The Eastbourne Eagles roar back to Elite League speedway activity at Arlington stadium this weekend with a visit from bitt er local rivals, the Lakeside Hammers following a break of close on three weeks due to the staging of the Sports prestigious World Cup competition.

The Sussex squad return to their now traditional Saturday race night with the usual 7.30 p.m. start time when their focus will surely be occupied by the pursuit of a top four finish and an Elite League play off berth.

Eastbourne hopes of such a closing position were bolstered somewhat in the early part of the week, Monday night seeing them record their third travelling victory of the season so far, a 48-45 success at the Monmore Green home of 2008 strugglers, the Wolverhampton Wolves.

The 3-points gained by this triumph lifted them back into fourth place in the section, 1-point ahead of the Ipswich Witches with w hom they had previously shared fourth spot. Though the Witches also tasted success on Monday evening, their victory over the second placed Swindon Robins came around their home Foxhall Heath circuit and proffered only two-points hence the separating margin.

Monday had certainly been a busy evening for the sport and in addition to Belle Vue’s win over Peterborough, Lakeside, Eagles opponents tomorrow (Saturday) evening also tasted success on the road courtesy of a 51-42 victory at the home of current League Champions, Coventry Bees, this result also keeping them well in the hunt for a play off place.

Indeed the only teams within the top five who didn’t profit from the Monday night fixtures were leaders Poole, by virtue of the fact they didn’t have a match and Swindon who went down to that defeat at Ipswich. The Pirates and the Robins currently occupy first and second spot in the Elite League standings, berths that if they were to retain them would offer a much coveted home draw in the forthcoming play offs, and both would surely be ho ping to supplement their position with home matches during the mid part of the week, Poole taking on Belle Vue on Wednesday while Swindon entertained Ipswich last night (Thursday). However it is the latter of these that both Eastbourne and Lakeside will hone their sights upon as they endeavour to strengthen their own chances of capturing the title at the season’s end.

As the dust settled on the respective Monday matches the Eagles found themselves 3-points adrift of the second placed Wiltshire outfit (30-27) though they had contested two further matches. The Hammers, currently residing in third position, were even more handily placed, on 28, just two points behind the Robins but importantly holding a massive five matches in hand.

Of course such statistics can only serve to place greater emphasis on this weekend’s showdown between Eastbourne and Lakeside. The Eagles will already have considered themselves unfortunate not to have come away from Purfleet with the points in hand, the May 16th match up seeing the Sussex side surrender a ten-point advantage amassed by the end of heat 7, before finally losing out by a narrow 48-45 margin.

Eagles fortunes fared much better when the teams went head to head once more in front of the SKY Sports cameras a month later. Eastbourne won that particular clash by a comfortable 53-39 scoreline, however the supremacy they seemed to demonstrate was brought into question, Hammers promoter Stuart Douglas making public his claims that transgressions with regard to track preparation were largely responsible for the Eagles win.

Understandably the assertions were strenuously refuted by the angry Sussex promotion, and of course such claims could only inflame what is generally a simmering and often contentious relationship between the two clubs.

With both teams hoping to be close to full strength, Hammers reserve Lubos Tomicek the only app arent absentee heading into the clash, you can be sure that the Eagles will be all out to show that by no means was their ‘A’ fixture victory over the Essex side improperly attained by matching if not improving on it.

Whatever transpires it is sure to prove another night to remember as the Eagles and bitter rivals, the Hammers go head to head once more at Arlington stadium this Saturday evening at 7.30 p.m.
 
Teams :
 
Eagl es : 1. Scott Nicholls, 2. Lewis Bridger, 3. Lee Richardson, 4. Cameron Woodward, 5. Edward Kennett, 6. Simon Gustafsson, 7. James Brundle
 
Hammers : 1. Andreas Jonsson, 2. Leigh Lanham, 3. Adam Shields, 4. Joonas Kylmakorpi, 5. Jonas Davidsson, 6. Ricky Kling, 7. Robert Mear (Guest for Lubos Tomicek).