The Australian places were allocated on clearl criteria published prior to Australian Championship.
Top 2 in Aussie Champ (Kurtz and J Holder) + Oceanic Champ (Tungate)
C Holder [3rd in Aussie Champ] replaced injured Brady Kurtz in a late change
My preferred source currently shows heavy rain on Friday night. Obviously some cause for concern. However I'm not going to pretend I have a greater insight than anyone else.
Would be a good time to suggest that Sam Masters try and pick up as many bonus points as possible [I'd be tempted to move him to 3 or 4 and put Dougy at 5]
On my preferred forecaster it's the other way round
https://www.yr.no/en/forecast/daily-table/2-2643123/United Kingdom/England/Manchester/Manchester
Either way there is clearly a genuine threat of rain.
We also know that Belle Vue drains well and that Phil Morris will pull out all the stops to make it happen (cf last year's SON2)