PotteringAround

I think you're confusing two different people here. The non-negative test that is being talked about was Ben Barker. People were asking why Barker didn't get the minimum 2 year ban, and it's suggested that this was because it was a "non-negative" which came from painkillers rather than a positive test for banned drugs. Morris refused to take a test. A refusal is classed the same as a positive test for banned drugs, hence he got the minimum two year suspension.

Think it will go ahead. Weather has been bad in Manchester overnight and this morning. But it's forecast to stop about 11am and dry all afternoon and evening except for a shower around 4-5pm.

He has to use an Anlas tyre in UK , not Mitas. Even so he's still a quality GP performer and I expect him to score well around a track he enjoys. Musielak and Pickering are also very capable performers around the NSS, and Kerr can score well from reserve. I think Sheffield will do a lot better than some are predicting.

He means that the majority of track are big and easy to ride now. e.g. N.S.S., Peterborough, Sheffield, King's Lynn. So it's better for him that having to go to tricky places like Kirky Lane, Lakeside, Eastbourne, Poole.

Bewley was limited to 5 rides. Same as everyone else. (He could only have had a sixth tactical ride if we'd gone 6 behind - again the same as everyone else). Should have had Brennan as reserve. Start with Ellis in the first block of 4 races, and then pick between Ellis or Brennan for the subsequent rides.

Gutted. Obviously Woffy dipped after 2 race wins to score just one further point, BUt I doubt there was any lack of effort. Tactics of using Bewley at reserve proved to be very wrong. Not having a ride between heats 5 and 16 was poor decision making, and cost us the momentum and the lead. It was downhill then. Ellis and Brennan didn't let us down, in fact Ellis did better than I expected. Bewley and Lambert are 2 top world class riders. For many years we had no world class GP rider. Then Woffy was our only world class rider. Now we have 3 world class riders. We just need 2 more. Brennan is making progress. We need the likes of Flint, Thompson, Kemp, Gilkes, Jenkins, Edwards, Hagon, Boughen et al to push on and join them.

I blame Fricke. Should have let Lambert through. Remember Max, if your grandad hadn't been a villain you'd be British too.

So we just need Lambert to win and team-ride the Dane home into second place.

We nominated Bewley in 17. Brennan isn't injured

Dan suffering from an 11-race gap between his 2nd and 3rd ride. Bad management

Dudek throws us a get out of jail card with that poor race there

Tactics were poor. Leaving Bewley out of the third block of races was a cock-up. Running both Ellis and Brennan in the third block to score duck eggs became a disaster when Woffy also ran a last. Threw away all our advantage and momentum. Bewley had to come out with all the pressure on him and not having seen the track since heat 5! Poor

Wouldn't be any pressure on the Brennan/Ellis ride if we had got the tactics right mid-meeting and not thrown the lead away and created the pressure. Could have gone into the final block of four races ahead, let Ellis/Brennan take heat 17 and leave it to the top 3 to bring it home in the final 3 races. It's been managed badly. Ellis might have just saved the management's embarrassment with that heat 13 second place. Good lad!

Yes. Throwing away points in the middle of the meeting to put massive pressure on Bewley to pull it back at the end. Should have been keeping the momentum going while we had it. Poor management.

Three last places in a row. A massive tactical cock-up.

Wow Lambert! All the GB boys looking incredibly determined.

Going well after the second block of races. Our top 3 have scored 16 points out of 18. Good effort from the other two riders in the "shared" position, but only 1 point from their efforts. Riobbed of a point by the referee and probably not the best team management planning to put them both off poor gates. We maybe could have got more.

Good point from Ellis. Even better that it was in front of a Pole. Janowski looked way off.

Maybe. But there's no guarantee that Charles Wright would have done any better than Brennan/Ellis

Great effort from Brennan. Just a bit unlucky/inexperienced

Shocking referee. Exclusion for Doyle all day long

Say what you like about Richard Lawson, but he's certainly got a sense of humour!

I certainly don't think GB are going to come last. I do think that the quality of riders and home advantage will be enough to see Poland win. But I believe GB are second favourites and could win. Australia could flop like the opening round or triumph like the race-off depending on how they go on the night. Denmark I just don't see as winners.

How are Brennan and Ellis being set up to fail? There's one person (possibly 2) on here suggesting that Brennan/Ellis should be taken out of their easiest rides. The rest of us seem to be arguing against this as it's a stupid idea. Presumably, the GB managers are thinking in line with the majority of us. Our two non-GP riders are the weaker on paper, and we need to help them and get the best from them. The three GP riders should be believing they can beat anyone if we are going to win the final.

Thank god you're not the team manager! You're really suggesting that you want to make races easier for Bewley (one of the top riders in the world who should be scoring from any gate) but want to make it as difficult as possible for Brennan/Ellis (who would benefit from any help they can get).