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Davey Watt at Peterborough
by Mr B [c] |
The Eagles need a new promoter to step in and take financial control
for 2010 if they are to continue. See the story below.

Eagles
eye replacements
Eastbourne Eagles have put Polish
Grand Prix rider Grzegorz Walasek top of their hit lost to replace David Norris.
After talk of a comeback, Norris now
looks like missing the rest of the season with an arm injury.
Eagles are keen to sign a stand-in
rather than continue to operate rider-replacement.
Walasek, currently 15th in the GP
standings, looks most able and willing to fit their remaining fixtures into his
busy schedule.
The former Poole rider, 32, races for
Zielona Gora in his homeland and alongside Eagles reserve Simon Gustafsson for
Indianerna in Sweden.
Slovak prospect Martin Vaculik has
not been ruled out by the Arlington club.
Eagles have been interested in the
19-year-old Gdansk rider for some time and have been told by his manager he
could be interested in gaining experience in the English league.
Mikael Max has been unable offer a
definite reply to Eagles' offers of a team place.
Antonio Lindback, Greg Laguta and Seb
Alden have also been considered and Eagles even made a tentative enquiry as to
whether Mark Loram was ready to begin his comeback from long-term injury.
Eagles could move for Piotr Swiderski
if they still need a rider and the Pole is let go by Ipswich, as seems possible.
Promoter Bob Dugard admits the time
is right to make a signing, albeit on a tight budget.
He said: "We've been looking all over
the place because rider-replacement doesn't really work for us at the moment.
"We can only offer riders peanuts
compared to what they earn in Poland and Sweden.
"The main attraction for them is
riding here helps them improve.
"Walasek looks the most likely to
come.
"But Vaculik needs experience. He is
interested but he is also busy and it could depend on his manager's input.
"David is going to be out for about
three months now and that's the end of his season really.
"He has got a big protection over his
burned arm and he can't hold on to a bike."
Eagles are still hunting for guests
for Saturday's home clash with Peterborough.
Lukas Dryml and Davey Watt both miss
the meeting due to GP qualifiers, as do Ales Dryml and Arlington specialist
Kenneth Bjerre for the Panthers.
The sides lock horns at Alwalton
tonight (7.30pm) with both looking to end bad runs.
Eagles, who name a first-choice side
with the exception of Norris, have failed to take a point from their last three
meetings.
They were hammered 53-40 at
Peterborough earlier this season but scored an impressive win there late last
year.
Panthers, for whom Ales Dryml also
misses out tonight, are in a slump of their own.
They were spared what would probably
have been a fourth straight defeat when their fixture at Wolverhampton on Monday
was rained off.
New averages see Lewis Bridger move
to No.1 for Eagles while Kenneth Hansen replaces Henning Bager in the home top
five.
Geer defiant on
play-offs
Trevor Geer insists his off-colour
Eastbourne Eagles can still make the four-team Elite League play-offs.
But their hopes are receding fast
after they suffered a second dispiriting home defeat in succession in losing
50-40 to a powerful Swindon outfit last night.
Other than a wholehearted performance
from No.1-in-waiting Lewis Bridger, three super wins for Lukas Dryml and a late
revival by Simon Gustafsson, it was poor stuff against a Robins side with no
weak links.
Ricky Kling faded after winning heat
two, Cameron Woodward tried hard for little reward and Davey Watt’s stint in the
No.1 berth ended in depressing fashion.
Watt misses this Saturday’s home
clash with Peterborough due to a GP qualifier and a break from the Sussex track
could not have come at a better time after a poor run for the skipper.
With promoter Bob Dugard stepping
down and no replacement lined up, there is an undeniably depressed air around
Arlington at the moment which not even a glorious summer’s evening could lift.
Geer did his best to be upbeat after
what was a poor result and pretty ordinary meeting.
The Eagles team manager said: "I'd
never give up because you just never know.
“We could go to Wolverhampton next
Monday and win or Peterborough and win with the side we’ve got. They are capable
of doing it.
“It’s still our aim to get in the
play-offs. This was always going to be a tough one with the side Swindon have
got.”
At least Dryml gave his flag-waving
fan club on the home straight something to cheer. The Czech got the evening off
to stunning start, keeping a tight inside line to fend off Leigh Adams to the
chequered flag in heat one.
Eagles kept that two-point buffer
through the next four heats with Dryml adding another scorching win, this time
over Matej Zagar.
Then the tables turned. Zagar won
heat six in style to lead a 4-2 before two 5-1s followed to put the Robins
firmly in charge.
Travis McGowan and Simon Stead
squeezed out Dryml in heat seven and Ryan Fisher and McGowan rode Woodward out
of it in the next race to put their team eight points clear.
McGowan produced another great ride
in heat ten, holding off Watt and Bridger for a 3-3 when Eagles desperately
needed a heat advantage.
Bridger and Gustafsson, the latter at
last making a gate after three last places, halved the deficit with a heat 13
maximum but Swindon’s reply was instant and emphatic as Adams and Zagar left
Watt and Dryml trailing way behind them. Watt did not even finish, falling on
his own at the end of the third lap.
Swindon had it won in heat 14 with a
3-3 behind Gustafsson and ensured maximum points with a 4-2 led by Adams in the
nominated race.
Eagles: Bridger 14 (6), Dryml 11 (6),
Gustafsson 5+1 (5), Watt 4+1 (4), Woodward 3+2 (5), Kling 3 (4), Norris r/r.
Swindon: Adams 13 (5), McGowan 11+2
(5), Zagar 11+1 (5), Fisher 9+3 (7), Stead 4+1 (6), Hurry 2+1 (3), Pavlic r/r
Comment: It's no bluff from Dugard
Bob Dugard is not the shy and retiring type.
He does not hold back or hesitate when it comes to speaking his
mind.
But fans wondering whether his decision to quit as Eastbourne
Eagles promoter was taken in haste should think again.
Is he bluffing? Far from it.
Nor did it really have much to do with Coventry’s team building
and his subsequent outburst over the Arlington loudspeakers recently.
Dugard knew he was stepping down well before the Bees brought in
Scott Nicholls.
When he confirmed his decision to The Argus at Arlington last
Saturday night, he did so in a lengthy written statement over which he had
clearly taken his time.
He would have retired last winter had he not felt obliged to
keep Eagles running for the sake of the league.
Sport and business are facing tough financial times and speedway
is no exception. It will get worse before it gets better.
Elite League clubs decided last winter they would dip into their
combined savings this year to see them through a tough season.
You can only use that money once and each track is likely to
receive about £20,000 less from central funds next term.
That raiding of the piggy back, by the way, explains why Dugard
was so angry when Coventry, as he saw it at the time, upped the financial stakes
by bringing back Nicholls.
Yet if anyone really wanted to break into the world of speedway
promoting, where better to start than Arlington?
As one well-placed source pointed out to The Argus this week,
you have got an established club and support, nice stadium, well-prepared track,
a few riders and you don’ t have to buy the club.
Dugard will back you financially. He will even drive around the
track on his tractor tending the shale.
It is tempting to think something will turn up, tell yourself a
saviour will come along. But top-flight teams at Oxford and Reading have both
slipped away in the past three years.
Whatever your feelings might be about speedway, one of Sussex’s
few long-established professional sports club’s is in trouble.
And the truth is they have been for a while
Dugard bombshell
for Eagles
Veteran promoter Bob Dugard has
plunged the future of Eastbourne Eagles into doubt by revealing plans to step
down.
Dugard, 67, has told The Argus he
will call it a day at the end of the season but has pledged his full backing,
including sponsorship, to his successor should one come forward.
He cites various reasons for his
decision, including increasing problems with speedway’s congested fixture list,
difficulty in keeping home-produced young riders and financial concerns.
However he insists Eagles have the
infra-structure in place to offer a younger, ambitious top man the chance to run
a thriving Elite League club.
In a lengthy statement handed to The
Argus ahead of Saturday night’s shock 49-41 home defeat to lively Belle Vue,
Dugard admitted there were no guarantees Eagles would continue to race beyond
this autumn.
He wrote: “If a replacement cannot be
found and, heaven forbid, Eastbourne closes it may be not such a bad thing.
“Most stadiums seem to benefit from a
two or three year sabbatical by which time the GPs may have lost their appeal
(if the current level of entertainment is any yardstick).”
He admitted: “At the age of 67 I
cannot maintain the level of interest required to win leagues.
“There are too many complications
involved for me at this stage, fighting against clubs that want to win at any
financial cost by buying a team which fits the maximum averages and then drop
riders at will to improve by a fraction of points.”
Dugard was angered recently when
Coventry went against what he felt was the spirit of the Elite League with team
changes which included a return for GP rider Scott Nicholls.
He was also disillusioned by the loss
of Edward Kennett in the close season, claiming in the statement it demolished
his team plans.
Eagles are on course to run at a loss
greater then the £50,000 for which Dugard initially budgeted and he admits
competition from the Grand Prix series and other international meetings makes it
tough for the club to run with their first choice team on their preferred
Saturday nights.
He has called for a drastic cut in
the number of Saturday night Grands Prix and argues qualifying meetings for the
following year’s series should always be staged at the same time as the current
season’s GPs.
He also wants the World Team Cup for
under-21s to be scrapped The Dugard family, who own Arlington Stadium, have been
synonymous with the Eagles for generations.
Dugard took a more low-profile role
to allow first Bob Brimson, then Martin Hagon to make a go of running the club.
However neither man lasted more than
one season in charge, leaving Dugard as the front man again with team manager
Trevor Geer as his co-promoter.
Privately Dugard has been keen to
bring in a new boss for months but now he has chosen to go public.
He will tell fellow Elite League
bosses of his plans at a promoters’ meeting tomorrow.
The former rider remains passionate
about the club.
He said: “I sincerely hope a
replacement can be found to keep speedway at Eastbourne.
“The new promoter would find himself
in a fantastic position.
“We have a great management team
headed up by Trevor Geer and that is why I’ve devoted so much time and effort.
“The new promoter will be stepping
into a ready-to-race stadium and can have free use of my rider assets.
“They would, however, have to stand
behind any losses or gains, be responsible for all promotional activities and
must be prepared to give a lot of time to the project.”
Dugard’s chances of bowing out with a
play-off appearance receded as, in the absence of Lewis Bridger and with Simon
Gustafsson struggling through injury, Eagles were well beaten by lowly Belle
Vue.
Bridger was away qualifying for the
World Under-21 Championship final by finishing fourth in his semi in Hungary
while Gustafsson never recovered from various knocks incurred in a heat-two
crash.
No home rider got near Krzysztof
Kasprzak as he scored five wins out of five while Charlie Gjedde was a key man
in his first meeting down at reserve and former Eagle Ulrich Ostergaard chipped
in well.
The night started badly when Kenneth
Hansen, guesting for Bridger, broke the tapes in heat one and ended worse when
Lukas Dryml fell under no pressure on the final bend of the last race, gifting
Aces the 4-2 they needed to take a four-point haul.
Davey Watt and Dryml managed to
impede each other in heat 13 and victory beckoned for Aces in heat 14 when
Cameron Woodward clipped Gjedde’s back wheel and was excluded.
Only Ricky Kling emerged with any
credit from the evening and fans probably thought things could not get any
worse.
They didn’t know the half of it.
Eagles: Dryml 9+1 (6), Watt 9 (5),
Woodward 8 (5), Kling 8 (6), Gustafsson 5+1 (5), Hansen 2+2 (4), Norris r/r.
Belle Vue: Kasprzak 15 (5), Gjedde
12+2 (7), Ostergaard 10+1 (6), Risager 7 (5), Wright 3+1 (4), Ashworth 2+1 (3),
Hougaard r/r.
Standings: Swindon (17 meetings)
40pts, Wolverhampton (15) 35, Peterborough (18) 31, Lakeside (19) 30, Coventry
(18) 28, Eagles (18) 26, Ipswich (14) 15, Belle Vue (15) 15, Poole (17) 11.
Eagles crash at
home - a bridge(r) too far
Eastbourne Eagles suffered a massive
blow to their play-off hopes by losing to Belle Vue tonight.
The lowly Aces were deserved 49-41
winners at Arlington against an Eagles outfit lacking their usual spark.
Eastbourne suffered five exclusions,
including a heat one tapes offence by Kenneth Hansen as he guested for the badly
missed Lewis Bridger.
The final insult came when Lukas
Dryml fell on the last bend of the last race to gift Aces a full four-point haul
for winning by more than six.
Super-fast Pole Krzysztof Kasprzak
was in a class of his own as he sped to five convincing wins out of five.
He got great help from Charlie
Gjedde, in his first meeting down at No.7, and former Eagles reserve Ulrich
Ostergaard.
Ricky Kling and Dryml each had two of
Eagles' meagre total of six race wins.
Eagles: Dryml 9+1 (6), Watt 9 (5),
Woodward 8 (5), Kling 8 (6), Gustafsson 5+1 (5), Hansen 2+2 (4), Norris r/r.
Belle Vue: Kasprzak 15 (5), Gjedde
12+2 (7), Ostergaard 10+1 (6), Risager 7 (5), Wright 3+1 (4), Ashworth 2+1 (3),
Hougaard r/r.
Bridger in world
final
Lewis Bridger is through to the final
of the World Under-21 Championship.
The Eastbourne Eagles star came
fourth in his semi-final at Miskolc in Hungary today.
He tallied 11 points from five heats
but missed out on a podium place when beaten by Artim Laguta in a three-way
run-off for third spot.
Tai Woffinden won the meeting with
Patrick Hougaard second.
Bridger could yet be joined by Eagles
colleague Simon Gustafsson in the final at Gorican, in Croatia, on Sunday,
October 4.
Gustafsson goes in the second semi at
his local track of Kumla in Sweden next Saturday.
Eagles ace
doesn't want to leave it late again
Cameron Woodward admits he is fed up
with being Eastbourne’s man for late heroics.
The popular Aussie would rather get
things sorted early with a few more race wins.
Play-off chasing Eagles need every
point they can get if they are to break into the Elite League top four.
That means winning home meetings by
seven points or more, starting with the visit of rock-bottom Belle Vue Aces
tomorrow (7.30pm).
And that in turn means Woodward might
be under pressure when he goes to the tapes in heat 14.
All eight home meetings in the league
this season have still had something riding on them going into heat 15.
Six have seen Eastbourne go into the
final race still trying to secure the third point.
Clashes with Wolverhampton and
Peterborough were genuine last-heat deciders, with victory up for grabs.
Fans love the drama but Woodward
would rather things were settled early.
Asked about the responsibility for
grabbing late points, he said: “It isn’t much fun.
“I’d rather make the starts and win
every race than do stuff at the end of the meeting “They don’t tell me what we
need when we go out for those races.
“They just say ‘we need this one bad’
and I go out and do my best.
“I’d be doing a lot better, though,
if I was making starts. I wouldn’t have to go out then and win my last race or
whatever.”
Woodward’s tenacity and passing
ability can make him a handy option to throw into heat 15, as he proved with his
win against Swindon and a thrilling third place to secure the bonus against
Coventry.
His last programmed ride is heat 14,
in which he averages two paid points per race in Eagles’ eight home league
meetings so far this season.
Replicate that in other races and his
figures would be matching what was probably expected him of at the start of the
year.
Instead, he is disappointed with his
form and hopes a recent visit to engine tuner Craig Boyce might help put things
right.
He admitted: “I’m not scoring as many
points as I want to.
“Boycey has changed an engine for me
although I don’t know if I’ll get it in time for Saturday.
“I only got two points at
Wolverhampton on Monday but I don’t think I disgraced myself. It was only their
top four who beat me.”
That defeat at Monmore was big let
down for an Eagles side who looked to be gaining momentum after wins over Poole
and Coventry.
They must do without Lewis Bridger
tomorrow as he rides in the first semi-final of the World Under-21 Championship
in Hungary.
Travis McGowan was Eagles’ first
choice of guest replacement but has a commitment in Poland.
Instead the booking goes to Kenneth
Hansen, the young Dane who came last in heat two when he visited Arlington with
Peterborough this season, then scored paid ten from his remaining four rides.
Belle Vue operate rider-replacement
for Patrick Hougaard, who is at the same meeting as Bridger.
Charlie Gjedde’s shockingly poor
early season form for the Aces is reflected in the fact he is now at reserve.
He could be a threat there. But not
if Woodward can help it.
The Aussie was pulled from his last
ride for Rzeszow in Poland last week and saw it given to the No. 8.
And that No. 8? A certain Dane who
rides for Belle Vue.
Woodward said: “It was
understandable.
“The last three meetings over there
I’ve been going well and seen other guys lose rides. I only had two points this
time but I was fast.
“But I’ve got to make sure I beat
Charlie Gjedde at Eastbourne!”
Eagles: Watt, Norris r/r, Hansen,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Gustafsson.
Belle Vue: Kasprzak, Hougarrd r/r,
Ostergaard, Wright, Risager, AN Other, Gjedde.
Eagles borrow
Hansen
Eastbourne Eagles have booked Kenneth
Hansen of Peterborough to guest for Lewis Bridger when they host Belle Vue Aces
in the Elite League on Saturday.
Bridger is away at a World Under-21
Championship semi-final in Hungary and Eagles’ first choice of guest, Travis
McGowan, is needed by his Polish club.
Hansen, a 21-year-old Dane, scored
8+2 (5) from reserve in Panthers’ recent 50-43 defeat at Arlington, despite
coming last in the reserves’ race.
He had a win and two paid wins and
beat five of the six home riders on duty that night, including McGowan.
Norris targets TV comeback
David Norris is lining up a
dramatic comeback for Eastbourne Eagles in front of the TV cameras.
Norris, who suffered third degree
burns in a televised meeting against Swindon, plans to practise at Arlington
Stadium next Friday.
That could pave the way for a return
to the shale three nights later.
Ironically, his comeback would also
be at home to Swindon in front of the cameras.
Norris suffered horrific injuries
when his arm became trapped between the spinning wheel and mudguard of his bike
after a smash with Swindon’s Troy Batchelor.
He was signed off from the burns unit
at East Grinstead yesterday and will have a special cover fitted to protect the
wound.
His return will be subject to the
approval of co-promoters Bob Dugard and Trevor Geer.
But he has assured mechanic Dean
Barker he has no fears about returning live on television.
Norris admitted: “It would be ironic
to come back against Swindon but, if I’m going to do it, we may as well get on
with it.
“Deano says don’t come back on TV but
I’m like ‘get in there’.
“I’m not worried. I’ll check with Bob
and Trevor that it’s all right because I know the team can cover for me nicely
at the moment.
“It didn’t work at Wolves on Monday
but it’s going well at home.
“I’m going back to hospital next
Tuesday to have a special thing fitted which massages and presses the wound
where it has healed and gone lumpy. Then I’ll hopefully practise on the Friday.”
Norris was one of three riders taken
to hospital in a crash-strewn marathon of a meeting when Swindon were beaten
50-41 at Arlington last month.
Eagles host the title-chasing Robins
again on Monday, June 29.
Meanwhile Swindon star Travis McGowan
could ride for Eagles when they host Belle Vue this Saturday.
McGowan, who has put in two
impressive guest appearances for Eastbourne in recent weeks, tops the hit list
to cover for Lewis Bridger against the Aces.
Bridger misses the meeting after his
request to ride in the first World Under-21 Championship semi-final was granted.
The 19-year-old racer was originally
listed to go in the second semi at Kumla in Sweden a week on Saturday but was
keen to ride in a GP qualifier in Croatia on that day.
His switch means he can do both the
GP qualifier and the under-21 semi in Hungary this Saturday.
Big-scoring reserve Simon Gustafsson
remains in the second semi at his home track in Sweden, meaning he does not miss
an Eastbourne fixture.
McGowan would normally jump at the
guest booking but could be called away to practise with his new Polish track
Ostrow on Saturday.
Top four the
target for Eagles
Trevor Geer insists the goal remains
the same for Eastbourne Eagles, despite a play-off re-think.
Eagles go to Wolverhampton tonight
(7.30pm) for their first meeting since being told their current league placing
of fifth will not be enough to reach the Elite League play-offs.
Clubs have voted to reduce the
end-of-season knockout from a six-team affair to only include the top four.
That impacts fifth-placed Eagles more
than second-placed Wolves but Geer is not worried about it.
The Eastbourne team manager said:
“There’s no point being in the play-offs unless you are good enough to be in the
top three or four.
“I’d hate to be in the play-offs and
think we didn’t really deserve to be there or we didn’t really have a chance of
winning.
“Hopefully by the time we get to the
end of the season we’re in the top four and we have seven riders who are fit and
in form.”
Wolves are the only away team to have
taken any reward back home from Arlington this term thanks to a dramatic 47-45
success last month.
Eastbourne can take revenge by
wrecking the Midlanders’ perfect home record.
Wolves have won eight out of eight at
home taking the bonus point each time, while No.1 Freddie Lindgren has only been
beaten once by an opponent in 38 races.
Belle Vue’s Krzysztof Kasprzak is the
only away rider to have beaten the Swede around Monmore this season.
Eastbourne skipper Davey Watt will be
the first Eagles rider this season to have won a race at all nine Elite League
tracks if he gets a chequered flag tonight.
With tracks of a similar sizes,
Eastbourne and Wolverhampton have a tradition of good tussles.
Geer, though, insists size isn’t
everything and expects a tough meeting.
He said: “People think the tracks are
the same but they aren’t really. There are different lines at Wolverhampton.
“They are going really well,
especially Lindgren, but I think we can do something.”
Eagles: Watt, Norris r/r, Bridger,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Gustafsson.
Bridger misses Eagles clash
Lewis Bridger has been
ruled out of Eastbourne Eagles' home meeting with Belle Vue on
Saturday.
The teenage star has been
switched from the second semi-final of the World Under-21
Championship to the first, which takes place at Miskolc in Hungary
this coming weekend.
Bridger was originally
down to race at Kumla in Sweden the following Saturday in a field
which includes Eagles reserve Simon Gustafsson.
The switch means Bridger
can now enter the last GP qualifying quarter-final, being staged at
Gorican in Croatia on Saturday, June 27.
Bridger makes his debut
for Swedish top flight champions Lejonen at Vastervik tomorrow.
Watt
shock at U-turn
Skipper Davey Watt admits
he was surprised by the Elite League U-turn which knocked Eastbourne
Eagles out of the play-off places.
But the Australian star
is convinced his side can still clinch a place in the end-of-season
battle for honours.
Top-flight clubs have
voted to reduce the plays-off from six teams to four amid fears of
fixture congestion.
The move, midway through
the season, has left many fans stunned.
It means fifth-placed
Eagles have lost their play-off spot for now.
They have taken six
points from their last two meetings, however, and a win at
high-flying Wolverhampton on Monday would serve notice of their
intentions to grab a top-four finish.
Lakeside are also hot on
the heels of the current play-off incumbents.
Watt admitted: “It will
be tricky for us but hopefully we will be in a decent position.
“I’m very surprised. I
thought they weren’t allowed to change a rule during the season
unless it was for safety reasons.
“I don’t know what they
aim to achieve. I don’t know why it was even debated but I’m sure
they had their reasons.
“We’ve just got to deal
with it. It puts a lot more pressure on this part of the season as
we push towards the play-offs.
“I suppose as a rider
it’s not great in that you could miss out on a couple of play-off
meetings.
“Under the old system, or
should I say the old-new system, some riders would have had a couple
more meetings to earn money.
“Hopefully it won’t be
Eastbourne who miss out. That would be frustrating.”
Eagles promoter Bob
Dugard has admitted that, with hindsight, clubs should never have
voted to increase the play-offs to six teams in the first place.
He said the potential
extra fixtures would have put his club in an impossible situation
and added: “We were left with little option, certainly in
Eastbourne’s case.”
Meanwhile Watt is gearing
up for one of his biggest challenges of the season as Eagles look to
dent Wolves’ perfect home record.
The Eagles No. 1 will be
in direct opposition to Freddie Lindgren, who has scored an
astonishing 34 wins, three paid wins and one second place in 38
rides at home this season.
Lindgren was one of the
stars of Wolves’ recent win at Arlington, still the only blemish
suffered at home by Eastbourne this year.
The two men also clash in
Poland tomorrow, where Watt’s track Atlas Wroclaw go to Lindgren’s
Zielona Gora Watt said: “Wolverhampton are not in their current
league position due to luck. Their whole team are going really well.
“We feel we’ve got a good
strong team. There are only six of us at the moment but hopefully we
have seven soon and go on from there.
“It’s a tough ask to go
to Wolves but they came down to our place and showed us what’s what
so we’ll look to do the same.”
Eagles chief has no plans to quit
Elite League
Eastbourne boss Bob Dugard has
assured fans he is not planning a move into the Premier League.
