lesser standard than the manager would have liked. I find it impossible to believe that absolutely no British rider was available. (And yes, I have heard all the excuses about equipment and having the logistical set-up to get there and back, etc. ... Hell, it wouldn't be the first time a speedway rider borrowed a bike if he needed to!)

<ponders> "Does a very silly comment like that really warrant a response?"

Quite a ridiculous state of affairs regarding tonight's Best Pairs in Esbjerg. The "Great Britain" team is know going to comprise one British rider and one Australian rider! Looking on the bright side, this will open up a much bigger pool of riders for GB in the World Cup later this year ... though there could be some in-fighting between Rossiter and Lemon to see which Australians are going to ride for Australia and which will ride for GB!