Gavan

HAMPEL HOLDER THOMAS H JONASSON JONSSON

The finalists were the old guard with 9 world titles between them and these guys love em or loathe em are proving they are true legends of the sport. but to be fair to me it shows the decline of up and coming riders. We have only Holder and Hampel who can mix it with these boys on a consistent basis. Jonsson proving that last season was a one off. With the exception of Ward who else is there? No wonder these 4 finalists dont want to retire they are still the best out there

HAMPEL SAYFUTDINOV CRUMP BJERRE

Sorry but there is an obvious 4 riders who should be in the team. It all depends on wether we are trying to make the final or just blood youth again. If we want to make the final the 4 should be. WOFFINDEN, HARRIS, NICHOLLS, KENNETT. The 5th place is BARKER or BRIDGER. If RICHARDSON wants to he should be 4 with KENNETT dropping to 5. Of the rest HOWE - Yes riding well but would be a backward step. Cant really cut it at top level so wouldnt entertain him. Its nothing personal as he is a fine ambassador for the sport. STEAD - Again had chances and not really good enough but in my mind would be 1 of 2 reserves if injury happened for one of the others. AUTY - Talented but to soon. Cant gate very well which is not ideal at this or any level but would take him along to soak up the experiance. KING - basically see HOWE. One rider who could do a half decent job in a qualifier maybe but only if we had lots of injuries and yes its a backward step but what about SCREENY!!

Gollob Hancock Harris Lindback

Maybe not in his first season but after that Ward would be above Bjerre every time. Can Bjerre be world champion or even on the rostrum.......NO! Could Ward be world champion or on the rostrum one day ......YES! At this stage Bjerre has achieved more due to his age lets see where these two are at in the next 2 years and who has the most success in their career. Only a fool would say Bjerre

Dear me Kris Ad you do seem totally cluless on some things dont you. Yes Bjerre qualified by right i give you that but the point of the thread is that these 2 riders are around the cut off point each year but continue to qualify and yes if Bjerre comes top 8 he will deserve his place and they are both lucky that there are no real worthwhile contenders to take their place. Look at 2000 for an example LORAM, HAMILL, RICKARDSSON, CRUMP, HANCOCK, ADAMS, GOLLOB, WILTSHIRE was the top 8 followed by sullivan, louis,nilsen,danno, mikeal karlsson,henka,pk,screen and even dugard won a gp as a wildcard. With the possible exception of Danno both Bjerre and Lindgren are not as good as any of these guys. So yes i would have both in the gp next year even if they are 8th and 9th as the quality is so poor nowadays and although Bjerre is a bottling gating tart, Freddie is a racer and these 2 far better than boring Bjarne or Protasiewicz again hell lets get Ulamek back in as well!!!

In all honesty on form it has to be Ward but i feel the first gp in Poland will go to a pole and probably quite rightly as well To my mind Protasiewicz and Kasprzak and Kolodziej and even Balinski have heard there goes in a gp. It has to be Janowski current under 21 champion, for me would be more entertaining then all the above.

Quite simply we are lacking world class riders. Who would you replace them with? Darcy Ward is the obvious but beyond that there is nobody. Im no fan of Bjerre and yes he had a bad GP but him and definatly Lindgren are in the top 16 riders in the world. The standard at the bottom is poor this year with Bjarne (tho had a good gp) Hans, Harris, Ljung probably never gonna win one or get close so who if Bjerre and Lindgren miss out which could happen, would go in that is any better? Not Janowski maybe Billy Hamill in a couple of years!! Personally if Tai keeps going maybe him.

Nothing to change my opinion that Hampel will be world champion. Had bike troubles and wasnt really on the pace but scraped second but saying that Greg was awesome could be a good season. Good to see Gollob going well too

HAMPEL HOLDER LINDBACK LJUNG

Lets be honest Greg CAN win it again and so could Gollob. The younger brigade have still to prove that mentally they can do it. JONSSON has been in the Grand Prix for a while now without really threatening i think 4th one year but by the results at the end of the season he may believe in himself much more and could go close. The trouble is i can see him throwing in the odd stinker which will make it tough and he needs to avoid the injuries. SAYFUTDINOV very much in the Jonsson mould has the ability but needs the beleif and to avoid the injuries but again is he consistent enough. Last year was the first year we saw CRUMP have a few shockers and again he will need to eliminate that from his campaign. Will GOLLOB and HANCOCK hve the desire after getting thier goals Gollob after winning his first one and Greg the elusive second one.HOLDER neds to start finishing camapigns as he started and could sneak a rostrum place he needs to be winning more races now and dominate a meeting as he often creeps into the semis on 9 or 10 points. Which in my eyes leaves the 1 potential winner and who will be carrying my money HAMPEL.Took time to get going last season with the new silencers but finished it better than anyone bar Jonsson. Bit of a gating tart but for me the fastest starter in the field and at this level hitting the first bend in front is highly important. Of the others LINDGREN and BJERRE will fight out the top 8 spot and will have the odd good grand prix the others just making up the numbers basically!!

As a supporter of over 25 years i will always give an honest critique of any of our sides. I believe that this season we will be close again but not close enough. We undoubtadly have a very exciting reserve pairing but as yet have no experiance of league racing so if they move forward we can expect a good season. We may well have the best pairing in the league but lets see. Im a little unsure of Doolan and Risager can they improve their averages? is Doolan an out and out number 1? Ben Barker is miles clear of therest in my opinion but we need Kev to be averaging the same as Masters Screen Lemon Robsons of this league. Poole is a very solid second string/third heat leader and will probably score moore than Risager. Dak is the unknown but should improve his average. All in all very very solid but dont think we are favourites but top 4 material Lets just hope for good exciting racing and all riders of all teams stay safe