But the Eagles promoter admits his
side’s play-off hopes for the current season could depend on their next few
fixtures.
Dugard told supporters before last
Saturday’s meeting against Coventry that the Bees were harming the Elite League
with their team-building policy.
As a hush descended over Arlington,
he added: “They have done so much damage and they don’t even realise it. Next
season will show how much damage they have done.”
That comment was taken in some
quarters to mean Dugard could withdraw his side from the division and apply for
the less expensive Premier League in 2010.
However he insists that was not the
case, though there remains dis-satisfaction in some quarters about the Bees’
decision to use four star riders.
Dugard said: “I spoke to one promoter
who said if this is how things were going to be, he would definitely go down a
division.
“But I would be very unhappy about
going down to a lower level.
“That would be the last thing I would
wish to do.”
Dugard continues to monitor the
club’s finances carefully, having recently admitted he expected the year’s
losses to top the figure of £50,000 for which he had originally budgeted.
He was heartened by a crowd of more
than 1,500 for last Saturday’s win over Coventry.
However the next home fixture, versus
lowly Belle Vue a week tomorrow, looks a tougher sell despite Eagles’ status as
genuine play-off contenders.
The decision by Coventry to go with
four big names remains one of the talking points of the speedway world.
Dugard is among those who feel it
goes against the spirit of this season’s lower-budget league.
He argues clubs looking to compete
with Coventry will need to spend beyond their means on new signings.
Those who follow football might
wonder what is wrong with the better-off clubs spending their cash on big name
stars others cannot afford.
The answer is that speedway as a
spectacle depends on close fought meetings, competitive races or, ideally, a
combination of the two.
While watching Manchester United win
7-0 can be entertaining, there is nothing thrilling about the sight of two
riders breaking away from their opponents at the start and coasting around for
four laps.
The evidence of last Saturday and the
Dean Barker Farewell in March suggest star riders draw big crowds.
At the same time, the league’s
average points limit ensures any team who go for big names will lose out at the
bottom end of the order.
Eagles’ greater strength in depth saw
Coventry off last Saturday.
The Bees were then routed 59-34 at
Peterborough on Monday.
Coventry’s club website described
Dugard’s pre-match comments as a lengthy monologue and insisted: “The points
limit ensures that no amount of money will ever win the Elite League.”
Eastbourne are without a fixture this
weekend as attention turns to the Danish Grand Prix in Copenhagen.
They have a tough looking trip to
high-flying Wolverhampton on Monday.
Their following away meeting is at
Peterborough, one of the sides with whom they are now battling for one of four
play-off berths.
Dugard said: “The next couple of away
meetings will decide a lot for us.
“The hardest one would look to be
Wolves but that’s a track where we often perform well.
“I would fancy our chances there. We
should have never lost the home meeting to them.”
Lukas needs
engine help
CROWD favourite Lukas Dryml is
counting the cost of his recent good results.
The hard-racing Czech star has been
in great form for Eastbourne Eagles as well as edging closer to a return to the
Grand Prix circuit.
However he is now down to one good
engine and is in need of help.
Eagles chief Bob Dugard said: “Lukas
is desperate to find a sponsor.
“He’s down to one good engine and
really needs to do something about that.”
Dryml, whose planned permanent move
from Peterborough appears to be on hold, will miss the visit of his parent club
on July 4 due to a GP qualifying semi-final.
He followed his paid-16 heroics for
Eagles against Coventry by turning up at Heathrow at 5am on Sunday for the trip
to the Czech Republic, where he scored ten points from five rides.
Dryml is not the only Eagle affected
by international commitments.
Lewis Bridger and Simon Gustafsson
were, to Eastbourne’s relief, drawn in the second semi-final of the World
Championship for under-21s at Kumla on Saturday, June 27, which means they do
not miss a league meeting.
It also gives Gustafsson a great
chance of progressing on his home track.
However Bridger has enquired about a
switch to the first semi in Hungary a week earlier, which would allow him to
ride in a senior GP qualifier in Croatia on June 27. He would then miss Eagles’
next home meeting, against Belle Vue on June 20.
Bridger admitted: “I wanted to go to
the GP qualifier to gain experience but the priority for me at the moment is to
do the under-21 stuff.”
Should the two young Eagles progress
to the world under-21 final, they would miss the home clash with Ipswich on
September 5th
Eagles suffer as
rules change
Eastbourne Eagles have been told they
are no longer in a play-off place after an astonishing mid-season U-turn by
Elite League clubs.
Promoters have voted to cut the
number of teams in this season’s play-offs from six to four.
Eagles are currently in fifth place
following impressive wins over Poole and Coventry.
The re-vamp, decided by the clubs
themselves via a postal vote, would eliminate Eagles and Lakeside from the
play-offs as things stand.
It also reduces any chance of
champions Poole making a late bid for honours after their recent much-publicised
team changes.
The play-offs were extended from four
teams to six during the winter.
Some elements of those changes remain
in place.
Semi-finals will still be over two
legs, rather than the one-off affairs of previous years.
The team finishing first will still
choose whether to race against the third or fourth placed club and there will
still be a points handicap system, albeit slightly revised.
Clubs were advised of the changes on
Monday through a memo from the BSPA.
Eagles boss Bob Dugard was unwilling
to confirm the changes had been made or make any comment.
However, his former Eastbourne
sidekick Jon Cook, now in charge at Lakeside, described the move as the right
decision at the wrong time.
Cook, still based in West Sussex,
said: “As much as it might affect my own club I’m totally in favour of having
four teams in the play-offs.
“The whole situation where a team
comes from sixth place in a nine-team league to win the title would have been
the death knell of the play-off system.
“Too often we’re seeing this move in
all sports to a ‘last basket in the last second’ American-style mentality and
putting consumerism ahead of the spirit of sport.
“That’s not a trend I like as a
traditionalist.
“This change will be broadly
welcomed. I think it shows people are voting for the interests of the sport
rather than what suits their own team.
“Ironically, it looks like Lakeside
and Eastbourne could be the ones affected although things could change in the
league yet.”
At least five of the nine top flight
clubs will have voted for the U-turn.
It is believed fears over fixture
congestion and lukewarm interest in the early play-off rounds from Sky Sports
led to the change of heart.
Cook admitted: “It’s totally
unsatisfactory to do this so late but sometimes you make the right decision at
the wrong time.
“This could have been done in
January.”
Eagles will still believe they can
finish in the top four given the form shown against Poole and Coventry in the
past week.
However they will have to do so
without Denis Gizatullin.
Eagles had planned to hand Gizatullin
a long-awaited home debut when Belle Vue visit a week on Saturday.
They will now wait on David Norris
after news their record points scorer was making good progress from an arm
injury while Gizatullin’s diary looks busier than ever.
Dugard said: “Denis’s commitments are
beyond what we can put up with.
“We’ve discussed it and if he wants
to come in at a later date we will try to arrange for him to go out on loan to a
struggling track or use him as back-up.”
Eagles do it
again
Eastbourne Eagles are celebrating a
second momentous Elite League win in four days after stunning Coventry at
Arlington tonight.
Eagles, winners at Poole in midweek,
took all three points on offer by beating a star-studded Bees line-up 49-41 on
an extraordinary night at the Sussex track.
Home promoter Bob Dugard took the
microphone just before heat one to launch an attack on the Coventry management.
Dugard is unhappy the Bees are
employing four big name riders at a time when clubs are looking to reduce costs.
He said: "If anyone wants to compete
against them they have really got to find £50,000 or £70,000.
"Other clubs can't do that but
Coventry can.
"They deserve to win the league
because they have paid for it."
He added: "None of my anger is
directed against the Coventry riders or their supporters.
"It's purely against the management
and I think they have done so much harm to the sport and they are not even
bright enough to realise it."
Eagles responded on the track by
leading from heat one, in which star of the show Lukas Dryml enjoyed a 5-1 with
Davey Watt over Scott Nicholls and Robert Ksiezak.
Former Eastbourne duo Adam Shields
and Edward Kennett twice teamed up for 5-1s and Kennett also beat Lewis Bridger
in a re-run heat 12.
Bridger, though, was the first home
rider to lower Shields' colours and Simon Gustafsson made a superb return from
injury.
Eagles led by two points going into
the last three heats.
A scorching win for Dryml over Chris
Harris and Nicholls kept that lead intact, then Shields was disqualified from
heat 14 for falling as Cameron Woodward forced his way inside him.
A 5-1 for Gustafsson and Woodward in
the re-run assured Eagles of victory.
Even better was to come as Dryml took
heat 15 and Woodward claimed third place in a tremendous three-way tussle with
Harris and Shields.
That secured a 4-2 heat advantage, an
eight-point margin and the winning bonus point.
Eagles: Dryml 14+2 (6), Gustafsson 11
(5), Bridger 9 (5), Woodward 7+4 (5), Watt 6 (4), Kling 2+1 (4), Norris r/r.
Coventry: Shields 11 (5), Harris 11
(5), Kennett 7+2 (4), Nicholls 7+1 (4), Ksiezak 3 (6), Auty 2+1 (5), Sitera r/r
Nicholls,
Gustafsson ready for action
Former Eastbourne No. 1 Scott
Nicholls has been cleared to ride in what could be the meeting of the year at
Arlington on Saturday (7.30pm).
A star-studded Coventry side also
includes ex-Eagles Adam Shields and Edward Kennett plus British champion Chris
Harris.
Hosts Eastbourne Eagles can counter
that with arguably the best reserve pairing in the Elite League.
Simon Gustafsson, now top of the
Eagles averages this season, returns after a seven-week lay-off with a broken
collarbone to ride alongside the improving Ricky Kling.
Gustafsson came through a fitness
test in Sweden yesterday and will practise at Arlington on Saturday afternoon
alongside Lukas Dryml, who missed Wednesday’s win at Poole.
Eagles will also have No. 8 Chris
Schramm ready in case Gustafsson suffers any problems.
Shields is in as guest for Rory
Schlein for the Bees.
Eastbourne team manager Trevor Geer
said: “Simon was happy with his workout in Sweden. The shoulder felt good.
“Lukas is all right too. He was
following the Poole meeting from back in the Czech Republic and texted me as
soon as it finished to say ‘well done, can’t wait for Saturday’. The team sprit
is fantastic.”
Gustafsson is averaging 8.25 paid
points per four rides while Lewis Bridger’s figure is 8.24, from a tougher
programme, after his supershow at Poole.
Eagles: Watt, Norris r/r, Bridger,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Gustafsson, Schramm.
Coventry: Nicholls, Sitera r/r,
Kennett, Shields, Harris, Kseziak, Auty.
Kennett ready to
go 'home'
Local boy Edward Kennett admits he is
glad he did not have to go back to Arlington Stadium in a hurry.
The former Eastbourne Eagles rider
makes his first return tomorrow night since his contentious close season switch
to Coventry.
He hopes to get as warm a welcome as
possible from many people at his local track.
But he admits it would take more than
the offer of a handshake from his old boss Bob Dugard to make him consider
riding for Eastbourne again.
The rivalry between Eagles and
Coventry was cranked up again this week when Dugard reported Coventry for not
paying a £29,000 transfer fee for Kennett on time.
Dugard has since been advised by the
BSPA to expect payment within the week.
There is clearly some animosity
between the two tracks and that just adds to the spice of what should be a
superb contest.
But strip all that away and you have
a quietly spoken 22-year-old rider going as well as just about anyone in the
Elite League and a massive threat to Eastbourne on the track where he grew up.
That is all that will matters at
tapes-up time tomorrow.
Kennett, who was in the pits with
Eagles riders during their brilliant 46-44 win at Poole on Wednesday, said: “I’m
having a good season and looking forward to coming back to a track I know pretty
well.
“I’m hoping I get a good reception.
“I’m not sure what it will be like
but I’m going to concentrate on my racing and doing a job for my team.
“I know a few people will be upset. I
might get a bit of stick.
“But I’m going to go out and enjoy
the meeting, as I have been doing all season.
“I’m enjoying it at Coventry. It’s a
good club, a good promotion, good support.
“I was a bit worried when I went
there.
“I didn’t know what reception to
expect but I’m getting to grips with the track, even though it’s not one I’ve
generally done well on in the past.”
If you want to hype up the Kennett
return, the obvious place to start is in any head-to-heads he enjoys with Lewis
Bridger, the Eagles teenager whose scintillating form this term scaled new
heights in Wednesday’s win at Poole.
There is a rivalry there and Bridger
will be thirsting for revenge after seeing Kennett claim the British Grand Prix
wild card he coveted.
“It was a tough meeting at Poole,”
Kennett said of the British Final which saw him earn his GP place.
“I made mistakes at Cardiff last year
and I will try and put them right this time.
“It will be tough at Eastbourne as
well. They have got good riders, “Lewis is going really well, Cam (Woodward) has
stepped up a gear. It will be a tough match.”
Eagles have won eight out of nine at
Arlington this season and are buzzing after beating Poole.
Coventry, though, could pose their
toughest home test yet.
Dugard is pleased to be getting his
money from the Bees but a bit aggrieved he had to ask for it a second time.
The Eagles boss insists his problem
is with Coventry, rather than Kennett, with whom he would be willing to offer
that handshake.
He will hope for more income from a
much-needed bumper crowd.
Coventry are the last of Eagles’
eight Elite League rivals to race at Arlington this season.
That suits Kennett, who pulled out of
Dean Barker’s season-opening farewell meeting in March for what are best
described as diplomatic reasons.
Barker was not happy about that at
the time.
Kennett said: “I’m quite glad it has
taken a little while for this meeting to come around.
“I wanted everything to settle before
I came back.
“I’ve got to go back some time but I
got quite hurt by some of the things that were said. I spoke to Deano and got
that sorted in the end and I’ve got no problem with the fans.”
But what about that hypothetical
handshake from Dugard, if it ever came?
“I don’t see myself coming back after
what has happened,” Kennett admitted. “I see myself being away from Eastbourne
for quite a while.”
Eagles ruin
Poole's party
Eastbourne manager Trevor Geer
saluted his six Eastbourne Eagles heroes as they ruined Poole’s big night.
Eagles picked up their first away
league win of the season with a stunning 46-44 success over a Pirates side
hoping to launch their push for the play-offs.
Although the scoreline looks close,
the visitors had victory sewn up with a race to go.
Poole denied them an extra point by
taking a 5-1 in a thrilling heat 15 but that will have offered them no
consolation on the night they paraded GP star Hans Andersen as their high
profile new No. 1.
Andersen was outshone by another
superb performance from Lewis Bridger, who passed himself fit on the day of the
meeting after suffering a dead leg in Germany on Monday.
Poole’s various adjustments to bring
in the Dane have upset many fans and promoters so Eastbourne’s win was a popular
one across the country.
Guest Travis McGowan, in for the
injured Lukas Dryml, put an early spanner in the works when he beat Andersen in
a shared opening race.
Poole led 34-32 when an interval was
called after heat 11 but Eagles came back out to reel off two 4-2s, then a 5-1
for Cameron Woodward and Ricky Kling to kill off home hopes.
Geer said: “We had a chat at the
interval and I told them if we could go on and win the meeting it would really
upset Poole.
“It’s a good racing track at Poole
and we’ve got a team full of racers.
“Lewis was incredible, Travis won
heat one and looked good all night, but they all played their part.”
Eastbourne are now unbeaten on their
last four visits to Wimborne Road, picking up two wins and two draws.
Poole: Andersen 13+1 (6), Pedersen
13+1 (6), Screen 11 (5), Davidsson 3+2 (5), Wilson 3 (5), Baran 1+1 (3),
C.Holder r/r.
Eagles: Bridger 14 (6), McGowan 11+1
(5), Kling 8+3 (5), Watt 8+1 (6), Woodward 5 (5), J.Holder 0 (3), Norris r/r.
Eagles threaten
to stop Kennett
Eastbourne have told speedway bosses
they are still owed money for Edward Kennett.
Eagles promoter Bob Dugard claims
rivals Coventry have yet to pay the transfer fee of £29,000 plus VAT fixed at
arbitration on April 22.
He has reported the matter to the
Speedway Control Bureau and threatened to stop Kennett from riding at Arlington
when the Bees visit on Saturday.
Dugard said: “They had 28 days in
which to pay the whole thing.”
Kennett is due to make his first
return to the Sussex track since his contentious close-season transfer. He was
scheduled to ride in the season-opening Dean Barker Farewell in March but
withdrew at short notice.
SCB chief Graham Reeve said a
complaint was received from Dugard on Monday but that it had not yet been dealt
with.
Reeve also confirmed Coventry cannot
track Scott Nicholls in Saturday’s eagerly awaited Arlington clash unless they
declare a new line-up which is approved by the BSPA.
Travis McGowan guests for Lukas Dryml
as Eagles go to Poole tonight (7.30pm) after the Czech rider damaged his
shoulder and neck at Belle Vue on Monday. Lewis Bridger is doubtful and Chris
Schramm unavailable.
Poole: Andersen, Davidsson, Holder
r/r, Screen, Pedersen, Wilson, Baran.
Eagles: Watt, Norris r/r, Bridger or
guest, Woodward, McGowan, Kling, guest.
Eagles suffer on
the road
Eastbourne Eagles’ injury woes piled
up on both sides of the Channel as they slumped to a hefty Elite League defeat
last night.
Eagles were unable to improve their
dismal away record, going down 57-39 at struggling Belle Vue Aces after a woeful
start saw them slip 12 points adrift after four heats.
Meanwhile their top scorer this
season Lewis Bridger was heading back from the World Cup for under-21s with a
dead leg and battered hand after crashing during Team GB’s semi-final
elimination.
Bridger will be assessed today, after
completing the 13-hour drive back from Germany, but is rated doubtful for
tomorrow’s trip to new-look Poole Pirates.
Eastbourne must also check on the
fitness of Lukas Dryml after he took a tumble at Belle Vue.
Eagles had just three heat wins, two
of them by skipper Davey Watt, as they never looked like claiming even a losing
bonus point. Both Watt and Cameron Woodward scored double points race victories
to massage the final score somewhat.
Assistant team manager Glenn Martin
admitted it was a disappointing night but said: “There were some bright spots.
Jason Lyons did a good job for us as guest and Chris Schramm rode well at
reserve.
“The track was difficult. When we
walked it at 6.30 it was clear it had been over-watered and it was rough.
“None of the riders liked it and that
puts you on a downer.
“Having said that I think Lewis would
have loved it around there. We missed him.”
Schramm misses tomorrow’s match due
to a meeting for his parent club King’s Lynn while Lee Complin has turned down a
guest booking to replace him.
With David Norris injured, Eagles
have just three confirmed riders for the trip to Wimbone Road.
Bridger had scored two impressive
wins for the young Brits when he was left with nowhere to go in his third heat
as a German rival broke down right in front of him.
He said: “It was a bad crash. I’ve
got a dead right leg and it will be bruised hard. I’ll check it when I get home.
“I had had two good wins and felt
like I wasn’t going to get beaten so it was a bit of bad luck.”
Belle Vue: Kasprzak 12+3 (5),
Ostergaard 12+2 (5), Hougaard 12+1 (5), Risager 8 (5), Wright 7 (5), Gjedde 6+1
(4), Forsberg r/r.
Eagles: Watt 11 (5), Woodward 9+1
(6), Lyons 5 (5), Kling 5+3 (7), Schramm 5 (5), Dryml 3 (3), Norris r/r
Ex-Ace guests for
Eagles
Former Belle Vue favourite Jason
Lyons is being asked to shock his old club in the name of Eastbourne Eagles.
Lyons, who turns 39 later this month,
comes in as guest for Lewis Bridger as Eagles go to Manchester chasing a first
away league win of the season.
The current Birmingham Brummies star
rode for the Aces from 1992 to 2003 and then again in 2005, when he helped them
beat Eastbourne in the Knockout Cup final.
He was granted a testimonial at Belle
Vue eight years ago so should know their 283-metre circuit well.
Eastbourne have been forced into a
change as Bridger is away with Great Britain’s youngsters at the World Team Cup
for under-21s.
Although the 19-year-old has scored
more points per race than anyone else at Eastbourne this season, he has yet to
go into the No. 1 position after missing what would have been his 12th meeting
of the season due to injury.
That means Eastbourne are restricted
in their choice of guest to go to Kirkmanshulme Lane, having to use Bridger’s
starting figure this season of just 5.11 as a guide.
Trevor Geer, however, believes they
have chosen the right man for the job.
The Eagles team manager said: “Jason
Lyons certainly knows his way around Belle Vue and he is the best rider who was
available to us in the circumstances.
“Lewis keeps his old average until
July 1 but that is not all bad news for us.
“It means he can still take a ride
for David Norris all the time we operate rider-replacement.”
Bridger is involved in a four-way
semi-final in Germany as the Brits take on Sweden, Australia and the hosts for a
place in the final.
Simon Gustafsson is missing from the
Swedish line-up as he recovers from a broken collarbone but his return to Eagles
colours is imminent.
He has now shelved plans to ride in
the Swedish league tomorrow and will instead practice on Wednesday.
That means he misses the trip to
Poole on Wednesday but should be back when Coventry make their eagerly-awaited
visit to Arlington on Saturday.
Belle Vue are bottom of the league
but are coming off a first away win of the season, at Ipswich in the cup, and
have a danger man at reserve in ex-Eagles rider Morten Risager.
Belle Vue: Kasprzak, Forsberg r/r,
Ostergaard, Wright, Gjedde, Risager, Hougaard.
Eagles: Watt, Norris r/r, Lyons,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Schramm.
Bridger does his
bit for GB
Eastbourne star Lewis Bridger is
doing his bit for Great Britain by taking extra engines to Germany.
The Eagles teenager races for
injury-hit Team GB under-21s in their age group World Cup semi-final against
Sweden, Australia and the host nation at Abensberg on Monday.
Bridger and Tai Woffinden will
spearhead the Brits’ bid for a final place but fear their less experienced team
mates could be under-powered.
That is why Bridger asked his engine
tuner Neville Tatum to work some magic.
The Bexhill-based star said: “We had
a chat about it and Neville will get us a couple of extra engines prepared.
“I’d normally take my two bikes plus
maybe put another engine in the van but I’ll take the two extras as well.
“It’s a bit of extra work for Neville
but it’s worth it. Even if we don’t go through we’ve got to give it our best and
have no regrets afterwards.”
Bridger and his mechanic make the
13-hour drive to Germany today ready for practice tomorrow.
Eagles must track a guest in
Bridger’s place when they go to Belle Vue in the Elite League on Monday.
Eagles reserve Simon Gustafsson has
withdrawn from the World Cup semi, in which he was due to represent Sweden, as
he recovers from a broken collarbone.
He will, however, practice with a
view to racing for Indianerna at home to Piraterna in the Swedish league on
Tuesday.
If all goes well there, he will make
his comeback for Eastbourne at Poole on Wednesday.
A more realistic comeback target this
side of the Channel could be the visit of Coventry to Arlington next Saturday.
Gustafsson said: “I want to ride in
England but I don’t know if I can do two meetings in two nights with my
recovery.
“I’m feeling much better. Not perfect
but much better.”
Gustafsson has raced just five league
meetings for Eagles this season.
Eagles count the
cost as crowds dwindle
Eastbourne boss Bob Dugard believes
his Eagles are the worst supported side in this year’s Elite League.
Now he has warned the club face hefty
financial losses unless they can bring back the fans.
Eagles currently occupy the sixth and
last play-off spot in the top flight after an impressive start to their home
campaign.
They have won eight out of nine home
meetings in all competitions and the racing has been some of the best seen at
Arlington in years.
A change in points scoring means
every league meeting has still been alive going into heat 15.
And the fact six teams go into the
play-offs has kept the dream of league success alive.
However attendances remain around the
1,000 mark, leaving Dugard to anticipate a costly year.
The veteran promoter said:
“Attendances are dismal. We have the lowest crowds in the league.
“Even Lakeside, who we used to be
well ahead of, are getting 300 more people than us.
“We take an average of about £13.20
per spectator, when you take into account children’s tickets, so that extra 300
people is worth about £4,000 per meeting.
“The level of entertainment has been
so good and yet the crowds are falling away. How we overcome that I don’t know.
“We know the economic climate is
tough. Whether that is linked I don’t know.
“I can understand people being a bit
unsure about our team when we put it together but look how they have performed.”
Eagles might have expected better
when about 1,600 fans turned out for the season-opening Dean Barker Farewell.
However, gates since then have
generally been just above the 1,000 mark, with a couple smaller to bring the
average down.
In the short term, Eagles can
probably budget for an improved turnout next Saturday when star-studded Coventry
visit. But that is something of a sore point.
