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Last Updated: Nov 28th, 2010 - 10:22:29 |
The Eastbourne ‘Lifestyle’ Eagles will be hoping that positive mental attitude will stand them in good stead as they face, arguably, their toughest test of season 2010 to date this coming Thursday at Arlington stadium (7.30p.m. parade – 7.45p.m first race) as runaway Elite League leaders, the Poole Pirates make their first visit of the current campaign to the Sussex Countryside.
Indeed, Arlington will certainly will certainly be considered the place to be as in addition to the mighty Pirates, the Eagles will once again be playing host to a Speedway Legend.
With multi- World Champion Ivan Mauger having been present at the venue over the past couple of Eastbourne home meetings, this Thursday sees the turn of Mauger’s New Zealand compatriot and another who has a fair sprinkling of world titles to his credit, Barry Briggs to pay a visit.
The Eagles homestead represents the latest stage of Briggo’s ‘The Ride’, a countrywide fund raising campaign that has already seen the veteran superstar raise sums in the high thousands, both in aid of injured Speedway riders everywhere as well as Sport Relief and the clubs management hope that their supporters will be able to dig as deep as they can on Thursday in support of these two most worthy causes.
Of course, this forthcoming occasion will represent the second time that the Dorset side have been scheduled to visit, the first running, back on June 10th was subject to an early afternoon postponement, however the Sussex Management will undoubtedly be hoping that not only is the weather kinder this time around but also that the Eagles continue the fine burst of form that has seen them romp to impressive home victories against both Coventry and Peterborough recently.
Indeed that very form remained in evidence in Eastbourne’s away match at the home of the Swindon Robins last Thursday evening when despite another tardy opening, the Sussex side being hit hard in the early heats, falling 10-points adrift after only four races, they rallied thereafter, narrowing the difference to 7-points by the close, a difference that saw them miss out, agonizingly, on picking up an Elite League point by a single digit.
Speaking of the Blunsdon encounter, the Sussex outfits most recent fixture, Eagles Co-Promoter Mike Bellerby commented “Yes, it proved to be another slow start to proceedings but once they got into their stride we were pleased with the fight and commitment shown by all of the team and I feel sure that had we had Simon Gustafsson available to us – the young Swedish reserve missed the meeting with illness – we would have left Wiltshire celebrating our first away win of the season”.
New Eastbourne recruit Tomasz Jedrzejak – unfortunately an absentee from Eagles forthcoming match up with the Pirates, due to his contesting the Semi-Final of the National Championships in his native Poland – drew special praise from the clubs hierarchy following a glittering performance in only his second match for the Eagles, a brace of victories and so nearly a third in the final race of the night, one that would have secured the visitors what might have been deemed a well deserved point.
“The addition of Tomasz has already proved a huge tonic to the team” Bellerby continued, the Pole having already endeared himself to the Arlington faithful following a fighting display against the Panthers in his debut for the club, three days ahead of his top scoring show at the Abbey stadium, “He has hit the ground running, done everything we could have asked of him and more, and we are sure that given the benefit of a week or so in our colours, he will only get even better”.
Another of the Eagles number to be singled out for special mention by Bellerby was Matej Zagar who returned to the fold, following a bout of illness that precluded his participation against the Bees and the Panthers, to joint top score with Jedrzejak on 12-points and a bonus at the home of his former club Swindon.
It would be honest to report that the Slovenian’s time spent with the Eagles so far has hardly met with the expectation or hope of either the club or the rider. However Bellerby, aware of a degree of disquiet among supporters of late, has moved quickly to hand Zagar the Management’s vote of confidence.
“Indeed, there may some truth that Matej hasn’t quite hit the heights expected of him when we signed him at the start of the season and has seemingly found it difficult to recapture the form that made him such a sought after commodity when riding in his more regular number five berth with the Robins last year” Bellerby exclaimed.
“It would also be true to say that we checked the availability of a number of riders, some potential number one contenders among them recently when the team were going through something more of a troubled time as we examined our options as part of the process which has since brought Tomasz Jedrzejak to Arlington”.
“We are also aware of how disappointed Matej himself has been that he hasn’t yet recaptured the sort of form that installed him as one of the sections leading lights in 2009, that realization being borne out of many behind the scenes conversations between club and rider, and although this may come as something of a surprise to some of our more outspoken supporters at Blunsdon, nobody was as disappointed as Matej after the meeting that the Eagles didn’t manage to pick up a point for their efforts” Bellerby continued.
“Having spoken at length to the rider, we remain confident that Matej is giving 100% effort to recapture his form of last season and we shall continue to work with him to achieve this as we have with other riders so far this year, Simon Gustafsson and Lukas Dryml being prime examples”.
“We would ask our supporters to also play their part in trying to help Matej hit the heights once more. We have always prided ourselves in being something of a family club down here in Sussex” Bellerby observed “and at this moment in time Matej Zagar is a member of that family and an important member too. Certainly, we’ve enjoyed better fortunes in recent weeks and now is the time for everyone to pull together and if we can get Matej scoring regularly as we know he is capable, indeed as we have already witnessed at times throughout the year, then we can look forward to an entertaining and successful end to the season” he concluded.
Indeed the Eagles will need every man jack scoring to the very best of their ability as the Pirates, many people’s red hot tip to taste Elite League glory come September, arrive at Arlington on Thursday night.
Leading their charge will be newly crowned British Grand Prix Champion Chris Holder and alongside him they can also vaunt Arlington track specialists, Bjarne Pedersen and former Eagles skipper Davey Watt. With a back up cast that includes powerhouse reserve duo of hot Australian prospects Darcy Ward and Jason Doyle - the Eagles fans being only too aware of what the latter is capable of following an array of impressive displays recently in the area – as well as Leon Madsen, winner of a recent round of the Danish National Championship and Pole Artur Mroczka, already proclaimed by many as the find of the season, the home contingent will be left in no doubt as to what sort of challenge lays in store.
Teams :
Eagles : 1. Matej Zagar, 2. Rider Replacement for Tomasz Jedrzejak, 3. Ricky Kling, 4. Cameron Woodward (Captain) (or Guest Rider), 5. Joonas Kylmakorpi, 6. Simon Gustafsson, 7. Lukas Dryml.
Pirates : 1. Chris Holder 2. Leon Madsen, 3. Bjarne Pedersen, 4. Artur Mroczka, 5. Davey Watt (Captain), 6. Darcy Ward, 7. Jason Doyle.
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