The meeting marks the first return to
Arlington of Hailsham-based Edward Kennett since his move to Coventry in the
close season.
But even that could be overshadowed
by the Bees’ controversial inclusion of former British champion and Eagles No. 1
Scott Nicholls in their line-up.
Nicholls has been fitted in after
much to-ing and fro-ing as to whether Coventry could use him and remain within
the points limit.
Even experienced promoters have been
struggling to fathom whether the Bees’ move complies with the complicated rule
book.
Meanwhile, struggling Poole have
brought in Hans Andersen after early-season woes led to the averages of their
top riders falling.
The Dane was brought in after a
particularly lack-lustre Pirates display at Swindon.
Lakeside promoters Stuart Douglas and
Jon Cook, the former Eagles manager, have called for an independent inquiry into
events at Swindon that night. Dugard has been quiet until now on what are being
seen as highly contentious moves by two of the bigger clubs in a league which
seemed to be trying to reduce costs and encourage a level playing field.
Now, though, he admits: “We are
extremely upset Coventry have been allowed to do what they have done. I suppose
it’s not in the spirit of what the league is all about.
“They have put up their overheads in
the range of £50,000. The problem is any club trying to match them has to pay
out the same. Is that sensible?
“We have budgeted to lose £50,000
this season and we will exceed that. We will see this season out but we can’t
compete with Coventry and Poole.
“They will throw what they need to at
it.
“I had long chats with two other
promoters and they are completely disillusioned.”
Eagles unable to
recover from slow start
Eastbourne boss Trevor Geer admitted
his side paid the price for a below-par start at Peterborough.
Geer felt a good opportunity to claim
a consolation point went begging despite some gutsy riding from his weakened
band of walking wounded.
Davey Watt defied his recent groin
and wrist problems to notch 11 points – a haul boosted by a successful tactical
ride in the fifth heat – while Lewis Bridger marked his return from shoulder
damage by producing the same score.
But the Eagles were never able to
fully recover after conceding three 5-1s in the space of the opening four races
to fall 12 points adrift.
Geer said: “The final scoreline was
respectable considering how poorly we started the meeting, but that really cost
us the chance of challenging for a point. The lads deserve credit for the way
they clawed the deficit back and Lewis did ever so well considering he still has
a big lump on his shoulder.”
Watt launched Eastbourne’s revival
with that six-point haul in the fifth race when deployed for double points and
Cameron Woodward claimed third.
Woodward then followed home the
impressive Bridger for a surprise maximum return over home captain Niels
Kristian Iversen in heat seven as Peterborough’s advantage was cut to three
points.
Bridger also took the flag in heat 12
as the Eagles moved back to within five points but their challenge ran out of
steam when Iverrsen and Kenneth Bjerre had maximums in the final three races.
Peterborough: Iversen 13 (5), Bjerre
12+2 (5), Hansen 8+1 (6), Korneliussen 7+1 (4), Ales Dryml 7+1 (4), Bager 3+2
(3), Vissing 3 (4).
Eastbourne: Watt 11 (5), Bridger 11
(6), Woodward 6+2 (5), Kling 6+2 (6), Lukas Dryml 5+1 (5), Complin 1+1 (3).
Eagles look to
Panther pair
Eastbourne are hoping two
Peterborough riders shine against their own club tonight.
Eagles have brought in Panthers asset
Lee Complin at reserve for the trip to Alwalton in the Elite League (7.30pm).
Complin, who was left out of the
Peterborough line-up for 2009 and loaned to Premier League side Stoke, fills in
for Chris Schramm, who is required by King’s Lynn.
Lukas Dryml, still hoping to make his
move from Peterborough permanent, also lines up in an Eagles side looking to
improve their poor away record.
Team manager Trevor Geer said: “Lee
rides Peterborough well and will be very determined to get some points.
“We still miss Simon Gustafsson at
reserve. He flew around Peterborough for us when we won there last year.”
Gustafsson could return from his
broken collarbone at Poole next Wednesday.
Panthers include Dryml’s brother
Ales, recently let go by Poole.
Ales Dryml has been shortlisted by
Eagles to guest at Belle Vue on Monday while Lewis Bridger competes for Great
Britain in the World Team Cup for under-21s.
Peterborough: Bjerre, Bager,
Korneliusson, A. Dryml, Iversen, Vissing, Hansen.
Eagles: Watt, Norris r/r, Bridger,
Woodward, L.Dryml, Kling, Complin.
Argus opinion:
Eagles star gets it right
Seen a video nasty lately? I did,
last Saturday, thanks to speedway rider David Norris.
The Eastbourne Eagles star is
currently sidelined by third degree burns the width of a tyre down his arm.
He sustained the injury when his arm
was trapped between a spinning motorbike wheel and a mudguard in a recent crash.
The nasty wound is now protected by a
dressing but a bit of it extends to his thumb and is left uncovered.
“That’s nasty,” I remarked of the
ugly mixture of pink flesh, funny yellow bits and developing scabs.
“That’s nothing, look at this,”
Norris replied and showed me a video of the singed arm on his phone, taken last
time the dressing was removed.
It was reminiscent of the time Dean
Barker walked into the pits showing off bits of bone he had just had removed
from an injury.
Yes, speedway riders are mad. Those
two just confirm it.
But there’s a level head there
somewhere and Norris is very sensibly putting his own glory to one side.
Very much an Eastbourne legend, he
has told Eagles to forget about him and bring in a replacement.
And, if the new line-up is so good he
can’t get back in the side, all the better.
Nice attitude, David. Great
sentiments too. But, yes, that arm is very ugly.
Eagles give
Gizatullin a deadline
Eastbourne have told Denis Gizatullin
to race against Belle Vue next month or forget about becoming an Eagle this
year.
Arlington boss Bob Dugard is lining
up the Russian champion to fill in for injured David Norris as Eagles attempt to
keep their play-off push on course.
Gizatullin has a prior commitment on
June 6, when Eagles next race at home against star-studded Coventry Bees.
The following home fixture is against
Belle Vue on June 20 and Dugard has demanded Gizatullin confirm he can race in
that one.
If he cannot, Eagles have lined up
another potential overseas signing they can bring in on a four-point average.
Dugard said: “I’ve given Denis an
ultimatum. We need to know in the next two or three days whether he can ride on
the 20th.”
Norris has been ruled out for at
least six more weeks by an arm injury.
When he is replaced by Gizatullin or
the other new rider, Ricky Kling will move into the main body of the team.
Kling’s greensheet average has
increased from 4.90 to 5.08 over the first 12 league meetings of the season,
despite a slow start.
Simon Gustafsson is on course for an
average of eight points or more but only after he has ridden in seven more
league meetings.
Davey Watt’s average has dropped from
8.15 to 7.00 but Lewis Bridger, who started on 5.11, is likely to be about 7.25
when he rides his 12th league meeting of the season at Peterborough tomorrow .
Dugard added: “Ricky will have some
hard rides but we will have Simon and Denis at reserve, which looks a strong
pairing.”
Injured Norris
urges Eagles to build
Sidelined David Norris has urged
Eastbourne Eagles to build a winning team in his absence.
Norris is out for at least another
six weeks with serious burns to his arm sustained in the televised meeting
against Swindon recently.
Eagles hope Russian champion Denis
Gizatullin will link up with them in the next month or so after completing
lengthy work permit procedures.
Ricky Kling, the man originally
tipped to make way, has now been assured by Eagles promoter Bob Dugard his place
is safe for the rest of the season.
Eagles expect to have big- scoring
reserve Simon Gustafsson back for their next home meeting against Coventry a
week on Saturday and Lewis Bridger returns from a shoulder injury at
Peterborough tomorrow At the same time, Eagles are concerned their ploy of using
rider-replacement for Norris is not working, especially away from home, which
appears to put the club’s record points scorer at risk when Gizatullin comes in
on a four-point average.
Dugard and co-promoter Trevor Geer
are known to be assessing their options.
Norris, who cut short his retirement
this season, said: “I came back 50% because I wanted to ride and 50% because I
thought at the time the club was in a bit of trouble.
“I’ve always said if they were in
trouble I’d ride. The club is one of my main interests.
“I’m not going to ride for a month to
six weeks, end of story.
“They have got to get someone in and
if I couldn’t get back in the team, that’s fine. It means we are doing well.
“The club has got to move on, it’s
not about me.
“I’ll still be here to ride next year
if they wanted me to.
“Forget about me, get the team sorted
out because we’re going to lose punters as well as points if we don’t. Until we
change our team, any win will be good and should be treated as a massive bonus.
“I’ve spoken to Bob and Trev and we
are all pulling together to get this team going.”
Norris hopes to return to his day job
as an electrician next week.
He still has restricted wrist
movement and blood flow to the hand, plus muscle damage. A check-up tomorrow
will reveal how his recovery is going.
He revealed: “The next step is for it
to have healed so I don’t have to wear dressings and can get back to work. At
the moment it’s all about infection.
“Hopefully in a week it will be good
enough so I don’t get any infection.
“I can grip 100%, there’s nothing
with my fingers which is great. It’s just my wrist movement.”
Lukas
wants to stay with Eagles
Eastbourne plan to sign on-loan crowd
pleaser Lukas Dryml on a full transfer in the next few days after he starred
against his parent club.
Eagles boss Bob Dugard opened
informal talks with Peterborough counterpart Trevor Swales minutes after Dryml
helped clinch a dramatic 50-43 Arlington success over the Panthers.
The extrovert Czech scored a
brilliant heat 13 success over star Danes Kenneth Bjerre and Niels-Kristian
Iversen, then helped Davey Watt to a 5-1 over the same Panthers pair in the
nominated race.
Dugard has also assured reserve Ricky
Kling, who had another good night, his place is secure for the season.
Eagles needed something special to
round off a depressing week and Dryml provided it with those two late rides
after Panthers had reduced their deficit from 12 points to just three in the
space of two races.
He celebrated in style, taking a
theatrical bow in front of his growing fan club on the home straight and riding
across to share a few words with the scantily-clad start line girls.
He then left Swales in no doubt that
he wanted to end his association with Peterborough during a brief but animated
chat at his pits berth, in which Dugard was also involved.
Dugard revealed: “We were discussing
trying to buy his contract and I’ve arranged to ring Swales in the week.
“If the price is reasonable we’ll go
ahead with it.
“Lukas has done a good job and he’s
very popular.
“I’ve also told Ricky Kling his place
is safe. He is showing real signs of improving.”
Dryml was initially signed on a
six-week deal after being left out of the Panthers one-to-seven for 2009.
He was adamant he would do well
enough to earn a place for the whole season and he could now be staying even
longer.
The former GP racer admitted victory
over the Panthers was especially sweet and added: “I’m not happy with what
Peterborough did to me and my brother Ales.
“They weren’t loyal to us which is
why I’d be totally happy if Bob Dugard bought my contract.
“I’m sure it will happen. I really
want to race for the fair guys.
“The supporters here are great. I’m
really happy about everything, especially with the Czech flag there and singing
my name.”
Dryml was not short of help in the
pits. His father Ales senior and sidelined team-mate David Norris both offered
advice as crunch time loomed.
Dad, a former rider, advised him to
change bike after he crashed in heat 11, then got him all powered up for heat 15
as Eagles clung to a 45-42 lead.
“This is the engine for the big man,
the big heats, the big wins,” Dryml said of the bike he rode in the final race.
“David Norris told me before heat 13
‘come on, you’re Lukas Dryml'.”
At that stage, Panthers had just
eaten into a 36-24 home lead as Bjerre’ s double points win led a 7-2, then Mads
Korneliusson and Kenneth Hansen scored a surprise 5-1 over Kling and Travis
McGowan, who was guesting for the injured Lewis Bridger.
Bjerre went within 0.3secs of the
track record with his win in heat five and it seemed Panthers would nick it if
he and Iversen, who was unbeatable for three rides, got the support they needed.
Instead, Claus Vissing was passed by
Kling and, on the last lap, Cameron Woodward in heat 14, turning a Panthers 5-1
into a 3-3 and keeping the hosts ahead.
Watt was a bit reluctant to take heat
15 as he struggled for form but went out there and rode a super race which will
do his confidence no harm.
Confidence is rarely a problem with
his last-race partner providing someone reminds him who he is.
But who is the real Lukas Dryml?
“Ask David Norris,” said the Czech of
his mid-meeting pep talk.
“He said ‘tough man, doesn’t matter
if a crash happens, doesn’t matter if something hurts, always goes for it’”
No wonder Dugard is reaching for his
cheque book.
Eagles: Kling 11+2 (6), Watt 11 (5),
Dryml 10+2 (5), McGowan 9+1 (5), Woodward 8+4 (5), Schramm 1 (3), Norris r/r.
Peterborough: Iversen 11+1 (5),
Bjerre 11 (5), Hansen 8+2 (5), Korneliusson 8 (4), Bager 2 (4), Vissing 2 (4),
Tully 1 (3).
Dryml
stars for Eagles
On-loan Lukas Dryml produced two
great rides in the last three heats as Eastbourne Eagles beat his parent club in
dramatic style tonight.
Eagles ended a three-match losing run
by seeing off Peterborough Panthers 50-43 at Arlington in the Elite League.
Dryml, a Panthers asset who was left
out of his club's 1-7 this term, beat speedy Danish duo Kenneth Bjerre and
Niels-Kristian Iversen in heat 13.
He then shared a 5-1 with Davey Watt
in heat 15 over the same Peterborough pair.
Eagles took a three-point lead into
the nominated race thanks to Ricky Kling and Cameron Woodward both getting past
Claus Vissing in heat 14 to force a 3-3.
The hosts enjoyed leads of 14-4 and
36-24 before Peterborough threatened to do what Wolverhampton did at Arlington a
week previously and snatch the points.
Bjerre scored a double points win in
heat 11, which Panthers took 7-2, then Mads Korneliusson and Kenneth Hansen
scored a shock 5-1 in the next race.
That left Eagles wobbling at 39-36
with three races to go but they held on the three points.
Lewis Bridger missed the meeting with
a shoulder injury but is expected to return for Eagles' next fixture, at
Peterborough on Thursday.
Eagles: Kling 11+2 (6), Watt 11 (5),
Dryml 10+2 (6), McGowan 9+1 (5), Woodward 8+4 (5), Schramm 1 (3), Norris r/r.
Peterborough: Iversen 11+1 (5),
Bjerre 11 (5), Hansen 8+2 (5), Korneliusson 8 (4), Bager 2 (4), Vissing 2 (4),
Tully 1 (3).
Eagles
could make a change
Eastbourne Eagles promoters Bob
Dugard and Trevor Geer will meet tomorrow to discuss a possible team change
which can put their ailing side back on course.
Eagles made it three pointless
meetings in succession with a 55-38 reverse at Coventry Bees in the Elite League
tonight.
They also lost Lewis Bridger with a
hand and shoulder injury sustained when falling in heat ten.
Swindon’s Travis McGowan has been put
on standby to guest as in-form Peterborough Panthers visit Arlington tomorrow
(7.30pm) for a meeting from which Eagles badly need three points.
However there are hopes Bridger could
have escaped serious damage and will still ride.
Eagles’ top men had arranged the
meeting to discuss their next move before tonight’s defeat.
Russian champion Denis Gizatullin
will be available in the next two weeks after completing immigration procedures
and it looks increasingly possible he could replace David Norris, whose arm
injury sustained against Swindon is proving more serious than first thought.
Dugard said: “Trevor is talking to
David to find out his plans but it looks a nasty injury.
“David has already told us to do
whatever we feel is best for the team.
“My personal view is his injury could
be a two-month job.
“We could make a change but, if we
do, we will still be looking to the future by bringing Gizatullin in.
“He is our rider and by next year he
will know the league well, although it will take him a few meetings this season
to adjust.”
Eagles had initially said they were
happy to use rider-replacement for Norris but three defeats in a week plus
unfavourable updates on his injury appear to have changed their minds.
Dugard said: “I go to Poland on
business next month and Denis told me ‘I’ll see you in England before then’.”
The introduction of Gizatullin on an
assessed four-point average for Norris, on 5.91, would allow Eagles to make
further changes and remain under the revised points of limit of 42 but Dugard
says that will not happen.
He said: “We think Ricky Kling at
reserve is showing real signs of improvement and I still think we have the best
two reserves in the league when Simon Gustafsson is fit.
“Simon’s injury has been a complete
nightmare for us. His situation has illustrated exactly what I was saying in the
winter.
“If Ricky, as our No. 6, had been out
we could have had rider-replacement with the other reserve getting three rides
and the rider above Ricky having one.
“I don’t see why it should be
different for the other reserve and I think that might now be changed.”
Eagles complete their 12th league
meeting of the season tomorrow and, if he rides, Bridger could move into the No.
1 spot in their line-up.
Geer admits his side cannot afford a
slip-up as they fall away from the league leaders.
He said: “We should have picked up
some points on the road this week but at least the boys who are fit were still
getting stuck in tonight.
“Lukas Dryml had quite a good meeting
and Chris Schramm was going well.”
Coventry celebrated the imminent
return of Scott Nicholls, announced earlier in the day, in style although
Cameron Woodward denied former Eagles star Edward Kennett a maximum.
Skipper Davey Watt had a
double-points win but also came last in his first two races and Geer said: “That
was disheartening.”
Coventry: Harris 14+1 (5), Kennett 14
(5), Schlein 11+1 (5), Auty 6+2 (5), Sitera 6+1 (5), Wells 4 (5), Allen R/R.
Eagles: Woodward 10+1 (6), Schramm
8+2 (7), Dryml 7+1 (5), Watt 7 (5), Kling 4 (4), Bridger 2 (3), Norris R/R
Kling keen to
stay with Eagles
Improving Ricky Kling has set his
heart on completing the season at Eastbourne – despite all the early season talk
he could be on his way out The young Swede insists he paid no attention to
speculation he could make way for Russian champion Denis Gizatullin in the
Eagles’ line-up.
And he reckons successive
double-figure pay days after emerging from the shadows of fellow reserve Simon
Gustafsson have done his cause a power of good.
Kling is now senior reserve, making
him a key man as Eagles go to Coventry tonight (8.00) and host Peterborough
tomorrow (7.30).
It was not that long ago that the
21-year-old Lakeside asset seemed a probable early-season departure as he
struggled for form while Gustafsson rode like a heat leader.
Then Gustafsson suffered a broken
collarbone in Sweden.
Kling has stepped up in style, with
scores of paid-11 and paid-12 in recent home meetings with Swindon and
Wolverhampton.
Gizatullin could still secure his
work permit in the next two weeks but the chances of him replacing Kling are
receding.
Not that Kling will admit to ever
letting that prospect trouble him.
He said: “I don’t hear much about it
because I never read newspapers.
“I read the results on the internet
but that’s about it. I don’t care about the talk about who’s coming and going.
“I feel like I’m getting there so I
would be disappointed to leave. I really want to stay but we will see.
“The only thing I can do is ride my
best, try to get as many points as possible and focus on the next meeting.”
Gustafsson’s absence has had tangible
benefits to Kling. He is first in line to get extra rides and is the man who
gets the easier race if team manager Trevor Geer opts to make a reserve switch.
Take last Saturday’s defeat to
Wolverhampton.
Chris Schramm only got three rides
and, when a mid-meeting switch came, found himself losing the chance to take on
reserve Ty Proctor in heat eight and instead going up against Polish champion
Adam Skornicki in heat seven.
Not so long ago it was Kling giving
way. But he would still love to see Gustafsson back.
He said: “Normally I had three rides
because Simon was flying.
“We’re really good friends and it was
nice for me to see him scoring well but, hopefully, not in my rides.
“Now it’s a couple of extra heats for
me and more responsibility.
“If it had come earlier I would have
really struggled with all those rides.
“But I was on the way up at the time
he was injured and I was more ready to handle it. With him in the team we look
really good.
“Schrammy is doing a job but Simon
was almost going like a heat leader.”
So where do Gizatullin and his handy
four-point average fit in now, if at all?
Eagles promoter Bob Dugard is keen to
give him at least a trial spell and that could yet dovetail with David Norris’s
absence with an arm injury.
Kling is not helped by the fact he
rides for the same Polish second-tier club as Gizatullin, making it easy to
compare their scores.
Dugard keeps an eye on Polish results
and watches as many meetings as he can via the Polsat network.
A couple of Sundays ago Gizatullin
scored 12 points from five rides to help Rybnik beat Grudziadz 58-34 while Kling
managed just 3 (2).
All this while a certain Elite League
promoter was watching carefully from the comfort of an armchair in Hove.
“We desperately want to have a look
at Denis,” Dugard admitted.
“Ricky had a last and a win but Denis
looked the best rider on show by a mile.”
Kling’s improvement at Arlington,
though, has also caught Dugard’s eye and the rider himself admits there is no
secret to his success.
“I didn’t do anything different,” he
said. “I trusted my bikes and my set-ups because I had good meetings here last
year. I really enjoy this place, this club, but it just didn’t work on the
track.
“I can understand that the fans were
disappointed at the start of the season. If they were disappointed with me, I
can tell them it’s nothing compared to how I felt.
Eagles: Watt, Norris r/r, Bridger,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Schramm.
Peterborough: Bjerre, Bager,
Korneliusson, Zabik, Iversen, Vissing, Hansen.
Watt slams
official as Eagles are beaten
Eastbourne Eagles skipper Davey Watt
could be in hot water after revving up his machine in front of Foxhall Stadium
clerk of the course Keith Barton at Ipswich last night.
Barton made an official complaint to
referee Paul Carrington after an eventful heat 11 that swung the meeting the
Witches’ way.
In return Watt blasted the Ipswich
officials and called them ‘unbelievably unprofessional.’ Until then the visitors
had looked capable of gaining something from this Elite League contest. But they
then conceded two 5-1’s and three 4-2’s in the final five races to slip from
just 31-29 down to be swamped 53-37.
Watt’s troubles began when machine
examiner Fred Cotton reported him to Barton as the riders were lining up for
heat 11. Chain guards that are now on the market with a gap in them have
recently been outlawed by the authorities.
Watt had taped up the offending hole,
but this had slipped off, and the Australian was asked to re-tape as he was
preparing to start.
His mechanic obliged, but when the
tapes went up Watt was left trailing and while well adrift held one hand in the
air appealing to the referee to order a re-start.
When this did not happen, Watt rode
round to the centre green start area and twice revved up in front of Barton in
an attempt to spray the official with dirt.
“I have made an official complaint to
the referee,” confirmed the long-serving Barton. “Stones could have struck me in
the eye and I could have been blinded.
“Despite his frustration there was no
excuse for Dave Watt to take it on me.”
A furious Watt stormed: “I am
astounded that Ipswich have been able to run while having such incompetent
officials.
“It was unbelievably unprofessional.
They berated and hassled me on the track as I was waiting to race.
“A second can mean the difference
between first and last, and to top it all the start was unfair and it led to the
downfall of our hopes of winning.
“If people question my actions my
answer is that they only have to look at the events leading up to them to
understand my frustrations.
“Speedway is my job and it is
dangerous enough without being hassled like I was. The tape came off, and some
new tape was put on.“ Rider replacement for David Norris accrued just two
points, and when Cameron Woodward rode for double points in heat 14 Eastbourne’s
luck was out and he trailed in behind the home pair of Daniel King and an
in-form Carl Wilkinson, who failed to score in his opening ride and was then
unbeaten by an Eagle.
Eastbourne scored a 5-1 in heat two
with ex-Witch Chris Schramm following home Ricky Kling, and they achieved
another maximum in heat seven when Lewis Bridger rode exceptional well to
shepherd round Woodward ahead of Piotr Swiderski.
This put Eastbourne two points ahead
and they remained very much in the hunt until Watt hit trouble in heat 11.
After the meeting former Eagle Scott
Nicholls did some laps and so did Chris Louis, who has not ridden a bike in
earnest since breaking his upper arm 12 months ago.
Bridger sets
sights on 2010
Lewis Bridger is expected to set his
sights on a regular Grand Prix place next season after his bid for a one-off
Cardiff appearance failed last night.
The Eastbourne Eagles star failed by
one point to reach the knockout stages of the British Final at Poole.
Bridger, 19, had set his heart on the
wild card spot at the forthcoming British Grand Prix, which is awarded to the
top finisher in the British Final other than GP regulars Scott Nicholls and
Chris Harris.
Barring a late change of plan, he now
expects to head to Gorican in Croatia on the weekend of the Cardiff extravaganza
to kick-off his qualifying campaign for a regular spot in the 2010 GP series.
Hailsham’s Edward Kennett, the former
Eagles rider, clinched the Cardiff wild card for the second year running as he
finished runner-up to his Coventry colleague Chris Harris.
At one stage it seemed Bexhill-based
Bridger would finish among the top two and go straight into the final.
He scored five points from his
opening two rides, including a win against teenage rival Tai Woffinden.
Bridger also had a win over British
No. 1 Scott Nicholls as he took eight points from his first three outings.
But, with just one more point needed
to take him to the next stage, he finished last in his final two races and
missed out on sixth place to Simon Stead, Hastings born riders Lee Richardson
(14) and Kennett (13) were the top points scorers after five heats apiece,
meaning they bypassed the semi-final.
Richardson was fourth, behind
Woffinden, in the final.
Bridger rejoins an unchanged Eagles
side tonight as they go to Ipswich in the first of three fixtures on successive
evenings.
Davey Watt leads the side after
declaring himself fully fit following groin and wrist injuries.
The wrist problem forced him to
withdraw from last Saturday’s home defeat by Wolverhampton in mid-meeting but he
is ready to go tonight after treatment and practice with his Polish track Atlas
Wroclaw.
Eagles team manager Trevor Geer said:
“Davey was out testing all day in Poland and told me he felt 100%.
“I think we have got a chance. The
boys still rode well last Saturday and if it hadn’t been for Davey’s injury we
would have beaten Wolves.”
Ipswich: Hampel, Lanham, Kroner,
King, Swiderski, Stachyra, Wilkinson.
Eagles: Watt, Norris r/r, Bridger,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Schramm.
Eagles must shine
away
They shocked a few people with their
early-season results.
Now Eastbourne Eagles’ season could
be reaching its moment of truth.
The Arlington outfit are
traditionally poor travellers and five of their next six meetings are away,
starting at Ipswich tomorrow night.
On top of that they are facing their
most serious spate of injuries so far this term.
Last Saturday David Norris and Simon
Gustafsson were both ruled out and Davey Watt should have followed suit rather
than trying to ride with an injury in the home defeat by Wolverhampton last
Saturday.
Lewis Bridger rode even though he was
struggling to walk and Lukas Dryml took a knock when he crashed.
Then there is the Denis Gizatullin
factor, with the Russian champion apparently close to securing his entry visa.
Eagles must work out how to use him, if at all, and it could be a tough
decision.
Eastbourne have proved they are good
enough to finish in the top half of the table when at full strength.
Their away programme has been hit by
the rain but now is the time to start firing. All the time they are not getting
anything away they will be under a lot of pressure not to put another foot wrong
at Arlington.
It has been a good, entertaining
season so far. How they ride out this testing fortnight or so could dictate just
how good it gets for Eastbourne.
Bridger
raring to go in British final
Lewis Bridger has declared himself
fully fit and eager to book a place in world speedway’s most high-profile event.
The 19-year-old from Bexhill is
Eastbourne Eagles’ only representative in the British Final at Poole tonight
(7.30pm).
Former Eagles star Scott Nicholls
will be hot favourite to take the crown for what would be a record seventh time.
Bridger, though, can emulate his
former team-mate Edward Kennett and clinch a wild card spot for the British GP
at the Millennium Stadium if he is on song.
Tonight’s top rider, apart from
Nicholls and his fellow GP regular Chris Harris, will earn a starting place in
Cardiff next month.
Kennett, now with Coventry, did it
last year when he completed a great night for Eastbourne by finishing second to
Nicholls.
The Cardiff event regularly attracts
a cosmopolitan 40,000-plus crowd beneath the closed Millennium Stadium roof.
It is the occasion all riders want to
be part of, despite widespread misgivings over the quality of the temporary
track.
Kennett and former Eastbourne skipper
Lee Richardson, both former Poole riders, will each be fancied to grab the
Cardiff ticket this time.
Rising star Tai Woffinden will be a
threat while yet another ex-Eagle, Joe Screen, could be a decent outside bet
given he now rides for Poole.
But Bridger had a four-win full
maximum at Wimborne Road in the Elite Shield this season and can go as well as
most around the 299-metre Dorset track when he is on song.
He now insists he is fully recovered
from a painful calf wound sustained against Swindon nine days ago and said: “I’m
going there to win every race.
“It’s a big meeting for me and I’ll
be nervous I really want to get to Cardiff.
“I know the Poole track well and I’ve
beaten Chris Holder and Bjarne Pedersen there this season.
“I haven’t even looked at anyone
else. I know every rider will be capable of beating each other.”
Bridger could barely walk at the
weekend but followed a paid-16 haul against Wolverhampton with an 11 (5) return
in the World Under-21 Championship qualifier at Rye House, enough to reach the
semi-finals.
He admitted “I started on the wrong
bike at Rye House.
“It’s the bike I’ve been riding
everywhere but I struggled for two rides. Then I jumped on something completely
different and had three wins.”
Meanwhile, Davey Watt will seek
expert advice in Poland today before deciding if he is fit to ride for
Eastbourne.
The Eagles skipper managed just one
complete ride against league-leading Wolves on Saturday as he struggled with a
wrist injury.
His absence proved key as Eastbourne
let slip a 13-point lead to go down 47-45, surrendering their perfect home
record in the process.
Watt is linking up with his
Ekstraliga outfit Atlas Wroclaw for treatment and testing before deciding
whether he can ride in Eastbourne’s trip to Ipswich tomorrow.
Eagles also go to Coventry on Friday
before hosting Peterborough on Saturday. Team manager Trevor Geer said: “I spoke
to Davey and he was blaming himself for what happened.
“Before the meeting he honestly
thought he was okay.
“It wasn’t until he sat on a bike
with the vibration and pulling you get that his fingers went numb and he
couldn’t hang on.”
Geer, who had Adam Shields on standby
for Saturday’s meeting, is lining up a potential guest replacement should Watt
rule himself out.
Eagles now fear David Norris could
miss all of June as he recovers from third degree burns to an arm but are happy
to fill in for him with rider-replacement for the time being.
Eagles demand
answers from injured skipper
Eastbourne will demand assurances
from skipper Davey Watt over his fitness before they bring him back into their
side.
Watt pulled out after just one
complete race in his side’s 47-45 home reverse to Elite League leaders
Wolverhampton on Saturday.
Veteran Peter Karlsson outfoxed the
otherwise excellent Lewis Bridger to win a heat 15 re-run and give Wolves the
3-3 they needed to secure victory in another captivating contest at Arlington.
It was Eagles’ first home reverse in
a season which had previously seen them take 15 points out of 15 on their own
shale.
Bridger limped gingerly into the pits
before the meeting and could not even complete the track walk as he struggled
with a wound to his calf muscle sustained by a flying chain in last Monday’s win
over Swindon.
Watt, whose wrist was damaged by the
same bit of metalwork, suffered electrical problems at the start of heat one,
ran a second in heat six and retired in heat ten, unable to keep hold of the
bike.
He then withdrew from the meeting
altogether and Wolves saw their chance, plundering a 5-1 in heat 13, where he
should have gone with Lukas Dryml, to draw level having trailed 30-17.
A 4-2 led by Adam Skornicki edged
them ahead in heat 14, then Karlsson got inside Bridger on bend two in the heat
15-re-run to finish the job after Freddie Lindgren had fallen and been excluded
in the first staging.
Cruelly, Eagles were on a 4-2 and set
to salvage a draw when the first running was stopped by referee Dale Entwhistle
with Lindgren still down on the track.
Eastbourne were bitterly disappointed
to let slip a meeting of which they seemed to be in command and much of their
frustration centred on Watt’s contribution.
Promoter Bob Dugard said the decision
not to track Adam Shields as guest was a managerial error.
Dugard revealed: “Davey rang me and
said he was fit to ride but we had already got Adam Shields booked.
“That was a big mistake to go with
Davey. We should have gone with our gut feeling.
“You cannot have a No. 1 who is
unfit. We were apprehensive when Davey said he was fit but we thought we had to
go with it.
“You don’t want to stop your rider
earning money but, on the other hand, the end result was a disaster for us.
“We would have gone joint top of the
league if we had won, although we might get our own back when we go to
Wolverhampton with a full strength team.”
Watt now seems to be over his recent
groin injury but, asked how serious his wrist problem was, Dugard said: “It’s
serious from the club’s point of view.
“We need proof he is fit before we
put him in again because we cannot afford another slip-up like this.
“It’s very disappointing when you
know you should have won if you had made the right choice of rider.”
Eagles’ problems do not end there.
David Norris is now expected to miss
a month after suffering third degree burns to an arm but Eagles are happy to use
rider-replacement in his absence.
Lukas Dryml took a knock when
crashing out of heat 11 and Simon Gustafsson is recovering from a broken
collarbone.
It all looked so good as, with
Bridger and Dryml in superb form, they opened a healthy lead.
The improving Ricky Kling chipped in
from reserve, his win in heat eight coming ahead of a superb battle for second
place between Bridger and fellow teen hotshot Tai Woffinden, won by the home
rider with a sublime pass tight to the fence.
But that 5-1 was as good as it got
for the hosts as Lindgren came out for double points in the next race.
Wolves had a 6-3, two 5-1s and two
4-2s in the next five heats to lead 44-42 with one to go.
Cameron Woodward, hero of the
previous meeting against Swindon, touched the tapes when Eagles needed him to
win heat 14 and ended up chasing in vain from a 15-metre handicap.
Woodward borrowed Watt’s bike for
heat 15 but, like Bridger, had no answer to Karlsson’s move on the inside line.
Meanwhile, Lewis Bridger overcame a
slow start to reach the semi-finals of the World Under-21 Championships.
The Eastbourne star opened with two
third places in yesterday’s qualifying meeting at Rye House before adding three
wins to go through with 11 points in fourth place.
The top six qualified for semi-finals
to be staged in Hungary and Sweden next month.
Eagles
slip at home
Eastbourne Eagles suffered their
first home defeat of the season and more injury woes on another dramatic night
at Arlington.
Eagles let slip a 13-point advantage
to go down 47-45 to Elite League leaders Wolverhampton.
Veteran Peter Karlsson beat Lewis
Bridger and Cameron Woodward in a heat 15 re-run to give Wolves the 3-3 they
needed.
Karlsson was the only away rider in
the race after team mate Freddie Lindgren fell in the first staging and was
excluded.
Bridger defied a nasty calf injury to
score paid-16 and help keep Eagles in the contest.
But skipper Davey Watt managed just
one complete ride as he struggled with the wrist injury sustained in the same
incident as Bridger suffered his leg wound against Swindon last Monday.
Lukas Dryml won his first three races
as Eagles raced into a 30-17 lead.
Lindgren scored a double-points win
over Bridger and Woodward in heat nine to spark the comeback which also saw
Wolves plunder two 5-1s and two 4-2s in the second half of the meeting.
Eagles: Bridger 15+1 (6), Kling 10+2
(7), Dryml 10 (5), Woodward 5+2 (6), Schramm 3 (3), Watt 2 (3), Norris r/r.
Wolverhampton: Lindgren 12+2 (5)^,
Karlsson 11 (5), Proctor 9+1 (7), Woffinden 8+1 (5), Skornicki 7+1 (4),
Stichauer 0 (4), Klindt r/r.
Visit of
Wolves could be tasty
Things are unlikely to be dull when
Wolverhampton visit Eagles tomorrow (7.30pm).
Wolves replaced Swindon at the top of
the Eite League on Monday by beating Ipswich while the Robins were leaving
Arlington empty-handed.
The midlanders traditionally enjoy
Eastbourne so more great racing is on the way, especially if they produce the
form that brought them a stunning 54-39 away win over Poole recently.
Bob Dugard said: “Two things stand
out for me this season. Our team spirit is phenomenal and the entertainment
value at Eastbourne has been over and above what you can expect.”
Eagles will again track Chris Schramm
in place of Simon Gustafsson (broken collarbone) and operate rider-repacement
for David Norris (arm and back injuries). Davey Watt, who has groin and wrist
injuries, is doubtful while Lewis Bridger will feature, despite a wound to his
calf muscle.
Eagles: Watt (or guest), Norris r/r,
Bridger, Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Schramm.
Wolverhampton: Karlsson, Klindt r/r,
Woffinden, Skornicki, Lindgren, Stichauer, Proctor.
Bridger to ride
through the pain
Injured Lewis Bridger is adamant he
will ride on one of his biggest weekends of the year, even though he can hardly
walk.
The Eagles teenager had a hole ripped
in his left calf muscle when he shed a chain in Monday’s win over Swindon.
He was due to miss last night’s
meeting away to the Robins, which was rained off, but is resting and taking
antibiotics.
Bridger plans to ride in the World
Under-21 Championship quarter-final at Rye House on Sunday (2pm) and Eagles’
home clash with Wolverhampton the previous evening. He also has his mind on next
Wednesday night’s British Final at Poole, when he could clinch a GP wild card
for the Millennium Stadium.
The Bexhill based racer said: “I will
be there on Saturday night, 100%. It’s not ideal. I've damaged muscle and
ligaments in the back of my leg and it’s very difficult walking but I can ride
the bike.
“I’ve got practice at Rye House on
Saturday morning, then down to Eastbourne in the afternoon."
Bridger must finish in the top six on
Sunday to reach the world semi-finals and faces opposition from, most notably
his arch teenage rival Tai Woffinden and Aussie wonderkid Darcy Ward.
He said: “I haven’t even looked at
the line-up. I want to go through the card and win the meeting.”
Eagles chief
defends Arlington track
Bob Dugard has told Sky Sports’
presenters to change their script after his treasured Arlington track was put
under scrutiny.
Debate raged as to whether the
Eastbourne Eagles promoter, who also spends countless hours preparing the race
circuit, had produced a terror track or a racer’s paradise when his side beat
Swindon before the cameras on Monday.
Five riders had their meeting
curtailed by injury and a sixth, Croatian wonderkid Jurica Pavlic, was crocked
when crashing out of his fourth and final ride.
Dugard insists the track was fine and
helped the racers shine.
And he quoted Swindon skipper Leigh
Adams, one of the world’s best and most experienced riders, to back up his
point.
The Eagles chief said: “I watched it
again on TV and got sick to death of the comments about track conditions. There
was nothing wrong with the track all night long.
“It was just a case of the cameras
being there and people over-riding.
“The starting gates were even and
people were getting to the first corner together.
“Both teams were desperate to win,
nobody was holding back and there were big track riders coming to a small track
and struggling.
“The more skilful riders were making
mincemeat of it and Leigh Adams was adamant the track was not an issue.
“It’s about time our association
spoke to Sky and told them to find something more interesting to talk about than
asking about the track all the time.
“Quite frankly it gets boring and
repetitive. It would be much more interesting to talk about something else. Sky
meetings are usually on Monday nights. Why not ask riders about how they got on
in Poland on Sunday?”
While the circuit was put under the
microscope, Sky were enthusiastic in their praise of what was deemed a classic
meeting.
But was it such great entertainment?
Or would we rather see brilliant racing, as produced in heat 15 by Cameron
Woodward, without the numerous crashes?
The sort of racing, in fact, that has
made it such an enjoyable season at the Sussex track so far this year.
There often seems to be a suggestion
in some quarters that a lot of spills makes for entertainment.
Monday’s clash started off in great
style with Swindon going 10-2 up and then being pegged back.
Had it carried on that way rather
than develop into a stop-start night of re-runs and smashes, it would surely
have been a better spectacle than what we actually saw.
“For me, it dragged on too long,”
Dugard admitted of a meeting which ended at about 10.45pm on a cold night. “But
then the feedback I got was it was a great meeting. I actually took a lot of
entertainment value out of the track by grading so much.
“The track could have been a lot more
powerful that it actually was.
“Their promoter Alun Rossiter was
saying it was too deep around the outside but Cameron used that in heat 15 to
get us all three points. Eastbourne riders are generally able to cope with that.
“Nobody does it better than Lewis
Bridger, although occasionally he tries to get too much from it. But if the
public want entertainment and racing you have to have dirt on the track. Too
many riders are not capable of handling it and that’s what Leigh Adams said.”
Bridger races to
be fit
Injured Lewis Bridger is racing
against time to be fit for Eastbourne Eagles tonight.
The 19-year-old racer had hospital
treatment last night in a bid to make the tough-looking Elite League trip to
Swindon Robins (7.30pm).
He is one of several riders on both
sides bearing the wounds of Monday night’s battle of Arlington.
Bridger had a chunk taken out of his
calf muscle by a broken chain in heat 15. He initially had the wound dressed and
bandaged and was having further attention last night.
If he cannot ride, former Swindon
loanee James Wright, of Belle Vue, will step in.
Davey Watt, struggling with groin and
wrist injuries, has already been ruled out.
Former Eagles star Adam Shields, now
at Lakeside, guests in his place.
Eastbourne operate rider-replacement
for David Norris, who has arm and back injuries, while Chris Schramm again
replaces reserve Simon Gustafsson, who has a broken collarbone.
Bridger initially looked a certain
absentee.
Team manager Trevor Geer said: “Lewis
told me he couldn’t walk so I lined up a replacement.
“Then he told me he couldn’t walk but
he could sit on a bike so he could do the meeting.
“He had treatment last night and
we’ll see how he goes after that.”
Bridger is gearing up for a busy
weekend, revolving around his quarter-final in the World Under-21 Championship
at Rye House.
He has practice on Saturday and the
event, which is a key date on his calendar, on Sunday.
Bridger will nip back to Eastbourne
to ride in Saturday night’s league meeting at home to Wolves.
Like Eastbourne, Swindon lost three
riders to injury on Monday.
Krzysztof Stojanowski has been
declared fit after a check-up on his neck but Ryan Fisher and Jurica Pavlic miss
out.
Swindon: Adams, Batchelor, Pavlic
r/r, McGowan, Stead, Stojanowski, Gathercole.
Eagles: Shields, Norris r/r, Bridger
or Wright, Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Schramm.
All in a night's work for battered
Eagles
Battered and burned David Norris has
described Arlington’s night of carnage as good old-fashioned speedway.
Norris, who suffered third degree
burns after his arm caught in an opponent’s wheel, reckons the injury-hit
Eastbourne Eagles sent out a message to their high-flying opponents as they
battled to a 50-41 win on Monday.
A Sky Sports audience, plus about
1,000 fans at the stadium, watched as five riders pulled out of the meeting
through injury on a night of spills.
Norris followed Swindon’s Krzysztof
Stojanowski to hospital.
The Robins’ other reserve Ryan Fisher
also pulled out after taking what was a described by trackside announcer Kevin
Coombes as a blow to the crown jewels.
Davey Watt suffered a wrist injury
and Lewis Bridger two gashes to his left calf muscle in a heat-15 smash.
Cameron Woodward, lucky to escape
injury when Stojanowski ran over him in an earlier incident, came in for the
nominated race and produced a brilliant pass of Leigh Adams and Travis McGowan
to give Eagles all three points and keep Swindon off the top of the table.
Both teams are now counting their
walking wounded ahead of a re-match in Wiltshire tomorrow night.
Norris saw a burns specialist in East
Grinstead yesterday afternoon and will miss the next two weeks.
He said: “I’m disappointed it
happened. A break’s a break but this is different and I don’t like the look of
it.
“I still might have broken my
scaphoid but it’s too swollen to tell but I’ve got third degree burns on my
forearm the width of a tyre.
“It was a frustrating night for me in
that I couldn’t get a set-up but I was enjoying the action.
“It was old school, nobody giving an
inch.
“We were getting battered and bruised
but that showed what speedway riders are. It was hammer and tongs.”
Norris said track conditions had
nothing to do with the list of smashes, putting them down to two motivated sides
going full throttle.
He added: “The TV cameras were there
and you can’t lose against Eastbourne because everybody has slated us and
written us off.
“They are mighty Swindon and they are
going for it and we’re not going to give an inch.
“People will still knock us. They
won’t take us seriously but that’s where our team spirit comes from.
“Chris Schramm wins a heat and we’re
all over the fence cheering him. It’s a great team to be in.
“We fight as team and that’s why we
won the meeting. We were down to our last rider to go out in heat 15 and Cam
goes out and produces the ride of his life.”
Norris admitted he could smell his
skin burning after clashing with Troy Batchelor, who was slow to stop after the
red lights went on.
But the Eagles star, who is also
nursing a back injury, added: “Not one rider backed off and we all respect each
other.
“I had a go at the geezer who did it
to me but he said sorry and I shook his hand. It’s almost what it’s all about.”
Both sides are counting the cost of
what Sky commentator Nigel Pearson described as one of the most dramatic nights
in league speedway history.
Bridger admits he is doubtful for
tomorrow’s meeting and hopes to be fit for Sunday’s World Under-21 Championship
quarter-final at Rye House.
Watt was already struggling with a
groin injury so Eagles are likely to put a guest on standby while Schramm again
deputises for Simon Gustafsson, who has a broken collarbone.
Woodward the hero
as Eagles claim thrilling win
Cameron Woodward produced the ride of
a lifetime to keep Eastbourne Eagles’ perfect home record intact last night.
The Aussie was called into heat 15 at
the last second and passed both GP star Leigh Adams and Travis McGowan in a
world class move off bend four third time around to clinch a 50-41 win over
Swindon.
But joy at beating the leaders was
diluted by three new injury worries.
David Norris was the main concern on
a long night of crashes, exclusions and re-runs.
He suffered burns and a suspected
fractured wrist in a crash with Troy Batchelor in heat ten.
Norris followed Swindon reserve
Krzysztof Stojanowski to hospital, the Pole taking a nasty tumble with Woodward
in the previous race.
Lewis Bridger also ended the night in
hospital having a leg wound, caused by a flying chain in the first running of
the nominated race, stitched up.
The flying chain also caught Davey
Watt on the wrist, meaning Woodward and Lukas Dryml had to step in for the final
race.
The Robins' other reserve Ryan Fisher
left the meeting early after taking a blow to a delicate area.
Swindon, who led 10-2 early on, had
to go with three riders in three heats and ended up empty-handed.
The sides meet again in Wiltshire on
Thursday and both have fitness problems.
Eagles manager Trevor Geer said:
"Davey Watt was struggling with his groin and now has another injury.
"He has got a few days rest so we'll
see how he goes, although he can still move his fingers.
"Lewis has a big hole in his leg and
it's not good at all.
"And David Norris didn't look good in
the pits. He certainly has some bad abrasions on his arm."
When Jurica Pavlic was excluded from
heat 12 for going flying into the air fence, we had the unusual sight of Bridger
and Ricky Kling racing each other with no opposition rider on the track.
Even more bizarrely, that was one of
two 5-0s for the hosts.
The other came in heat seven when
Pavlic, the red hot Croatian prospect getting his first taste of Arlington, fell
as he pursued Kling.
Just as Pavlic went down on bend two
on lap three, Batchelor also bit the dust behind him and over-worked referee
Chris Gay excluded them both, ruling the falls were unrelated.
That gave Eagles a 5-0 heat advantage
and a 22-19 lead, their first advantage of the night.
The second 5-0 opened a 40-30 buffer
and set up Adams to take a double-points ride in the next heat.
Adams duly beat home Watt for a 7-2
to keep the meeting alive.
However lone Robins rider Batchelor
got the start all wrong in heat 14 and recovered too late to catch Woodward and
the improving Kling.
So Eagles led by nine going into heat
15 but any thoughts they would comfortably take all three points were forgotten
as their two riders were injured.
Woodward and out-of-sorts Lukas Dryml
were summoned for the re-run but unbeaten Adams and Travis McGowan looked set to
plunder the 5-1 which would rescue a bonus point for Swindon.
Then Woodward worked his magic.
"What a fantastic ride by Cameron,"
Geer said: "I knew he would never give up.
"Leigh Adams didn't expect Cameron to
come past him like that."
The evening could not have got off to
a worse start for Eastbourne as they conceded 5-1s in the first two heats.
Adams and McGowan burst away from the
gate in heat one, then reserves Fisher and Stojanowski were equally convincing
to give the Robins a 10-2 lead.
The reply Eagles needed came in heat
three when first Woodward, then Bridger powered outside Batchelor for a home
maximum.
Chris Schramm followed that with his
first heat win in Eagles colours to peg back the deficit to two points.
At that stage it was developing into
a very good meeting for a chilly Arlington crowd and television viewers.
The various stoppages did little for
the overall spectacle of a meeting which took more than three hours to get
through.
But those who stayed to the end got
their reward.
Watt aims to get Eagles firing again
SKIPPER Davey Watt is hoping a day of
rest and treatment can help him put Eastbourne Eagles back on course after a bad
night in Essex.
Eagles’ first away meeting since Good
Friday turned into Black Friday when their injury-hit side lost 57-36 at
Lakeside.
Three days on, they have the perfect
chance to make amends as they tackle current leaders, and many people’s title
tips, Swindon Robins at Arlington tonight (7.30) before the television cameras.
Watt suffered a groin injury in his
first ride in Essex and, although he managed two points in his second scheduled
heat, he then withdrew from the meeting.
Eagles were already missing David
Norris, ruled out by a back problem, on top of the longer-term absence of Simon
Gustafsson with a broken collarbone.
To add to their misery, Lewis Bridger
seemed to run into mechanical problems after two impressive heat wins, taking
just one point from a possible 15 over the rest of the meeting.
Norris is expected to be back against
the Robins tonight while Chris Schramm continues to deputise for Gustafsson.
Watt insisted last night he should be
there, although he had a below-par 4+1 (5) for Wroclaw as they lost at home to
Torun in the Polish top flight yesterday.
The Aussie had planned to go to
Poland for testing and practice on Saturday. He still made the trip but turned
it into a day designed to get him fit for forthcoming meetings, both in England
and mainland Europe.
He said: “I went to see the doctor
about my groin and it seems like it will be a bit painful but okay.
“I've had some massage and just want
to get on with my racing.
“It happened in my first race. I just
got out of shape and made a bit of a mess of things and pulled my groin.
“It was unfortunate but we all have a
bit of bad luck from time to time.”
Watt, whose regular weekly programme
also includes Tuesday night meetings for champions Lejonen in Sweden, is ready
for some pain.
He said: “It's okay if it hurts a
little bit but I just need to be able to get in a comfortable enough position on
the bike.”
Eagles will want Watt to fully firing
in his tussles with Swindon skipper Leigh Adams, surely the best rider in the
league despite what the early season averages might show.
They have yet to drop a point in four
home league matches but there are uncanny similarities with last season which
will trouble superstitious fans.
It was on this Monday night TV slot a
year ago that Poole handed Eastbourne a first Arlington defeat of the season, in
front of the cameras, as home skipper Lee Richardson withdrew during the meeting
with a recurrence of an ongoing injury.
Eagles really need big nights from
their top five with the reserves chipping in where they can in Gustafsson’s
absence.
Watt said: “Lakeside was
disappointing but this is a different story.
“We are racing at home, where we have
proved ourselves so far.”
Team manager Trevor Geer is equally
confident of success in the latest in a series of significant tests for his
side, who host second-placed Wolverhampton on Saturday.
Geer said: “I would be bitterly
disappointed to drop any home points.”
Children are being offered free
admission tonight if attending with a paying adult. Eagles are also giving away
£1,000 in prize money, in the shape of £100 vouchers hidden in ten lucky match
programmes.
The club have often handed out free
tickets to boost their crowds for televised meetings in the past.
Promoter Bob Dugard said: “By doing
this we feel that our regular fans, indeed the people who matter most to us,
will reap the rewards and in the process could win themselves a nice cash
prize.”
l Bridger scored seven points from
five rides, including a heat win, in Czestochowa’s 51-39 win at Gorzow in Poland
yesterday.
Eagles: Watt, Norris, Bridger,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Schramm.
Swindon: Adams, McGowan, Pavlic,
Batchelor, Stead, Stojanowski, Fisher.
Elite League standings: Swindon (7
meetings) 19, Wolverhampton (8) 17, Lakeside (9) 17, Coventry (10) 17,
Peterborough (9) 14, Eagles (7) 14, Ipswich (8) 10, Belle Vue (8) 6, Poole (12)
6
Norris doubtful for TV clash
from Eastbourne Herald
by
Alison Birch
Dave Norris is facing a race against time to be fit for Eastbourne Eagles' Sky
TV match against Swindon Robins on Monday.
He may even withdraw from the following meeting away to Lakeside Hammers next
Friday with the back injury he suffered in the win over Ipswich Witches last
Saturday.
Norris said, "I'm on medication for my back and don't want to miss any meetings,
specially a Sky match but I am hopeful of being fit."
Eagles lost out on securing points for an away loss by just one point away to
the Robins at the beginning of April when the score stood at 49-41.
A six-point deficit would have secured the Eagles a vital Elite League point,
but Norris is positive that the Eagles can win this time.
He continued, "We are going into this meeting as the underdogs and we are still
being underestimated as a winning team.
"We were unlucky before but we are a strong side at home and can win. I am
looking forward to it!"
Eagles manager Trevor Geer said, "It will be a close match but I am positive of
a win. If we can get three points from it, I'll be happy.
"Dave will be okay for the meeting against Swindon. He has had a really great
start to the season and has exceeded all my expectations, especially after a
year out."
Norris has also been pleasantly surprised at his start to the season. He added,
"I'm doing better than I ever expected I would but it is good to be back.
"I still really enjoy it and, after 20 years in this sport, it's still the best
for me. The team atmosphere is great, there are no superstars in the team and we
always cheer each other on. The team spirit is really high, especially at home."
Meanwhile, in-form Swedish hot shot Simon Gustafsson is out for three to four
weeks. He injured his collarbone after colliding with Poole's Chris Holder while
riding for his Swedish club Indianerna on Tuesday.
Eagles: 1. Watt, 2. Norris, 3. Bridger, 4. Woodward, 5. Dryml, 6. Kling, 7.
Schramm.
Robins: 1. Adams, 2. McGowan, 3. Pavlic, 4. Batchelor, 5. Stead, 6. Stojanowski,
7. Fisher.

Eagles' job has got tougher
Trevor Geer admits
the odds have lengthened against his side scoring a welcome away
win tonight.
But the Eastbourne
Eagles team manager insists his men can still aim for at least a
point as they go to Lakeside Hammers in the Elite League (8pm).
Eagles have raced
just one full league meeting on the road so far this term but
four solid home wins have kept them among the pacesetters.
They lost at Swindon,
then drew a curtailed meeting at Poole before suffering three
successive away rain-offs.
Now they find
themselves without star reserve Simon Gustafsson as they tackle
a Lakeside outfit who have taken eight points out of nine on
home shale to date.
Geer said: “Every
meeting this year we have surprised a few people and it’s a
shame we have had these rain-offs, otherwise I think we would be
top of the league now.
“We learned a lot
from going to Lakeside in the cup and we will all be better
prepared this time.
“I think if anyone is
going to beat them at home it should be us. It’s a track we
should be riding well.
“Losing Simon damages
us, though. He has been going so well at reserve.
“I still think we can
beat Lakeside, or at least get a point, but it will be a tough
one.”
Eastbourne, who were
beaten by 19 at Lakeside in a cup tie this season, need to lose
by less than seven to grab a point.
A draw is worth two
points and a win three, or four if the margin is seven or more.
Lakeside, missing the
injured Joonas Kylmakorpi, name young British prospect Robert
Mear at reserve.
Lakeside: Shields,
Davidsson,Richardson, Kylmakorpi r/r, Nieminen, Mear, Robson.
Eagles: Watt, Norris,
Bridger, Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Schramm.
Gustafsson sets comeback target
Injured Eastbourne
star Simon Gustafsson has set himself a deadline of June 1 to be
back in action.
The high-scoring
18-year-old Eagles reserve suffered a broken collarbone in a
smash in the Swedish top flight on Tuesday.
He was allowed home
later that evening but has been ruled out of racing for between
four and six weeks.
His absence is a
potentially massive setback to Eagles’ encouraging Elite League
campaign, which continues at Lakeside Hammers tomorrow (8pm).
Recently signed No. 8
Chris Schramm is available for the trip to Essex as well as
Monday’s televised home clash with high-flying Swindon Robins.
Gustafsson was
leading a race for Indianerna when he was clipped by Chris
Holder in the defeat at champions Lejonen, for whom Davey Watt
top-scored.
The young Swede has
absolved Holder of blame for the collision on a difficult track
but admits he is disapointed to be sitting out several weeks of
what has so far been an excellent season.
Gustafsson said: “Of
course I want to be back as early as I can but not too early.
“If you do that and
something stupid happens you might be out for another six weeks.
“I’ll wait three
weeks and see what’s happening and how I’m feeling.
“I’ve got my world
under-21 team qualifier in Germany on June 1 and I expect that
will be my first meeting back.”
Gustafsson felt well
enough to travel to Norkopping last night with his father Henka,
who was due to race for his new club Rospiggarna in the
Elitserien.
The Eagles No. 7
said: “I’m on painkillers and I feel all right generally.
“I can’t complain
about anything this season so far.
“My starts have been
working really well, my engines have been good.
“I will try and keep
that standard up and come back fitter and faster.”
Gustafsson’s injury,
while a blow in the short term, also has potentially serious
longer-term implications for Eastbourne.
The club are anxious
for their young star to race 12 league meetings, of which at
least five must be at home, to qualify for a new and more
realistic average.
Until he gets that
far, they can only replace him with their No.8 or a National
League guest when he is away on an international commitment or,
as now, injured.
The signing of
Schramm has proved to be timely in terms of damage limitation,
although he is unlikely to bring in the points Gustafsson would
have managed.
Eagles will now look
to Ricky Kling to provide a boost from the reserve berths at
Lakeside against his parent club.
The Hammers are not
without problems of their own for this second cross-Thames derby
of the current league campaign.
They were hoping to
bring in Tomasz Jedrzejak in place of injured Joonas Kylmakorpi
tomorrow.
However the Polish
rider is unwell, forcing Lakeside to stick with
rider-replacement.
Top pair Lee
Richardson and Adam Shields, both former Eastbourne heat
leaders, are ineligible to take a ride for Kylmakorpi, who has a
broken elbow.
Bridger: I'll be fit for derby date
Lewis Bridger has
assured Eastbourne fans he will be fit for derby day.
The 19-year-old
Eagles star pulled out of his top-flight Polish meeting for
Czestochowa on Sunday.
Bridger suffered
shoulder damage when falling in heat 13 of Eagles’ win over
Ipswich but has vowed to race at Lakeside in Friday’s
re-arranged Elite League tussle. Eagles also face high-flying
Swindon at Arlington next Monday.
Bridger said: “I’ve
done some muscle damage and taken some skin off but I’ll be okay
by the weekend.”
Eastbourne will be at
full strength as they go to a Lakeside circuit where Bridger won
the British Under-21 Championship recently.
He added: “We’ve got
to go there and make starts.
“It’s always slick up
there but we know what to expect.”
Eastbourne promoter
Bob Dugard has taken a dig at his Lakeside counterparts by
offering his men a special practice session on Thursday.
Dugard said: “I’ll be
making the track like ice so they can test out engines for
Lakeside.”
Meanwhile, new Eagles
No. 8 Chris Schramm has set his sights on more Elite League
outings after standing in for Simon Gustafsson against the
Witches.
The former Ipswich
rider said: “I wanted to come back into the Elite League and
give it a good shot.
“If you want to move
forward you have got to ride with people who are far quicker
than you.
“Everybody in this
league is far quicker than me at the moment.
“That’s what
hopefully is going to pull me forward.”
Russian champ edges closer
Eastbourne Eagles
chief Bob Dugard has told the Arlington faithful: “The Russian
champion is on his way.”
Dugard expects to
introduce Denis Gizatullin to his Elite League outfit in the
coming weeks.
Gizatullin’s arrival
has been delayed by red-tape complications but he has now passed
an English test he was required to take as part of his work
permit application.
Dugard said: “We have
now applied for a second entry visa which will take three or
four weeks to go through.
“Everything at his
end has been done.
“I think we will
bring him in. He will add an extra dimension to the bottom end
of the team.
“If you are going to
win this league the time to really come on strong is July and
August.”
Reserve Ricky Kling
looks most at threat should Gizatullin, who has a bargain
four-point average, come in.
Kling enjoyed two
heat wins in the home success over Ipswich last Saturday,
including a fine success over Danny King, and Dugard would not
confirm who would probably make way for Gizatullin, providing no
injuries are suffered in the coming weeks.
He said: “I think it
is probably pretty obvious what we will do but the main thing is
we will have options either way.
“We will have the
choice to stay with what we have got and pay Denis off or bring
him in.”
Eagles expect to have
Simon Gustafsson and Lukas Dryml back on Friday for their
re-arranged trip to Lakeside.
The Hammers are
unbeaten at home and this will be Eagles’ first away fixture
since their draw at Poole on Good Friday.
Eagles's Norris hails strength in depth
Delighted David
Norris believes Eastbourne Eagles have proved they can get by
without their youngest rising star after another impressive home
win.
Norris and skipper
Davey Watt led the way with double-digit hauls as Eagles saw off
a decent Ipswich outfit 52-40 on Saturday.
The winning bonus
point, secured in heat 15, maintained Eagles’ perfect record
around Arlington in four Elite League meetings under the new
scoring system.
They had to overturn
an early 11-7 deficit for this latest success and manage without
teenage hot-shot Simon Gustafsson as well as popular Lukas
Dryml, who were both on international duty.
Rider-replacement for
Dryml brought wins from the first three heats and might have
reeled in 11 points from 12 had the somewhat hit-and-miss Lewis
Bridger not fallen chasing Jarek Hampel in heat 13.
New No. 8 Chris
Schramm did not bring in anything like the points Gustafsson
would have managed but he was competitive, pretty fast out of
the gate and might have scored more than he did.
Meanwhile, fellow
reserve Ricky Kling emerged from Gustafsson’s shadow to win the
reserves’ race and then add an excellent heat 14 success ahead
of the lively Danny King to leave his side on the brink of
maximum points.
Watt had the final
say in his evening-long battle with Hampel in heat 15, easing
away from the gate while Norris completed the 4-2 in his first
nominated race of the year.
Norris, whose haul
included an exciting win over hard-racing Piotr Swiderski in
heat six, admitted: “It feels brilliant.
“It was an
exceptionally hard meeting. They got off to a flier and they
have got some really good riders.
“Our massive problem
was to try and cover for Simon.
“Chris Schramm was
fantastic and the points he scored were so vital. He let me by
in a race and he got me going.
“It’s a valid
victory. It’s almost like Man United putting out a second squad
to prove to people they have got strength in depth.
“We have done that
tonight. I’ve had my first double figure score of the year and
it has only taken two months!”
Norris was all packed
up and nursing an aching back when the heat 15 call came.
He was right to be
delighted with his efforts against one of his old clubs on a
night when Eagles, watched by an encouraging crowd of 1,300,
needed their big guns to fire.
Hampel is always a
threat. He beat Watt twice to spoil the home captain’s maximum
and it took something special from the Aussie to come off the
final bend and pip the Pole to win a thrilling heat 11.
Watt also beat King
when the Ipswich man went for double points in heat ten, though
a fall for Norris ruined an Eagles 5-1 and kept Witches in the
hunt for a point.
Although they
survived this time, Eagles will be keen to get Gustafsson to the
12-meeting mark.
He will then receive
a realistic average, opening up extra options to replace him
when he is away.
Norris knows that,
like Dryml or Cameron Woodward, he might end up at reserve but
that will not worry Eastbourne’s record points scorer.
He added: “When Simon
jumps into the team who are you going to put at reserve? Me?
Cam?
“That’s a good team.
Simon will blow them away whatever number he rides at and the
whole thing is a strong set-up.”
Simon Gustafsson is
through to the semi-finals of the World Under-21 Championship
after winning the Swedish round with 13 (5) on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Lukas
Dryml scored ten points to help the Czech Republic through to
the World Team Cup semi-finals.
Eagles still perfect at home
Eastbourne Eagles
maintained their perfect home record with a 52-40 defeat of
Ipswich in the Elite Leagiue tonight.
They came back from
an early four-point deficit for a comfortable win, despite the
absence of Lukas Dryml and Simon Gustafsson on international
duty.
Davey Watt was
defeated twice by Jarek Hampel but also beat the Pole with a
superb last-bend pass in the race of the night in heat 11.
The home skipper also
beat Hampel from the gate in heat 15 to ensure Eagles took all
three points for the fourth tiime in as many home meetings.
David Norris had his
first double-figure haul of the year, earning a heat 15 call in
the process.
Danny King top scored
for the Witches, though he was beaten by Watt when taking a
tactical ride in heat ten.
Eagles: Watt 15+1
(6), Norris 11+1 (6), Bridger 9 (5), Woodward 8+2 (5), Kling 6
(4), Schramm 3+1 (4), Dryml r/r.
Ipswich: King 14
(6)^, Hampel 11 (5), Stachyra 5+2 (6), Wilkinson 5+1 (4),
Swiderski 3 (4), Lanham 2+2 (5), Kroner r/r
British title so special for Bridger
Lewis Bridger insists
he did not have tears in his eyes when he was crowned the new
under-21 British champion but admits it was a special feeling.
The Eastbourne Eagles
star roared to a 15-heat maximum in the qualifiers before making
it six of the best by beating off the challenge of reigning
champion Tai Woffinden to take the silverware at Lakeside.
The Bexhill rider has
missed out twice before, but made no mistakes this time as he
led all his heats from start to finish before leaving Woffinden,
Joe Haines and Ben Barker trailing in the grand final.
Bridger, 19, said:
“It’s great to achieve such a big thing so early in the season.
It’s nice to be able to add that to my portfolio.
“It’s great
especially as all the limelight was on Tai. He was rated over me
but I have started the season so well. To go undefeated in the
under-21s is a great feeling to have and shows I am on the right
track. I concentrated 110% and I made it happen.”
His granddad, Tony
Thompson, reckoned Bridger had tears in his eyes after the
meeting but the cool teenager was not so sure.
He said: “I wasn’t
aware of that but Tai said the same and it obviously meant a lot
to me.
“It’s a great feeling
knowing that I can go to every meeting now and be announced as
the British under-21 champion.
“It is also great for
the club and it is nice to add my silverware to what we won last
season.
“I would like to
thank the club because without Eastbourne speedway I wouldn’t be
where I am now because they gave me the break in the first
place.
“I also have to thank
Neville Tatum, my engine tuner, who has done some awesome
equipment for me this season.”
Lewis Bridger crowned
British under-21 champion
Lewis Bridger has
been crowned British Under 21 Champion.
The Eastbourne Eagle
ace saw off the challenge of 2008 Champion, Tai Woffinden, of
Wolves and Coventry's Ben Barker to claim the crown at Lakeside.
Bridger’s scores
scores: 3,3,3,3,3 =15 (maximum).
CONGRATULATIONS to LEWIS
Eagles chief welcomes decision on Kennett fee
Eastbourne Eagles
promoter Bob Dugard says he is delighted with the £29,000 fee
the club will receive from Coventry Bees for Edward Kennett.
The Arlington chief
attended an arbitration hearing yesterday to thrash out a
transfer fee after Coventry offered £15,000 for a rider Eagles
valued at £40,000.
Kennett, 22, has been
riding for Bees this season after requesting a move during the
winter and is one of the top riders in the country at present
according to the averages.
Dugard said: “The
meeting was at 10.30am this morning and when I got back to my
desk at 4pm there was an email waiting which said they have
fixed a fee of £29,000 plus VAT.
“We asked for £40,000
and they offered £15,000 so the transfer fee favours us and is
in our balance “We feel totally vindicated in asking for our fee
and I’m delighted.
“It’s not like
football so we’re not talking those sort of numbers but it’s
probably the biggest fee in the sport for a while.”
He added: “The matter
is totally settled now and I just want my money. I have already
sent off an invoice.
“A fee should have
been paid before the start of the season but that was delayed by
the arbitration.
“I am hoping they
will now pay up quickly.”
Dugard had threatened
to scrap Eagles’ famed junior track if he did not get a
realistic fee for Kennett.
The Arlington chief
said he would have no interest in bringing through young riders
who could then be taken by other clubs at bargain prices.
Eagles happy
with Kennett fee
Eastbourne Eagles
will receive a transfer fee of £29,000 plus VAT from Coventry
for rider Edward Kennett following the decision of an
arbitration panel today.
The Eagles valued
Kennett, 22 and third best British rider in the league according
to averages, at £40,000 while Coventry Bees offered £15,000.
Kennett has been
riding for Bees this season after requesting a move during the
winter
Eagles
flaunt their strength in depth
Eastbourne's Davey
Watt admits the danger can come from anywhere in his Eagles
line-up.
And if the skipper
cannot predict who will be top man, how on earth can the
opposition know what to expect?
Watt partnered
Cameron Woodward for a match-crowing 5-1 in heat 15 as Eagles
hammered early season Elite League leaders Lakeside 55-41 at
Arlington.
Yes, hammered.
Although Lakeside could have pinched a losing bonus point with a
5-1 in heat 15, they never looked like getting it and it would
have been a travesty if they had.
Apart from the
admirable ex-Eagles duo of Adam Shields and Lee Richardson, they
were hopelessly outgunned and would have been trounced without
one double points win apiece for that pair and two unfortunate
falls by Eastbourne.
And, yes, Woodward in
heat 15. The same Woodward being tipped for an imminent reserve
berth as he struggled in early season.
This time he was paid
for more points than any of his team-mates, 12 from five rides.
That means in the last six meetings, four different Eagles have
top scored in terms of paid points.
All seven Eagles
shared in at least one 5-1 and all seven had at least one paid
win. In fact, popular Lukas Dryml was the only home man not to
take a chequered flag.
Lowest scorer Ricky
Kling outpointed all but Shields and Richardson of the Hammers.
That is why Eagles pride themselves on strength in depth.
Watt, who gradually
worked up momentum as the meeting progressed, said: “It was
brilliant. We had a good team to ride against and every one of
the boys rode really well.
“We had some issues.
A couple of the boys had a little of trouble and I didn’t have a
great night but we still pulled through.
“They threw two
tactical rides at us and did well out of both of them and we
still won by a whole bunch of points so I’m really happy with
everyone.”
Lewis Bridger went
flying when his throttle cable snapped in heat three, just as it
seemed he was going to share a 5-1 with Woodward which would
have opened a 14-4 lead.
Then, with Eagles
poised to secure a three-point win in heat 14, Simon Gustafsson
pushed a bit too hard in a thrilling attack on Jonas Davidsson
and fell just yards from the line.
The young Swede could
have quite easily cruised through for second but that is not the
mentality which has got him to where he is, still weeks short of
his 19th birthday.
So a 5-1 for the
impressive Shields and the still unbeaten Richardson in heat 15
would have nicked an unmerited point for Lakeside, who badly
missed injured ex-Eagle Joonas Kylmakorpi.
They won the toss and
took gates one and three but the hosts got a dream start as Watt
kept Richardson pinned inside and Woodward hurtled around the
outside.
Woodward was a
surprise nomination for some fans although they needed to be
aware that, under complex eligibility rules depending on match
score and average, Bridger was not allowed to run in heat 15.
Watt said: “I was
more than happy to have Cameron in the race with me and it
worked out great.
“I did exactly what I
said I wanted to do, to get over the top of Lee Richardson and
let Cameron have all the room he needed to get right around the
outside.”
Do not under-estimate
the roles of David Norris, Dryml and Kling on a night when,
including those falls for Bridger and Gustafsson, Eagles had
just three scoreless rides.
Norris was especially
impressive in holding off Shields to win heat one.
“We are all gaining
confidence in each other,” Watt said. “That can only lead to
better things.”
Standings: Coventry
(5 meetings) 13, Eastbourne (5) 11, Lakeside (6), 11, Swindon
(3) 7, Wolverhampton (3) 6, Peterboroigh (4) 6, Belle Vue (4) 3,
Poole (6) 3, Ipswich (4) 2.
Eagles: Watt 11 (5),
Woodward 10+2 (5), Gustafsson 10+1 (5), Norris 7+2 (4), Dryml
6+3 (4), Bridger 6+1 (4), Kling 5+1 (3).
Lakeside: Richardson
15 (5), Shields 11 (5), Davidsson 5 (5), Nieminen 4 (5), Mills
3+1 (6), Robson 2 (4), Kylmakorpi r/r.
Dugard:
Biggest test yet
Eastbourne Eagles
boss Bob Dugard has revealed why tonight’s home clash with
Lakeside could be one of the biggest tests of the season.
The cross-Thames
rivals meet at Arlington (7.30pm) for their first Elite League
derby of the year after last night’s meeting at Thurrock was
rained off.
Lakeside have already
knocked Eagles out of the KO Cup and are second in the table
with the Sussex side just one place below them.
Dugard is confident
his side can be title challengers but concedes tonight’s meeting
will give him a better idea of their prospects.
The Eastbourne
promoter said: “This meeting could be key to our season.
“When we met them
here in the KO Cup they had already had a big win at home and
they didn’t need to really turn the pressure up in the second
leg.
“They will be out for
serious points this time and it will be a test for us to
withstand that.”
Lakeside have been
linked with a call-up for Tomasz Jedrzejak in place of the
injured Joonas Kylmakorpi but boss Jon Cook last night said he
would run rider-replacement for the Finn, whose absence is not
expected to be long term.
Eagles are at full
strength as they bid for a fifth home win out of five so far
this season.
Reserve Ricky Kling,
who is riding for Eagles on loan from Lakeside, will be as keen
as anyone to post a big score.
Kling’s form has been
hit and miss in early season and wheels are in motion to bring
in Russian champion Denis Gizatullin, who would be a ready-made
replacement.
Gizatullin takes an
Englsh test in Moscow on Tuesday as part of his immigration
application.
If he passes, he
could be available in three weeks and, while his four-point
average means he could replace any current Eagle, Kling’s form
leaves him most at risk.
It did not escape
Dugard that Gizatullin scored 11+2 (5) for Rybnik in the Polish
second tier last Sunday, in only his second meeting of the
season, while team mate Kling managed just 6+1 (5).
Meanwhile the delayed
arbitration hearing to decide a transfer fee for Edward Kennett
has been set for Wednesday morning.
Kennett, now with
Coventry, went into the season with an average of 7.11,
excluding bonus points. That has rocketed to 9.17 already this
season, which will be music to Dugard’s ears as he looks to
secure a fee of £30,000 or more.
Coventry beat ailing
Poole 50-43 at Brandon last night to replace Lakeside on top of
the table.
Eagles: Watt, Norris,
Bridger, Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Gustafsson.
Lakeside: Shields,
Nieminen, Davidsson, Kylmakorpi r/r, Richardson, Mills, Robson.
Gustafsson is giving his dad nightmares
Rising star Simon
Gustafsson has got his famous dad worried with his stunning
start to the season.
The 18-year-old
Swedish reserve has been notching double figure scores on a
regular basis for Eastbourne Eagles.
He will be a key man
as Eagles face league leaders Lakeside on each of the next two
evenings.
Fans and management
alike at Arlington are delighted to see potential begin to be
realised so dramatically after a testing debut season.
His dad Henka, the
former World Cup rider, shares that delight but knows he could
be on the receiving end.
Father and son have
ridden for the same top-flight team in Sweden until now but a
winter transfer by Henka, 38, means they go head to head in the
opening round of meetings a week on Tuesday.
Stopping one of the
hottest young properties in the sport is quite a challenge, even
for his dad.
“This year he is
looking unbelievable,” Henka said. “He’s looking more mature.
He’s not 19 until May and there will still be one or two dips
but at the moment he is looking really good.
“I’m a bit worried.
We’re racing against him and I might have a little look at some
of that machinery he has got there beforehand!
“It will be the first
time we’ve raced against each other in proper league stuff.”
A series of wins in
reserve races plus scalps such as Chris Holder, Bjarne Pedersen
and Simon Stead mean Gustafsson junior is on his way out of the
Eastbourne reserve berths as soon as new averages come into
play.
He will be a big
factor at Lakeside tonight (8.00) and Arlington tomorrow (7.30)
as Eagles look to underline their bright start to the season.
Gustafsson the Eagle
puts his great form down partly to gaining experience and partly
to a winter training regime.
Top Swedish
performers in various motorcycle disciplines were brought
together in Stockholm at the beginning and the end of the close
season.
They were given
winter training regimes, then tested to see if they had stuck to
them Henka said: “The federation got them working but Simon has
always been very keen on training in the winter anyway.
“He did some work
with me in the construction industry for a couple of weeks as
well.”
Gustafsson junior
reckons it was the type rather than volume of exercise which got
his slight frame even more streamlined.
He revealed: “I’ve
been doing more running, more stretching, less gym and I’ve lost
2kg.
“I’ve really got my
mind into it. I just want to win the next race.
“I feel like I can
beat anyone if I make the gate and that’s how you’ve got to
think.”
A few of the cynics
who wrote Eastbourne off as likely wooden spoonists will now be
looking at Gustafsson’s move from reserve as a problem for his
team.
It need not be. Any
of the current top five would plunder plenty of points from a
reserve berth.
There also remains
the prospect of Russian champion Denis Gizatullin coming in at
some stage, if necessary.
Eagles have no
immediate plans to make a change but Ricky Kling could do with a
couple of good meetings against the club from whom he joined
Eastbourne on loan.
Lakeside are weakened
this weekend by the loss of Joonas Kylmakorpi with a broken
elbow.
His partnership with
Lee Richardson was arguably the key to Lakeside’s 19-point home
win over Eagles recently which smoothed their way through a
two-leg Knockout Cup tie.
Eagles team manager
Trevor Geer knows Kylmakorpi well. His son Chris is the Finn’s
mechanic and the rider often stays at the Geers’ house in
Polegate.
Young Gustafsson is
also a regular overnight guest.
“A great lad, very
mature for his age,” said Geer of his star No. 7.
“He has got very good
technique on the track, never looks in trouble at all and,
because he has grown up with speedway around him thanks to his
dad, he just wants to get to the top.”
Belief is gradually
increasing throughout the Eagles camp that Gustafsson’s rise
could include a part in a title challenge this season.
The next two nights
might tell us how realistic that belief is.
Meanwhile, Eagles’
Elite League meeting at Ipswich last night was washed out at
7pm. A steady drizzle had turned into steady rain by this time,
and referee Phil Griffin had no option than to call a halt.
Lakeside: Shields,
Davidsson, Richardson, Kylmakorpi r/r, Nieminem, Morris, Robson
Eagles: Watt, Norris, Bridger, Woodward, Dryml, Kling,
Gustafsson.
Watt plots
GP course
Eastbourne skipper
Davey Watt has set his sights on a Grand Prix place next year
after passing his first test in style.
Watt, who leads
full-strength Eagles at Ipswich tonight (7.30pm), won a tough
quarter-final in the qualifying process which will give three
riders a ticket to the 2010 GP series.
He beat Jarek Hampel
in a race-off for first place after the pair had topped a
quality field including Chris Harris, Freddie Lindgren,
Niels-Kristian Iversen, Antonio Lindback and former Eagle Edward
Kennett, who failed to qualify.
Watt and Hampel go
head to head again tonight as No.1 riders for their respective
Elite League clubs.
Although GP
qualifiers are all about getting through, Watt was also
delighted to be top of the podium after being robbed of the
chance to qualify last season by problems with the flight to his
semi-final at Motala in Sweden.
His last-minute
stand-in Kenneth Bjerre qualified instead.
Now Watt is back on
course after winning five out of six rides at Pocking in Germany
on Sunday.
He said: “I knew I
had my work cut out when I saw the line-up. It looked like the
toughest of the quarter-finals. Winning the meeting shows I mean
business.
“Not being in the GP
is one of those things that, if I thought about it too much,
would drive me insane.
“What-ifs and if-onlys
will win me every race but you can’t change things now.
“The way I look at
it, I’m not in the GPs because I didn’t qualify, not because my
flight was cancelled.”
Eagles chase their
first away league win of the season tonight against an Ipswich
outfit who are bottom of the table but beat leaders Lakeside
46-44 at Foxhall on Good Friday.
Watt, whose side were
pushed down to third by Coventry’s amazing 63-32 win at Poole
last night, said: “We’re not trying to prove everyone wrong,
we’re trying to prove to ourselves we can be a good team.”
Ipswich: Hampel,
Risager, Kroner, King, Swiderski, Stachyra, Wilkinson.
Eagles: Watt, Norris,
Bridger, Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Gustafsson.
Dugard plans to keep Eagles in title hunt
EASTBOURNE chief Bob
Dugard admits he is already planning how to keep his side in the
Elite League title race.
Eagles are second in
the table after a five-point haul off Poole on Good Friday.
They face a trip to
Ipswich on Thursday before back-to-back fixtures with leaders
Lakeside away on Friday and at Arlington on Saturday.
Reserve Simon
Gustafsson has been at the heart of Eagles’ best results but he
will probably move into the main body of the team next month.
Dugard is also wary
the Swedish teenager could be called away for international
events, with no scope for an equivalent stand-in under his
current average.
The Eagles promoter
said: “Simon’s average should take him into the middle of May
and I’m sure he will have no problems in the main body of the
team when he moves up.
“My worry is that if
we lose him to another meeting before then we will have to use
our No. 8 to replace him.
“I’m writing to the
management committee asking them to review that.
“It seems a strange
regulation when you have an international rider going at No. 7
and riding well above his official average, as Simon is.”
Gustafsson is
starting the season on 4.28 and his new average to reflect his
performances this season will come into play after 12 league
meetings, at least of which five must be at home.
He will then, almost
certainly, move into the top five and Eagles will be able to
replace him with a guest of a similar average when he is called
away for events like international under-21 meetings.
Dugard was delighted
with the 51-44 Good Friday win over Poole which was secured in
heavy rain after 660kg of sawdust was worked into the track.
He said: “The fans
seemed to appreciate out efforts but I was astounded when Poole
requested a track inspection.
“I’m still a bit
disappointed about the crowd, which was 1,051, but I’m sure half
our fans never even thought we would race in that weather.
“I think we’re
showing we’re a side who can be in the shake-up at the end of
the season.”
Standings: Lakeside
(5 meetings) 11, Eagles (4) 8, Swindon (3) 7, Coventry (3) 6,
Poole (3) 3, Wolves (2) 3, Peterborough (3) 3, Belle Vue (3) 2,
Ipswich (4) 2
Eagles
clinch derby honours
Cameron Woodward
secured a remarkable home derby win for Eastbourne Eagles, then
gave a red-faced team mate a lift.
Woodward teamed up
with the outstanding Simon Gustafsson for a match-clinching heat
14 5-1 as Eagles beat Poole Pirates 51-44 at Arlington.
The result, plus a
draw at Poole earlier in the day, puts Eagles second in the
early-season Elite League table.
They surged into a
38-25 lead after ten heats of a contest which survived
persistent rain as track staff, fans and riders stuck with it.
Poole cut the gap to
43-40 before the Eagles pair did their bit in style in the
penultimate race, only for Gustafsson to tumble as he tried a
celebratory wheelie.
Woodward, who has not
made the best of starts to the season, had to give his colleague
a lift back to the pits as fans cheered.
The Aussie said:
"That's why I don't do wheel stands!
"We're not doing bad
for the team who were supposed to be last, are we?
"I was just glad to
win a race. The track was hard work but we weren't getting
worried. We're better in some heats than others."
Eagles completed a
three-point haul, and five for the day, when Lewis Bridger and
Davey Watt rode out a last-race 3-3 behind Chris Holder.
They led 14-10 when
Woodward went down in heat five behind Bjarne Pedersen.
The Dane was somewhat
controversially disqualified by referee Christina Turnbull for
unfair riding.
Poole's reply, once
Pedersen's lengthy complaints had finished, was to request a
track inspection and at that stage it seemed the meeting might be
abandoned.
A ten-minute break
was called for track work, then Bridger and Woodward came back
out to post a 5-1 over Lukasz Jankowski in the re-run.
More impressive was
the next race in which Watt and David Norris both beat the
otherwise invincible Holder.
Eagles were 24-12 up
at that stage but Poole responded with a 7-2 as Joe Screen
grabbed a double points win by inches from Lukas Dryml's stern
challenge.
As the rain continued
to pour, the track held up superbly and riders responded in
conditions which would normally have meant a hasty call-off.
Dryml beat Pedersen
when the Dane took Poole's second double-points ride but that
5-3 still served as the spark for Pirates' late meeting revival.
Still, Eastbourne
have a firm grip on south coast bragging rights so far this
season, having already beaten them home and away in the Elite
Shield.
Eagles: Gustafsson
11+1 (5), Watt 10+1 (5), Bridger 10 (5), Dryml 7+1 (4), Woodward
6+2 (4), Norris 6+2 (4), Kling 1 (3).
Poole: Holder 13 (5),
Screen 11+1 (4), Pedersen 8+1 (5), Hurry 5+1 (4), Davidsson
3+1 (4), Neath 3 (5), Jankowski 1 (3).
Eagles are
safe but worried
Eastbourne Eagles
boss Bob Dugard has reassured fans the club will survive the
credit crunch.
But he admits they
are lagging behind Elite League rivals in terms of sponsorship
and attendances.
Dugard met with other
top-flight promoters on Tuesday as the finishing touches were
put to a new, improved deal with Sky Sports which should help
sustain tracks through the economic downturn.
Notes were also
exchanged on how clubs are managing this season and Dugard
admitted Eagles, who are averaging less than 1,000 fans per
meeting so far, did not come out of it too well.
He said: “It was a
very worthwhile day but not for good reasons. It seems we are
generally doing far worse than most other people.
“I can’t get my head
around why that should be.
“Generally speaking
crowds at the Midlands tracks seem to be double ours.
“You’re talking about
a difference in income of £13,000 per week over the course of a
season.
“If our lower crowds
are partly down to us losing Edward Kennett, which they might
be, the fans have to know we did all we could.
“The racing so far
this season at Eastbourne has been superb. To be putting that
sort of entertainment in front of small crowds is quite
disheartening.
“We have also got
maybe two of the top four young riders in the world in Lewis
Bridger and Simon Gustafsson.
“We hear some tracks
are getting ten times the sponsorship we have.
“Generally the
meeting felt things would improve next season. The BSPA are
close to a new five-year TV deal which brings a worthwhile
increase in revenue but we still need to attract 1,200 people to
our meetings.
“The club is 100%
safe for the season but we have to then ask whether it is worth
continuing if people don’t want speedway.”
Meanwhile, former
Eastbourne skipper Lee Richardson has revealed he was asked to
take a 50% pay cut by his troubled Polish club Czestochowa.
Hastings-based
Richardson, who skippered Eagles to the KO Cup last season,
eventually agreed to take a 20% drop in wages.
Now he reckons
Eastbourne star Bridger could benefit from the cash crisis
brought on by the withdrawal of sponsorship at the club.
Richardson revealed
he received an email from Czestochowa saying, like ex-Eagles
star Nicki Pedersen and GP veteran Greg Hancock, he was having
his money cut in half.
He added: “My wife
opened the email as I was driving up to a meeting at
Peterborough last Thursday.
“She called me and
said ‘you had better pull over’.
“I got a guy in
Poland to help me out and I was negotiating until 10pm on
Saturday. I got one hour’s sleep and went out there and rode for
them on Sunday.”
Bridger is due to
ride for Czestochowa at home to Leszno on Easter Monday and his
fine form in the Elite League has not gone un-noticed.
Richardson said:
“They have to have three Polish riders in the team but I think
they will now try and use both Lewis and Tai Woffinden together
in most meetings.
“Before this only one
of them would have ridden so it’s a good opportunity for them.
Eagles
facing financial crisis
Eastbourne Eagles boss Bob Dugard
heads to an emergency meeting of Elite League clubs today admitting: “We’ve got
serious financial problems.”
Top flight tracks have been called to
the get together in Rugby specifically to discuss a new TV deal.
However the question of how to cut
costs or boost attendances could also arise after some clubs suffered a tough
start to the season.
Eagles are losing about £7,000 per
meeting and some rival tracks are thought to be faring even worse.
Dugard had warned of tough times
ahead during the winter and, through The Argus, argued teams should cut their
fixture list in half and only race each other once home and away.
His comments caused a storm in the
world of speedway and he was fined by the governing body.
Now, after just three home meetings,
Dugard admits: “Eastbourne could not see the season out with these attendances.
There is no way we can sustain these losses.
“We had 919 against Belle Vue on
Saturday, our crowd (of 800) against Lakeside was shocking and the Elite Shield
against Poole (980) was disastrous. Poole had a very similar experience when we
went over there.”
“I got fined £1,000 for saying it
could be better to only run the A fixtures. People thought I was saying
something terrible at the time but it was clear we were in a serious situation
“We have averaged about 850 people per meeting with the exception of the Dean
Barker Farewell, for which he got 1,600. That shows people will come out but we
have a credit crunch and it is an international problem.”
Even speedway-mad Poland has problems
as sponsors pull out.
World champion and former Eastbourne
skipper Nicki Pedersen this week split with Czestochowa after they asked him to
take a pay cut.
Eastbourne have home meetings with
Poole on Good Friday and Lakeside a week on Saturday which would normally be
decent pay days.
Dugard said: “I think the remainder
of this month will be critical. A lot depends, as well, on the outcome of
today’s meeting.
“Someone somewhere has got to face up
to the facts. Maybe it’s different for us because we run a quite successful
business away from speedway but we do that by keeping on top of what’s
happening.”
However, any attempt by Dugard to cut
the fixture list is likely to receive, at best, minimal support.
Eastbourne have frozen admission
prices this season but received complaints for charging £1 extra to sit in the
covered stand rather than stand on the terracing, much of which is uncovered.
Dugard said: “We have been charging
for the stand at stock car meetings for 20 years.”
The hearing to fix a fee for Edward
Kennett’s move to Coventry has been adjourned to a date to be arranged. Eagles
hope to pocket £40,000 for the rider.
Bridger
can take the pressure
Lewis Bridger insists he is the man
for a pressure situation after helping Eastbourne Eagles get their league
campaign up and running.
Bridger ensured Eagles scored a full
three points from their Arlington opener in the Elite League by winning heat 15
in spectacular style.
He charged around the outside off the
unfavoured gate four to beat previously invincible Krzysztof Kasprzak and secure
a 54-42 win over Belle Vue Aces.
Eagles were fairly comfortable
victors, despite double-points heat wins for Kasprzak and his skipper Charlie
Gjedde. However the new scoring system meant the meeting was still alive when
Aces closed to 50-40 going into the nominated race.
No one had got near Kasprzak and a
Belle Vue 5-1 would have meant Eagles took just two points to their visitors’
one, which would given the win a bit of a hollow feel.
Kasprzak had the inside gate but
Bridger thrilled a crowd of about 1,000 with his terrific gate and first two
bends. He then had the speed and composure to finish the job.
Meanwhile, skipper Davey Watt rode a
sensible race in third, ensuring Gjedde was kept at the back, meaning Eagles
would have got the result they needed even if Bridger had come a cropper.
Not that it looked like happening.
The 19-year-old is more mature and secure on the bike than ever and he completed
another pleasing personal performance in style.
Bridger said: “I love a bit of
pressure. Davey said to me ‘you’re off four and you’ve got to be up there, if
you’re not I’m going straight out to the dirt’.
“I knew it was either get roasted or
give 110% and beat Kasprzak, who was on a maximum. It was a great way to finish
the night.”
Bridger, who is targeting a Grand
Prix spot at Cardiff this season, was back on his favoured Eastbourne bike for
his later rides and offered praise to tuner Neville Tatum, the man whose work he
had criticised recently.
He said: “My Eastbourne bike felt
awesome. Great thanks to Neville, he has done me some really good stuff.
“I love stepping up to the challenge.
That’s why I’d love to get the wild card for Cardiff because I won’t be fazed by
it, I’ll have nothing to lose.”
The new scoring system has kept most
meetings alive right up to heat 15 in the first week of the league season and
Eagles team manager Trevor Geer is a fan.
He said: “We all thought we would win
but the new scoring system brings a lot of life into the meeting.
“Because of that we had to drop Ricky
Kling from his last ride, which is a shame, but you have got to go for it all
the time. Simon Gustafsson and Lewis Bridger had fantastic meetings and they got
good support.”
Aces have a poor record at Arlington
but they led 10-8 after three heats.
Kasprzak’s heat one defeat of Watt
was not in the home script.
Neither was success in heat two for
Patrick Hougaard, ending Gustafsson’s unbeaten record in reserves races this
year.
Gustafsson, though, bounced back for
another good meeting, sharing in three of the hosts’ five 5-1s.
David Norris was clearly thrilled
with his win in heat eight, then angered when he was excluded after going down
under pressure from Gjedde in heat ten after getting out on a 5-1 behind Watt.
The veteran is easing his way back
into form and dropped just one point from his first three rides. Even that spill
into the third bend air fence had its lighter side.
“It was my seventh crash already,”
said a grinning Norris.
“People were worried about what would
happen when I had my first crash. Well I’ve had seven now!”
Cameron Woodward’s patchy early
season form is not a laughing matter but he will come good, while Ricky Kling
has yet to really fire.
Generally, though, the signs are
promising, in terms of both results and entertainment.
Saturday’s attendance, while below
the target figure of 1,200 per meeting, was not a disaster given it was an
early-season fixture against, in theory at least, not such attractive
opposition.
Good Friday’s visit of Poole, and
joint track record holder Chris Holder, will offer a more telling guide of how
good this team is and how the public is responding.
Bridger, who clocked a speedy 55.6sec
in heat 15 is, of course, well up for it.
“That was fast but not as fast as
Holder,” he said: “There’s a lot a more to come.”
Bridger
finishes it in style
Lewis Bridger produced a fabulous
finale as Eastbourne Eagles scored their first Elite League points of the season
tonight.
Bridger flew around the outside of
previously unbeaten Krzysztof Kasprzak to win heat 15 and secure a maximum haul
for the hosts.
Eagles pocketed three points under
the new scoring system as they beat Belle Vue 54-42 at Arlington.
Kasprzak was on fire, posting super
quick times of 55.4sec and 55.5sec on his way to wins in each of his first four
races, one of them for double points.
Eagles had strength in depth and were
relatively comfortable winners of the meeting, helped by five 5-1s.
However Charlie Gjedde's double
points win in heat 14 cut the home lead to 50-40 and ensured Eagles had to
survive heat 15 if they were to pocket maximum points for a win by more than
six.
They did more than that as Bridger
scorched away from gate four and Davey Watt anchored things in third place,
keeping Gjedde at bay for the 4-2.
Bridger finished with 13 points from
five rides and Watt had paid-11.
Simon Gustafsson's unbeaten record in
heat two was ruined by Patrick Hougaard as Belle Vue took an early two-point
lead.
However the young Swede went on to
claim paid-13 from six rides.
David Norris had a heat win in his
7+1 (4) and Lukas Dryml went for 7+2 (4).
Gjedde scored 12 points from a
possible 18 for Aces.
Gustafsson looks top reserve
Eastbourne Eagles manager Trevor Geer
admits he cannot disagree with those fans claiming his team have the best
reserve in the Elite League.
Now he hopes Simon Gustafsson keeps
turning it on when Eagles host Belle Vue Aces in the first league meeting of the
season at Arlington tonight (7.30pm).
The teenage Swede has been in
sparkling form so far this term.
He is unbeaten by an opponent in five
heat twos, or the battle of the reserves, this season.
He has four wins to his name in such
races and a paid win behind Ricky Kling at home to Lakeside last Saturday.
But his successes go further than
that, with scalps such as Chris Holder, Bjarne Pedersen (away), Simon Stead
(away) and senior compatriot Jonas Davidsson.
Gustafsson has scored 48 points, plus
five bonuses, in 29 heats so far in Elite Shield, Knockout Cup and Elite League
meetings.
That gives him an average of 6.62 per
four races without bonus points. The figure goes up to 7.31 including bonuses.
Geer, encouraged by his side’s start
to the season, said: “One good thing for us is that Simon is going well. If
anyone is struggling I can bring him in for an extra race.
“He is top scoring in some meetings,
going really well and I’m sure he can keep it up this time.
“Last season he gained some
experience around the tracks over here and now he has come back to make some
money out of it.
“He has been training hard all winter
and I think he will help us make a few people sit up and take notice.
“We have raced three of the harder
teams in the league so far in Poole, Lakeside and Swindon and I believe we have
surprised a few people. The thing with us is our riders will all improve.”
Eagles have switched their riding
order, partly to offer David Norris more support, but there could be further
adjustments.
Geer added: “I might use Lewis
Bridger at No.5 at some time. It’s always a hard ride there. No one really wants
to do it but Lewis is never worried about who he is up against.”
Davey Watt was suffering from a back
niggle in his below-par performance in Thursday’s defeat at Swindon but had
treatment yesterday and should be fully fit when the Aces, beaten 53-42 at
Coventry last night, arrive in Sussex.
Norris
happy with rule change
DAVID NORRIS admits he has not always
been a fan of new rules brought in by speedway bosses.
But Eastbourne Eagles’ record points
scorer reckons they have got it right this time.
Now Arlington fans can judge for
themselves as the Sussex track prepares to stage its first Elite League meeting
of the year.
An extra point will be up for grabs
if they beat Belle Vue Aces by seven points or more tomorrow (7.30pm).
Anything less than that and the Aces
will go back to Manchester with some reward, even if they lose.
New skipper Charlie Gjedde and his
men can collect up to four points if they win, although the Aces’ recent record
at Arlington is not good.
It is all part of a new scoring scale
designed to keep meetings as interesting as possible for as long as possible.
Throw in an extra double points ride
from the tapes and there should be something to keep fans intrigued.
Norris, easing his way back after a
season-and-a-half out of action, saw the new system while watching televised
speedway on Monday and said: “I think it’s great.
“I’m not the biggest fan of the BSPA.
I think I could run the sport better than them in some respects.
“But I would never have come up with
this.
“It won’t make any difference to the
riders. It won’t make us want to win a race any more.
“But it makes for good viewing. There
are more permutations. They have finally done something right.”
The new rules mean each ride becomes
more important.
Norris added: “Richard Hall got one
point for Poole on Monday and it made a difference.”
Speedway is following other sports,
notably cricket and rugby union, in awarding bonus points.
Yet the speedway system actually
seems more logical.
In cricket, it is surely somewhat
unsatisfactory that both batting and bowling teams can take maximum bonus points
from the same innings.
Equally in rugby, both sides can take
a bonus by scoring four tries.
No one is claiming that leads to
collusion but it is surely contrary to the spirit of competitive sport, in which
both teams should not be winners.
Speedway’s system means both sides
cannot take full bonus points. In fact, by earning a bonus you automatically
take a point off the other team.
The new scoring system was in
evidence on Elite League opening night as the Sky Sports cameras focused on
Poole’s home meeting with Swindon.
After 14 races Poole led 45-39 and
were assured of the win.
But there was still a last-race
decider of sorts with Pirates looking for the heat advantage which would have
earned an extra bonus and the Robins anxious to keep the margin at six or less.
Leigh Adams and Troy Batchelor fought
out a 3-3 behind Chris Holder which meant a six-point final margin at 48-42, so
Poole took two points and Swindon one.
Had last-placed Bjarne Pedersen got
past Batchelor, there would have been a two-point swing with Poole taking three
points and Swindon none.
There was a similar scenario at
Wolverhampton, where Lakeside trailed by seven after 14 races.
A heat advantage at the end would
have given them a bonus and taken a point off Wolves but instead the hosts
grabbed a 5-1 which meant three points for them and nothing for the Hammers.
“I can see why they are doing it,”
admitted Eagles’ promoter Bob Dugard, a self-confessed traditionalist.
“It’s getting a bit complicated for
supporters but it has probably been done to make meetings more exciting for TV.”
How the scoring system affects league
placings remains to be seen but Eastbourne did enough in two Elite Shield wins
over Poole and the home and away Knockout Cup tie with Lakeside to prove they
can make the play-offs.
That might not sound like much given
six out of nine teams go into the end-of-season knockout.
But plenty of observers have been
tipping the Eagles for play-off activity of a less enjoyable kind, to avoid
relegation.
Norris sees things differently.
He said: “I’m back in at the deep end
and hopefully people give me bit of time but I’m pleased the boys are doing well
enough to give me a breather.
“People who were saying I would come
straight back and average double figures were being unrealistic because I’ve
only done that once in my career.
“But I’m loving it. It’s the best
team I’ve ever been in in terms of spirit.”
Aces come south led by Polish star
Krzysztof Kasprzak and tracking Henning Bager as a short term replacement for
Billy Forsberg, who has a broken wrist.
Eagles: Watt, Norris, Bridger,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Gustafsson.
Belle Vue: Kasprzak, Wright, Bager,
Gjedde, Ostergaard, Boxall, Hougaard.
Eagles push Robins all the way
EASTBOURNE'S attempt to take a second
top-flight scalp in quick succession narrowly failed at the Abbey Stadium
tonight.
The Eagles, Elite Shield victors at
Poole late last month, pushed title favourites Swindon Robins all the way before
succumbing to a 49-41 loss.
The visitors led the meeting early on
but, despite 12 from Lewis Bridger and an excellent paid 12 from reserve Simon
Gustafsson, the home side's greater firepower told late on.
Eagles grabbed an early lead as
Gustafsson and Ricky Kling teamed up to clinch a maximum points haul in the
second heat.
Bridger maintained the four-point
lead by winning a ding-dong battle with his Great Britain team-mate Simon Stead
in the next and Gustafsson and Lukas Dryml then snuffed out a potential Robins'
5-1 in four as they filled in behind runaway home winner Troy Batchelor.
Despite a good start though, Dryml
could not hold off Swindon skipper Leigh Adams in six as the hosts cut the
deficit to two points and it was all square when Bridger was caught by Batchelor
on lap two of seven, Woodward tailing off to retirement at the back.
The meeting took a decisive turn
against the Eagles in nine as Dryml and Kling were comprehensively seen off by
Stead and previously off-colour Pavlic, but Bridger and Woodward prevented
further damage by grabbing the minor placings behind Adams in 10.
And the exclusion of Norris in 11,
after he fell and took out Swindon's Krzysztof Stojanowski, didn't help their
cause as Batchelor beat Watt to stretch the home advantage to six.
However, Bridger and Gustafsson - in
for Kling - teamed up for a heat 12 maximum to ensure the gap was back to two,
only for Watt and Dryml - the former eventually retiring - to get completely
outgunned by the home star duo of Adams and Batchelor.
And the Eagles' fading hopes of
victory were finally extinguished as Woodward and Gustafsson could only fill
second and third behind and improving Jurica Pavlic.
Surprisingly, Eagles' boss Trevor
Geer chose to send out Dryml in heat 15 and it arguably cost his men a deserved
losing bonus point as Bridger split Adams and Batchelor, but failed to keep the
deficit to within six.
SWINDON ROBINS: Leigh Adams
(3-3-3-2*-3) 14+1, Travis McGowan (0-1-3-0) 4, Simon Stead (2-3-3-1-) 9, Jurica
Pavlic (1*-0-2*-3) 6+2, Troy Batchelor (3-3-3-3-1) 13, Krzysztof Stojanowski
(1-1-1-0-0) 3, Cory Gathercole (0-0-0) 0.
EASTBOURNE EAGLES: Davey Watt
(1*-1*-2-R) 4+2, David Norris (2-2-2-FX-) 6, Lewis Bridger (3-2-2-3-2) 12,
Cameron Woodward (0-0-1*-1*) 2+2, Lukas Dryml (1*-2-1-1-0) 5+1, Ricky Kling
(2*-0-0-) 2+1, Simon Gustafsson (3-2-1*-2*-2) 10+2.
Dryml
invests in success
Improving Lukas Dryml has told
Eastbourne Eagles fans he is investing in success at Swindon tonight (7.30pm).
But the Czech GP rider, pictured, has
warned not to expect miracles, even though he is back on a big track.
Dryml, 27, has come on quickly on the
tight confines of Arlington after his nightmare debut meeting in the Dean Barker
Farewell.
He is expected to go well on larger
circuits and none come bigger in the Elite League than 363-metre Swindon.
Dryml, however, has urged caution as
Eastbourne take on a team being widely tipped to win the league.
He said: “Everybody seems to think I
will enjoy it but Swindon has been pretty bad for the last two years.
“The track hasn’t been too good
there.
“But I’m spending money straight away
because I really want to be a good team member and make Eastbourne and myself
happy.
“I want to stay here for a longer
future. I’m preparing a brand new engine built for big tracks.
“The first run on this new engine
will be at Swindon and I’ve spoken to the tuner and he said it should be really
good.”
The trip west means a first return
since his comeback from injury for David Norris to a circuit where he suffered a
nasty smash in the weeks leading up to his initial retirement in 2007.
Norris has been feeling his way in so
far after making his comeback this season and said: “I’ve no issues with
Swindon.”
Eagles’ management have seen enough
to believe Norris can still be a force and will offer him extra support on track
tonight.
They have switched him from the more
testing No. 5 berth in the riding order to No. 2, where he goes alongside
skipper and top scorer Davey Watt in at least three heats.
Cameron Woodward moves to No. 4 to
race with his former reserve sidekick Lewis Bridger.
That means Dryml rides at No. 5,
going out with reserves in his first three rides before joining skipper Watt in
heat 13.
Eagles will not be widely backed for
big things tonight but the league’s new scoring system means they will return
home with some reward if they get anything better than a seven-point defeat.
Promoter Bob Dugard said: “I was very
pleased with Lukas. The crowd love him now and he’s in the clubhouse after
meetings too. He is very keen on the social side, not in a bad way but in that
he thinks it is part of his job to mix with supporters.
“The team have shown real signs of
what is possible.”
Swindon: Adams, Batchelor, Stead.
McGowan, Pavlic, Stojanowski, Gathercole.
Eagles: Watt, Norris, Bridger,
Woodward, Dryml, Kling, Gustafsson.
Comment: Eagles
can still be a knockout
It is all about the Elite League now
for Eastbourne Eagles.
A bizarre bit of scheduling means
their Knockout Cup programme is over before the league season has begun.
It seems Eastbourne had no say in the
matter.
Apparently the cup tie was arranged
for last Saturday because the club could not run a league fixture ahead of the
televised opening night on Monday.
They lost to Lakeside in a tie they
could have won so that’s that for the cup defence.
That is a big shame. As with the FA
Cup in football, the KO Cup can give fresh impetus to a season at the midway
point.
It is another competition to look
forward to.
That has now gone, with what could
have been a classic cup derby being raced on a freezing cold night in front of a
sparse 800 crowd.
Yes, plenty of sports manage to make
do with just the league championship and no side attraction of the cup.
American sports manage just fine.
So, more pertinently to Eastbourne,
do the top two speedway leagues in the world, in Poland and Sweden.
I expect rule changes to make the
Elite League more exciting this year.
But the only way Eagles can now add a
bit of knockout drama to the long haul, which starts at Swindon tomorrow night,
is to make the play-offs.
I believe they will.
Dugard threatens
to shut down junior track
Bob Dugard has threatened to close
Eastbourne Eagles’ famed junior track if he does not get a realistic fee for
Edward Kennett.
The Arlington chief says he has no
interest in bringing through young riders who can then be taken by other clubs
at bargain prices.
Kennett is riding for Coventry this
season after requesting a move during the winter.
His transfer fee will be decided by
arbitration next Tuesday and Dugard fears the worst after the Bees offered
£15,000.
Dugard values Kennett, 22 and third
best British rider in the league according to averages, at £40,000.
Under BSPA guidelines, he would have
been able to demand about £3,500 a year in loan fees had he agreed to lend the
rider out.
That could be taken into account when
the transfer fee is fixed.
The junior track at Arlington tends
to be a hive of activity on summer Saturday afternoons.
Current Eagles star Lewis Bridger
learnt his speedway there, as did Kennett and GB rider Lee Richardson among
others.
Former British champion Chris Harris,
now a team-mate of Kennett’s at Coventry, used to travel from Cornwall for
occasional sessions at the little East Sussex circuit.
Dugard said: “I’m fed up developing
riders who are prized away for silly money.
“If the outcome goes against me I
won’t bother opening the junior track.
“We are in the hands of the
arbitration panel. Coventry know they want to steal him. Then we all know
everybody will be trying to get Lewis Bridger next year.
“We have brought through more English
riders than anybody else.
“We want to keep them and make them
full international riders.
“We take great pride in the fact most
of the Great Britain team have come through Eastbourne.”
Kennett will be a key man for a
Coventry side being tipped as potential champions this season.
Dugard has already warned clubs are
reducing their own value if they allow riders to move for cut-price deals.
Many clubs pay rent to use stadia and
riders are often the most valuable assets they have.
Jon Cook, the former Eastbourne
promoter and team manager who gave Kennett his senior debut in 2002, believes
Eastbourne should bank at least £25,000 for the rider.
Cook, now in charge at Lakeside,
said: “We paid £12,500 for Kauko Nieminen, who is a good signing for us, but
Edward must be double that.”
Meanwhile Dugard has revealed why
Eastbourne raced their KO Cup tie before the league season had even started.
The 100-88 aggregate defeat to
Lakeside means they now have only the league to go for this season, although
they have already won silverware in the shape of the Elite Shield.
Eagles wanted to run a league meeting
last weekend. However, Dugard said Sky Sports wanted to cover the league’s
opening night in their regular Monday slot. Cold weather, televised football and
a 19-point defeat in the first leg conspired to keep Saturday’s crowd down to a
bitterly disappointing 800 at Arlington.
Dugard said: “Crowds have to pick up
or we have got major problems.
“We still need to be getting 1,200
minimum.”
Eagles start their league season at
Swindon tomorrow and host Belle Vue on Saturday.
Old boss offers words of comfort for
Eagles
Former Eastbourne boss Jon
Cook helped knock his old club out of the Knockout Cup, then tipped
them to make a play-off bid.
Cook’s Lakeside Hammers completed a
100-88 aggregate win in the quarter-finals by losing 50-43 at Arlington on
Saturday.
Eagles went into the meeting 19
points adrift but were dreaming of a memorable comeback after ten heats when
they led 36-24.
However Adam Shields, the former
Eastbourne favourite who now skippers Lakeside, came out for double points and
led an 8-1 with Jonas Davidsson in a bizarre heat 11.
When Shields passed David Norris for
second place in heat 13, the tie was beyond Eagles, who lifted the KO Cup last
season.
Pundits have tipped Eagles to finish
bottom of the Elite League and Lakeside to be no more than mid-table.
But, as the league season gradually
comes to life this week, Cook believes both clubs can surprise.
He said: “I can’t see either of these
teams losing a lot of home meetings so all the doom mongers saying Eastbourne
are going to finish bottom are way off the mark.
“They are certainly a better team
than Ipswich, who we have ridden against already, and I think they have shown
they are better than Poole.
“Our aspiration is to win the league
but we haven’t seen enough of the other teams.
“We will be okay and I think
Eastbourne could scrape a play-off as well, although I don’t think it will be a
very high placing.
“They have obviously got Denis
Gizatullin to bring in if they want and he would be an unknown quantity.
“He could the kind of rider, as we
have with Kauko Niemenen, who makes your season.”
Eagles’ unknown quantity so far is
big track specialist Lukas Dryml and the Czech showed enough signs of progress
to encourage a crowd reduced in size by bitterly cold weather, the first leg
result and the counter attraction of televised football.
Dryml had two great wins, including a
heat 14 effort around the outside of Joonas Kylmakorpi which he had sized up by
visiting the starting gates during the interval after heat ten.
Eagles boss Trevor Geer, whose side
have won three of four meetings so far in Cup and Elite Shield, said: “Lukas got
better and better and he is improving with every meeting.
“He is starting to master Eastbourne
and he will be good on big tracks, which is what we want. We’re still going
well. We just had a bad one at Lakeside.”
Former Eagles riders Lee Richardson
and Kylmakorpi paired up for two 5-1s but were then hit in similar style by
Davey Watt and Cameron Woodward as Eagles went 12 points up.
Cook admitted his side were just
starting to get nervous at that point but Shields was a great man to have
available for a tactical ride and Davidsson followed him into second place
before a hint of controversy struck on the second lap.
David Norris pulled up, seemingly
through mechanical failure, and the three other riders followed suit thinking
the race had been stopped.
It later transpired all four had seen
a red light, probably from a video recorder being used in the crowd, and
believed the race had been halted.
They eventually realised the contest
was still alive, by which time Davidsson was in front, but he slowed up at the
flag to let Shields in for the double-points win.
“It made a mockery of the race,” said
Geer, who wanted a re-run.
Referee Mick Posselwhite was right,
however, in pointing out the confusion did not affect the race result.
There was still time for Bridger to
beat Richardson and Watt to defeat Shields, though the latter took revenge as
Lakeside scored a 4-2 in heat 15.
Somewhat strange scheduling means
that, even at this early stage, Eagles already have only the league to race for
this season.
Fortunately, the signs are that could
still be interesting.
Eagles: Watt 13 (5), Bridger 8+1 (5),
Dryml 8 (4), Woodward 7+2 (4), Gustafsson 5+2 (5), Norris 5 (4), Kiling 4 (4).
Lakeside: Shields 15 (5), Kylmakorpi
10 (5), Richardson 6+2 (4), Niemenen 5+1 (4), Robson 3 (4), Davidsson 2+1 (4),
Mear 2+1 (4).
Eagles
out of cup
Holders Eastbourne Eagles are out of
the Knockout Cup, despite a battling display at Arlington tonight.
Eagles beat Lakeside Hammers 50-43 in
the second leg of their quarter-final tie, not enough to overturn the 19-point
defeat in Essex 24 hours earlier.
The hosts looked like they might
perform an unlikely comeback when a 5-1 between Davey Watt and Cameron Woodward
over the previously unbeaten pair of Joonas Kylmakorpi and Lee Richardson in
heat ten put them 12 points up on the night.
However former Eagles star Adam
Shields went for double points in the next race and led a Hammers 8-1 with Jonas
Davidsson.
It was Shields who made sure of the
aggregate win by passing David Norris to claim second behind Watt in heat 13.
Watt scored 13 points from his five
rides and there was an encouraging eight-point haul for Lukas Dryml, capped by
an excellent win over Kylmakorpi off gate four in heat 13.
Shields scored 15 from a possible 18
for Lakeside.
Eagles
in cup strife
Eastbourne Eagles are hoping they
have given themselves a glimmer of hope in their defence of the Knockout Cup.
But the holders still face a massive
challenge to avoid first-round exit after taking a 57-38 battering at Lakeside
tonight.
The sides meet in the second leg at
Arlington tomorrow (Saturday, 7.30pm).
Skipper Davey Watt worked wonders to
keep Eagles just about in the tie, winning four of his five races for 16 points
from a possible 18.
Watt took white and black to lead a
7-2 in heat 11 after Lakeside had gone into a monumental 26-point lead at 44-18.
He then teamed up with Lewis Bridger
for a heat 15 5-1 over Jonas Davidsson and Adam Shields.
However Lakeside, with several riders
who know Arlington well, will expect to finish the job and avenge their
semi-final defeat by Eastbourne last season.
Six of their riders were paid for at
least two wins, Stuart Robson negated Eagles’ perceived advantage at reserve and
Joonas Kylmakorpi was unbeaten by an opponent.
Eagles manager Trevor Geer said: “I
thought we would keep it closer than we did but we aren’t out of this tie yet.
“Davey was getting out of the gate
and doing the business but he was the only one really until Lewis came good at
the end.
“It was all out of the gate. There
wasn’t one overtake all night apart from in heat two.”
Simon Gustafsson went from last to
first to win heat two and give Eagles a 7-5 lead.
However Lakeside hit back in style
with seven 5-1s in the next eight heats.
Bridger was forced into second place
by Kauko Niemenen when taking the first double-points ride but later had an
excellent win over Lee Richardson in heat 12 to spoil the ex-Eagles skipper’s
maximum.
David Norris and Cameron Woodward
both had falls but Eagles report no injury worries for tomorrow’s meeting.
Lakeside: Richardson 11 (4), Robson
10+1 (5), Davidsson 9+3 (5), Niemenen 9+1 (4), Shields 9+1 (5), Kylmakorpi 8+4
(4), Mear 1 (3).
Eagles: Watt 16 (5)^, Bridger 10+1
(5)^, Gustafsson 8 (6), Norris 2 (4), Kling 1 (3), Woodward 1 (4), Dryml 0 (3).
Bridger says
Eagles have nothing to fear
Maximum man Lewis Bridger has told
Eastbourne Eagles to have nothing to fear at Lakeside tonight.
The Knockout Cup holders start their
defence of the competition with a two-leg cross-Thames derby in the first round.
They go to Purfleet tonight to take
on a highly-rated Hammers side managed by former Arlington chief Jon Cook.
The sides reconvene at the Sussex
track tomorrow (7.30pm) for what could be an early-season cracker.
Bridger goes into the meetings in
great heart having scored his first ever top-flight full house with four wins
out of four at Poole on Wednesday as Eastbourne won the Elite Shield in some
style.
The 19-year-old has a decent record
at the tight Essex circuit and is sure he will have the right equipment for the
return leg after a false start at home to Poole last Sunday.
Bridger admits Lakeside poses its own
tests but said: “Let’s just go there and think positive and try something to get
working on the slick. We have to race hard and believe we can do it.
“Lakeside will be a difficult place
to go. It’s a specialist’s type of track and even the best riders can go there
and not score.”
Eastbourne were written off as likely
wooden spoonists by some pundits but will feel they have proved them wrong
already by beating Poole home and away.
There is still room for improvement.
David Norris is still feeling his way
back, Lukas Dryml is learning to ride smaller circuits and much will be expected
of reserve Ricky Kling as he goes back to his parent club tonight.
Simon Gustafsson and Davey Watt have
been excellent so far and Cameron Woodward has chipped in handily.
Dryml is a doubt after injuring a leg
at Poole on Wednesday.
Team boss Trevor Geer said: “I’m
looking forward to going to Lakeside.
“It has been really good to be rated
as outsiders. We have nothing to lose although riders go out and give 100%
whatever.
“We did well on Wednesday. I knew it
would be a hard meeting for David Norris but he got better as it went on.
“Simon was fantastic, Ricky had a
better meeting and Cam had some good rides.
“Davey was beating the best out there
and Lewis is looking a lot more mature.
“The thing with Lewis is he is
determined, he’s not frightened by anybody and names don’t worry him at all.”
Eastbourne need a decent result
tonight as Lakeside will come to the second leg with plenty of Arlington
experience in the shape of Adam Shields, Joonas Kylmakorpi and last season’s
Eagles skipper Lee Richardson.
Bridger, though, is convinced another
home win will be on the way after getting his so-called ‘Arlington special’
engine back from tuner Neville Tatum.
A decent weekend will help him fulfil
Geer’s prediction that he could be vying for top spot in the Eastbourne averages
by the end of the season.
Bridger said: “I’d like to be team
No. 1 by the end of the season or at least be riding like a No. 1.
“It’s my fourth season in the Elite
League now, that’s a long time.
“I want to have a good average, be
top five in the world under-21s and get to the GP at Cardiff, either as a wild
card or at first reserve.
“Those are my three aims for the
season.
“I’ve got good equipment for
Eastbourne. Neville knows he messed up last week and I’ll try to make it four
starts, four wins.
“I struggled last Sunday and people
still think I went well. I thought I could have had a maximum there.”
Last season’s semi between the two
teams went down to the last of the 30 heats, with Bridger and Richardson sharing
an Eastbourne 5-1.
The same result and similar drama
will suit Eagles fine this time.
Eagles: Watt, Woodward, Bridger,
Dryml or rider replacement, Norris, Kling, Gustafsson.
Lakeside: Shields, Davidsson,
Richardson, Kylmakorpi, Nieminen, Mear, Robson.
Eagles
grab first trophy
Eastbourne Eagles have claimed the
first silverware of the new season and they did it in real style.
Eagles won 49-43 at league champions
Poole Pirates tonight to clinch a 98-84 success on aggregate in the Elite
Shield.
Lewis Bridger led the way with four
wins out of four, his first top-flight maximum.
Bridger, pinpointed as key man ahead
of the meeting by team manager Trevor Geer, was in scintillating form and
enjoyed wins over Poole’s highly-rated big two Chris Holder and Bjarne Pedersen.
Reserve Simon Gustafsson also
excelled by scoring 14 points, including a win over Pedersen.
There were contributions down the
order, with skipper Davey Watt having three of Eagles’ ten heat wins.
Stength at reserve was also in
evidence as Gustafsson and Ricky Kling had a heat-two 5-1 which sent Eastbourne
into an early 9-3 lead.
The only downside was an injury to
Lukas Dryml in his first race of the night, heat three.
Dryml damaged a leg as he collided
with Joe Screen and is already a doubt for tomorrow’s trip to Lakeside in the
Knockout Cup.
Geer savoured a lap of honour at the
home of Eagles’ arch rivals, then said: “It’s fantastic. The team spirit this
year is really good and we know we have seven riders capable of scoring points.
We are not carrying anybody.
“Poole are still a good side but
people have been writing us off and we go out there with nothing to lose.”
Poole: Holder 12 (5), Screen 11+1
(5)^, Pedersen 8+1 (5), Davidsson 7+1 (5), Stonehewer 4 (6), Phillips 1 (4).
Eagles: Gustafsson 14 (7), Bridger 12
(4), Watt 11 (5), Woodward 6+1 (4), Kling 4+1 (5), Norris 2 (5), Dryml 0 (1).
Bridger
can be top man for Eagles
Eastbourne Eagles manager Trevor Geer
reckons Lewis Bridger can be his team’s top man this season.
Bridger endured a frustrating
afternoon with mechanical gremlins as Eagles beat Poole 49-41 in the first leg
of the Elite Shield on Sunday.
They attempt to defend the advantage
in the return meeting at Wimborne Road tonight (7.30).
The 19-year-old ranks only fifth in
Eagles’ starting averages on 5.11 but Geer is backing him to make that figure
look ridiculous over the coming months.
Geer said: “Lewis struggled on Sunday
but we all know what he is capable of.
“I think he will be challenging for
our No. 1 spot later in the season.
“He knows this is his year and he is
really determined to do well.
“He has been with us for a few years
and this is his time.”
Bridger was unhappy with the
condition of his usual Arlington bike after picking it up from the tuner on
Sunday morning.
He switched to an unfamiliar second
machine after his mis-firing bike packed up completely when he was forced to
bail out in his first race after Daniel Davidsson fell in front of him.
Bridger joked: “The bike’s going back
to the tuner – through his front window!
“It was an awful meeting for me but I
still got nine points.”
Geer was pleased with Sunday’s
showing even though their eight-point lead looks far from impregnable as they
head to Dorset, scene of last October’s KO Cup final triumph.
He added: “It was a good result in
the circumstances because a lot of people are knocking our team.
“It’s a good indicator for how the
season will go and I thought Sunday was pretty good.”
Davey Watt, who top scored with 13
points in the home leg, will be key for Eastbourne tonight. Watt is on loan from
the Pirates and starred at Wimborne Road last season as he helped them win the
Elite League title.
Poole are still missing injured Jason
Doyle and have a doubt over reserve Kyle Legault, who is suffering repercussions
after his recovery from a broken leg.
Poole: Pedersen, Doyle r/r, Screen,
Davidsson, Holder, Stonehewer, Legault.
Eagles: Watt, Woodward, Bridger,
Dryml, Norris, Kling, Gustafsson.
Eagles
new boy under the spotlight
New Eastbourne Eagles reserve Ricky
Kling is facing a week under scrutiny.
The 21-year-old Swede scored
paid-three from three rides at home to Poole on Sunday before being replaced for
his final heat.
Eagles go to Poole for the Elite
Shield second leg tomorrow (WEDS), then face Lakeside on Friday and Saturday in
the KO Cup.
Promoter Bob Dugard enjoyed Sunday’s
49-41 win but said: “Ricky is a worry, although he says he will get it sorted.
“I’ve been told the best track to
judge him on is Poole so I’m more than interested to see how he does there.”
Dugard admits he was disappointed by
Sunday’s paying attendance of 970.
Eagles ready to prove a point or two
New skipper Davey Watt admits
Eastbourne Eagles have a few points to prove this season.
Watt top-scored with 13 points as
Eagles scored a pleasing 49-41 home win over league champions Poole Pirates in
the first leg of the Elite Shield yesterday.
He shared with Cameron Woodward in
the second of two home 5-1s and scored wins over Poole’s big two Bjarne Pedersen
and Chris Holder in heats 13 and 15 to secure the victory.
Eagles have been written off as
likely wooden spoonists by many this term but there were signs yesterday that
they can make those predictions look silly.
Strength in depth is likely to be
their trump card and a look at the scorecard underlined that as everyone chipped
in.
They will need a captain’s role from
Watt, though, and he was happy to oblige after opening with two second places.
Watt said: “You always want to win
your first meeting.
“We’ve proved we are determined to do
better than the so-called pundits are saying about us.
“We’re not out to prove them wrong
but what we are out to prove is to ourselves that we can do it.”
Eagles led from heat two when
reserves Simon Gustafsson and Ricky Kling, who are likely to be a strength this
season, scored a 4-2.
Still, with an eight-point lead going
into the last three races, Eastbourne looked to be under threat by Poole’s top
two. Watt, having been squeezed out at the start of heat 13 by both Pirates
stars, cut back inside both of them off bend two to roar towards the win.
David Norris then showed vintage
racing skills to power outside Pedersen into third, only to lose control cutting
across on bend one second time around.
A 3-3 in heat 14 for Gustafsson and
Lukas Dryml behind Daniel Davidsson ensured the hosts would win the meeting.
Then Watt shone again, as he beat
Poole’s top men to secure the tenth shared heat of the afternoon.
Eagles will attempt to defend their
lead in the return leg at Poole on Wednesday before the big one versus Lakeside
in the Knockout Cup, away on Friday and back at Arlington on Saturday.
Yesterday’s action was largely about
seeing how things shape up for the new season and Eagles saw plenty to please
them.
Arguably it was the efforts of
Gustafsson at reserve which offered Eagles most encouragement for the
forthcoming campaign.
He opened with two wins, the second
of them a notable scalping of joint track record holder Holder, before being
beaten by a classy pass from Joe Screen in lap three of his third ride.
The young Swede’s efforts earned him
a heat 15 call.
Norris played a valuable part in
Gustafsson’s best win, doing just enough to slow Holder as the Aussie attacked
off gate four in heat four before completing the home 5-1.
Eagles: Watt 13 (5), Gustafsson 11=1
(6), Bridger 7+2 (4), Dryml 6+1 (4), Woodward 5+4 (4), Norris 5+1 (4), King 2+1
(3).
Poole: Pedersen 12+1 (5), Screen 12
(5), Holder 10+1 (5), Davidsson 5+1 (5), Legault 2 (3), Stonehewer 0 (7), Doyle
r/r.
Eagles skipper
confident as new season dawns
New skipper Davey Watt insists he
will feel no extra pressure at leading Eastbourne Eagles into their most
challenging season for years.
That is despite the fact he is
filling the roles of captain and team No. 1 for the first time in his Elite
League career.
Watt is top man for a new-look Eagles
line-up as he starts his third separate stint on loan from parent club Poole.
It is a team with potential but with
question marks too.
Will David Norris be the force of old
as he returns from a season-and-a-half out through injury?
Will their four younger riders fulfil
undoubted potential on a regular basis?
And can recent signing Lukas Dryml
make a successful transition from big track specialist to the tighter confines
of 275-metre Arlington, a circuit whose tricky reputation goes before it?
It promises to be an intriguing
season, especially with Russian champion Denis Gizatullin also signed up and
ready to come in should things go wrong.
Whisper it in the vicinity of proud
promoter Bob Dugard but there are those who follow speedway who feel Eastbourne,
having lost top three Scott Nicholls, Lee Richardson and Edward Kennett, might
not set the Elite League alight this season.
Watt, though, is having none of it
after seeing his side in action as individuals at last Sunday’s Dean Barker
Farewell, in which he came second to classy Hans Andersen and Lewis Bridger was
fourth.
“It’s premature to be writing us off,
that’s for damn sure,” Watt said.
“I was watching the boys on Sunday
and I’m very impressed.
“I was talking to Lukas all day. He
was having some trouble and feels he is not going as well as he wants to go but
he is very enthusiastic about doing better.
“David Norris came out of retirement
and won his first race and looked really good.
“Simon Gustafsson, I thought, was
fantastic. Cameron Woodward is riding well. You don’t make moves like he did in
his fourth heat without going well.
“Lewis is clearly up for it. I’m
happy with all the boys.”
So how about this double leadership
role?
“I have got a reputation and
personality for helping younger fellows out anyway so being a captain is no real
change for me,” he said.
“I’m really good mates with Cameron
and we talk a lot about set-ups and speedway in general. They are all good boys
and always open for suggestions as to how to get better.
“Every one of them wants to get
better and that’s what counts for me.”
There has to be some pressure,
though, as he succeeds Nicki Pedersen and Scott Nicholls as Eagles’ top-average
rider.
“I put far more pressure on myself
than anybody else could,” he responds.
“I think everybody expects me to go
out and score a whole bunch of points anyway, whether I’m captain or No. 1 or
whatever.
“Every time I get on the bike I want
to win. I don’t need to be told that other people want me to win.”
The points average limit, set low at
39.90 this season, is something of an unfathomable concept for fans of sports
other than speedway although, in some respects, it works like a salary cap.
It means champion teams tend to be
broken up and sides start each campaign on something resembling a level playing
field.
Something has to give somewhere and,
what Eastbourne lose in not having a top-line world star, they gain in depth.
Simon Gustafsson and Ricky Kling
could be the best reserve pairing in the league and Bridger and Woodward have
ample potential to increase their averages.
Norris, too, will be a bargain if he
regains his old form and maintains it through a gruelling season.
This Eastbourne team looks like it
could shock a few people, with Dryml giving them an extra dimension on big away
tracks, though the nature of many of the riders suggests they will suffer peaks
and troughs of form.
Sunday’s fixture is speedway’s
equivalent of football’s Community Shield, with Eastbourne having qualified as
cup winners last season.
Then follows a cup derby with
Lakeside a week on Saturday with the league campaign at Arlington not getting
under way until Belle Vue visit on April 4.
Watt reckons this first home meeting
will be interesting.
He said: “It doesn’t mean anything
league-wise but it’s Poole and it’s racing. Every race is a race worth winning
as far as I’m concerned.
“Last Sunday I was trying a few bits
and pieces and different bikes but I still wanted to win as many races as I
could.
“I’m not far away. It’s not as if I
have bikes that are unknown.”
For Eastbourne as a team, though,
this season does represent something of a trip into the unknown.
Some of Dugard’s associates have
backed them for the title at 33/1.
Don’t expect them to cash in. But do
expect an entertaining season.
Dryml's message to Eagles fans
Former Grand Prix rider Lukas Dryml has told Eastbourne
Eagles fans not to panic over his low-scoring start to the season.
The 27-year-old Czech scored just three points from five rides
in the Dean Barker Farewell at Arlington last Sunday to finish 15th in a 16-man
field.
Dryml admits he is at home on tracks far bigger than the
275-metre East Sussex circuit but has come in at short notice after Eagles ran
into problems with a work permit application for Russian chamnpion Denis
Gizatullin.
However the Pardubice-born rider, who beat Simon Gustafsson,
Ricky Kling and Ollie Allen for his three points, has been hard at work at the
Sussex circuit.
He expects to improve as the season gets under way, hopefully
starting at home to Poole in the Elite Shield this Sunday (3.30pm).
Dryml admitted: “It’s about learning for me. I don’t think it
will be too soon before I will be passing people from behind on this track.
“That’s why I need to do everything to make the starts sharp.
“I will be working on my engine and hopefully do some decent
starts against Poole.
“It’s a new experience and I’m sure I will get into it. I really
hope that will be pretty quick.”
Dryml realised fans might be critical of last Sunday’s score but
said: “It’s not about what people say. I’d like to prove I can ride well here
but it always takes time.
“David Norris said it takes a couple of weeks, maybe a month,
before you get used to it and are a consistent rider here.
“This is a special track. You need to get used to the lines and
everything.”
Eagles promoter Bob Dugard admitted he was a little concerned by
what he saw from both Dryml and new reserve Kling, which finished last with two
points.
Dugard said: “I think Lukas made the wrong mechanical changes
after looking so good in practice. He had a special engine which wasn’t working
at all but he knows what his problem is.
“Ricky was an area of concern, although he has got a few weeks
to improve. But, if riders are not performing this season, we will not be afraid
to make changes. We won’t just try and soldier on.”
The flipside to any home struggles for Dryml is that he should
shine at larger circuits like Swindon and Peterborough.
It is clear he is particularly keen to do well at the latter,
where he is a club asset but was left out of this season’s line-up.
He admitted: “At Peterborough I’ll hopefully feel at home.
“They weren’t very fair to me and I’m really happy to be here at
Eastbourne.
“I think it can make me a better rider, give me more experience
on small tracks.
“At Peterbourgh in the last couple of years I could race pretty
easily.
“Even if I missed the start I could pass people easily there.
“Hopefully I go there and show they made a mistake and bring
some points in for Eastbourne.”
New Eagles skipper Davey Watt continued his busy build-up to the
new league season by getting in some valuable track time at Poole last night.
Watt scored 6 (4) at Bjarne Pedersen’s testimonial and heads to
Swindon tonight to take on the Robins with his Swedish club Lejonen in a
pre-season fixture He also rides in the Tom Madsen testimonial at King’s Lynn
tomorrow.
Eagles legend thanks the fans
Former Eastbourne skipper Dean Barker, pictured, has
thanked fans who turned out in force to see him say goodbye to
speedway racing.
A crowd of about 1,600 watched Danish star Hans Andersen score
14 points from five heats to win Barker’s farewell meeting at Arlington.
New Eagles captain Davey Watt was the only man to beat Andersen
and came second on countback after collecting 12 points, the same as
third-placed Scott Nicholls and Eastbourne favourite Lewis Bridger.
Barker, forced to retire by a shoulder injury, said: “I woke up
with the sun shining, which was great, and the next thing was to hope the fans
turned out.
“I was quite shocked by how big the crowd was. It was a really
great day.”
David Norris got his comeback off to a flying start as a popular
winner of heat one ahead of Bjarne Pedersen.
Eastbourne’s Cameron Woodward and Simon Gustafsson got better as
the meeting went on but the going was tough for Ricky Kling and recent addition
Lukas Dryml, who admits he is still learning the circuit.
Barker rode four solo laps, clocked at 60 seconds, and Gordon
Kennett beat Paul Woods in a three-race series between former Arlington stars.
Scores (5 rides):
Andersen 14, Watt, 12, Nicholls 12, Bridger 12, Screen 10,
Pedersen 10, Woodward 9, Norris 8, Kylmakorpi 7, King 6, Gustafsson 5, Shields 4
(3), Allen 3 (4), Parker 3, Dryml 3, Kling 2.
Dugard hails Eagles spirit
Eastbourne Eagles boss Bob Dugard has hailed the spirit of his
starting one-to-seven on the eve of the new speedway season.
Dugard has also offered the clearest indication yet that he
might resist the temptation to bring in Denis Gizatullin as the Russian champion
struggles to secure a work permit.
All seven Eagles starters for 2009 line up against the likes of
Hans Andersen, Scott Nicholls, Adam Shields and Edward Kennett as Arlington
stages the Dean Barker Farewell tomorrow (3.30pm).
Dugard has been delighted with his riders in practice and would
love to keep the team intact.
Eagles brought in Czech racer Lukas Dryml on a short-term deal
when it became clear Gizatullin was struggling to arrive in time for the season.
Now Dryml could be here for the full campaign.
Dugard expects his side to confound their critics and said: “I’m
so confident because, in 20 years, I don’t think I’ve seen such good team
spirit.
“From experience that usually means you do well.
“I’m not saying we will win the league but if team spirit comes
into it we will be up there.”
On a four-point average, Gizatullin remains a good Plan B if
things go wrong or injuries strike but Dryml has surprised a few people at the
East Sussex track.
Dugard said: “Lukas is 27 but he is such a good pro. Having not
had too much to do with him before, I’m amazed by him. He is so focused.
“He stayed with Lewis Bridger between practices in pre-season
and he will be a wonderful inspiration to him. They are good buddies now.”
Season ticket holders are reminded they must pay on the gate
tomorrow as Barker, who rode for Eagles between 1986 and 2007, enjoys his
benefit fixture.
Eagles
legend prepares for send-off
Dean Barker admits he was not always the model professional.
But Eastbourne Eagles fans are likely to give the London-born
rider a send off as one of their own on Sunday (3.30pm) when the former skipper
officially says goodbye to racing.
Barker has attracted an interesting field of riders for his
farewell meeting at Arlington, headed by GP stars Hans Andersen and Scott
Nicholls.
The 38-year-old has not raced since suffering serious damage to
a shoulder when crashing at Swindon almost two years ago, the latest in a long
line of injuries.
He bows out as a rider who did a steady, possibly under-valued,
job for Eagles between 1986-2007, punctuated by just a few stints elsewhere
Arguably, he peaked in 1994 and 1995 with averages around the nine-point mark in
the top flight.
But he will also be remembered as someone who loved the
limelight and lifestyle of a bike racer, possibly as many on the terraces would
have done had they been thrust into the Eagles one-to-seven.
The type who was more likely to enjoy a post-race beer than dash
off to a hotel ready for the dawn flight to Poland.
He admits: “I used to enjoy going to speedway and racing. There
were a couple of years where I really went well and had a really good home
average.
“Every time I saw a bit of money in my account, I would think
‘I’ll go and buy a plasma TV or something’.
“You’ve got to live for the future. It’s not a long career.
“One of my mates who has made a real go of it is Mark Loram.
“I look at when I stayed at his house in Littlehampton when we
were kids to what he has got now.
“I don’t envy anybody who has done that for himself and his
family. But I’ve done my best.”
Barker is not saying farewell to Arlington. Far from it.
He is now working as mechanic to his great mate and long-time
colleague David Norris, who is returning from retirement.
Barker would love to see some of the old spirit of Arlington
return as Eagles aim to surprise a few of the people already writing them off.
He said: “When I started at Eastbourne, Martin Dugard was the
king. He went to Oxford so I had one more year at Eastbourne and I was second in
the averages to Gordon Kennett.
“Then I decided it was my turn to go to the Elite League but in
1993, when we all went back, you had David Norris and Martin and Andrew Silver
plus the Swedes. We had that same sort of team for four or five years.
“We all worked well together and Bob Dugard made sure we were
well looked after.
“I had Stefan Andersson, Stefan Danno and Stefan Ekberg all at
my workshop. I saw half the team nearly every day.”
Barker reckons some of the Arlington mystique vanished when
changes were made to the tight little circuit.
He said: “The original track was very hard, nobody could get
round it.
“Then we made the first corner a lot wider going in and coming
out.
“We thought, with our riding ability, we would be able to get
around the inside but it made it too easy for the opposition.
“In a way it was probably a mistake changing it but it needed to
be wider because it was quite a small track which riders used to hate.
“I know Gary Havelock and Joe Screen weren’t fans at the time of
the old track.”
Screen will be there on Sunday, along with his new Poole team-
mate Bjarne Pedersen.
Edward Kennett makes a quick return after his rather acrimonious
move to Coventry, as does another former Eagles star Adam Shields.
Barker hopes Gordon Kennett, Trevor Geer and Paul Woods will go
out for a retro race but it will also be time to look forward.
All seven of the 2009 Eagles will ride and this represents a
great chance to tune up for the new season, which starts a week later at home to
Poole in the Elite Shield.
Barker is one of the back-up crew now and has pinpointed Lewis
Bridger as the key man.
He said: “I think we’ve got a pretty good side at home.
“We’ve got two good reserves, plus Davey Watt and Cameron
Woodward who will get better.
“It’s down to Lewis. He’s a good rider but he needs to get
better. He throws a lot away.
“If Lewis can notch himself up we’ve got a pretty good team. I
think we’ll probably get into the play-offs.”
The line-up: Hans Andersen, Scott Nicholls, Bjarne Pedersen,
Edward Kennett, Adam Shields, Davey Watt, David Norris, Lewis Bridger, Cameron
Woodward, Lukas Dryml, Simon Gustafsson, Ricky Kling, Ollie Allen, Joe Screen,
Shane Parker, Danny King.
Dugard warns speedway chiefs not to
under-value riders
Eastbourne Eagles promoter Bob Dugard has told speedway bosses
why it would dangerous to under-value his star asset Edward Kennett.
Eagles are preparing to go to arbitration with Coventry for the
services of the Hailsham-based star, who requested a move during the winter.
Dugard suspects Coventry, who have already listed Kennett in
their 2009 line-up, will be asked to pay far less than the £30,000 at which he
values the Team GB man.
That is why he has performed a U-turn and told the Bees they can
take him on loan, having initially insisted on a full transfer.
Talk of cost-cutting and belt-tightening is rife in speedway at
the moment.
Dugard fears that will lead to Coventry getting a bargain.
And, in turn, he fears that could set a dangerous precedent for
struggling clubs throughout the Elite League.
Dugard said: “Coventry made a derisory offer of £20,000, then
reduced that to £15,000.
“I am inquiring as to whether they can force me to arbitration
to sell somebody for possibly half his value.
“People need to be very aware that this year could be very
difficult financially.
“That will mean banks are looking seriously at any track that
gets in a deficit position.
“If you are going to halve the value of riders it could put
tracks in serious jeopardy.
“Riders are often the only assets speedway clubs have. They
operate at rented stadiums, a lot of them don’t even own their own tractors.
“Their assets are almost totally made up of riders. If you are
going to devalue your own assets the banks will look at that if you go into an
overdraft situation.
“I’m going to arbitration for the first time in nearly 40 years
in the sport.
“Coventry have done this more times than anybody so they will
have that advantage.
“But they are not being clever if they get Edward at half price
because it could cause more problems for tracks in the longer term.”
Stand-in wants long part with Eagles
Stand-in Lukas Dryml insists he is coming to Eastbourne
for the season, despite only signing a six-week deal.
The 27-year-old Czech will ride for Eagles while Russian
champion Denis Gizatullin secures a work permit.
Gizatullin has been delayed by new immigration requirements and
has still to take a spoken and written English test in Moscow.
Dryml will start the season in the Russian’s place, bringing
Eagles’ total team average close to the 39.90 point limit.
He reckons he can make himself indispensable by the time
Gizatullin arrives.
The Peterborough asset said: “Officially I have signed a deal
for six weeks but I’m taking it as signing for the season.
“I don’t want to go to Eastbourne and score so few points that
they want to get rid of me again.
“I think there’s a better chance they will want to keep me for
the season. I’m not thinking negative.”
Gizatullin comes in on assessed four-point average so Eagles
could axe any of their initial one-to-seven to bring him in.
Promoter Bob Dugard has stressed there will be competition for
places in the opening weeks with reserves Ricky Kling and Simon Gustafsson
seemingly most at risk should he opt to keep Dryml when Gizatullin arrives.
Dryml is a big track specialist and admits the switch to
275-metre Arlington will not be easy but reckons the way his brother Ales
adapted to the equally tight Wolverhampton circuit last year shows what can be
done.
He added: “When I go to Eastbourne on Saturday for press and
practice it will be my first ever ride on that bike so it will take some time.
“Hopefully I’ll get to practice on Sunday as well.
“I was really disappointed when Peterborough left me out because
I felt my English league form last year was pretty good “I was really confident
of going back to Peterborough but they signed other riders.
“I’m more than happy to join Eastbourne and I thank Bob Dugard
and the club for giving me the chance.”
Spectators are welcome to watch press and practice for free from
11am on Saturday.
Dryml will be among the field when the season opens with the
Dean Barker Farewell a week on Sunday (3.30pm).
Eagles sign Holder
Eastbourne Eagles have signed James Holder as their No.
8 for the new season.
The 22-year-old Aussie rides for Premier League outfit Newport
and is younger brother of joint Arlington record holder Chris.
He will be on standby for any late call-ups should Eagles’
reserves miss meetings in the new campaign.
Eastbourne team manager Trevor Geer is delighted to have the
former Isle of Wight man on board.
Geer said: “He’s so keen and our captain Davey Watt has been
really impressed by him.
“When the chance came Davey said to us ‘you’ve really got to get
him’.”
Holder has already signed up for the season-opener at Newport on
March 15 so misses an early chance to race at Arlington in the Dean Barker
Farewell that day.
However he is likely to join in practice at the track this
coming Sunday.
He scored five points from four rides on his Arlington debut
last April, representing the Islanders in a 57-37 challenge match defeat to
Eastbourne.
He won the reserves’ race, beating Eagles veteran Brent Werner
in the process.
It's a full season for Eagles
Eastbourne Eagles will operate a full fixture list this
year after Elite League bosses agreed a new TV deal with Sky Sports.
Eagles promoter Bob Dugard revealed in The Argus eight days ago
that there was a very real chance of clubs voting to cut the league fixture list
in half to help maximise gate revenue and minimise costs during the economic
downturn.
Dugard admitted the league needed a new deal with Sky to help
them through the coming season, which is expected to be the toughest for years
due to the recession.
He revealed Eastbourne lost £10,000 every time they had to
switch a meeting from their usual Saturday night to a Monday for live TV
coverage.
Dugard’s revelations sent shockwaves through speedway and the
Eagles boss was asked by his fellow promoters to explain why he had broken
ranks.
However he has no regrets about highlighting the tough times the
sport faces in the recession.
Dugard said: “Sky came through for us and we will run the full
fixture list.
“Everybody is very aware of the economic situation and we might
review things in the middle of the year to make sure we are on track. It’s a
very precarious situation.
“I’m delighted Sky have helped us out. I didn’t necessarily
expect them to do it.”
Although many fans and riders will be delighted to have 32
league meetings this season, Dugard maintains tracks could be better off in the
long term if teams visited each other just once a year, as happens in most
leagues in most sports.
Such a revamp would put the Elite League in line with Poland’s
Ekstraliga and Sweden’s Elitserien, both of which draw good crowds.
However it could be tricky for some English teams who do not own
their stadia and have commitments to their landlords to run a minimum number of
fixtures per year.
Dugard said: “I’ve got mixed feelings about us running the A and
B fixtures this year.
“For Eastbourne, from the long term point of view, we have a
shocking job to fit a full fixture list in.
“It would have been manna from heaven to just had the A
fixtures. We could have got back to being a profitable business.
“As it is we do not have one spare date for any re-arranged
fixtures.
“We go one week past the cut-off date as it is but the BSPA are
looking into our problems.”
Eagles’ league season will run until September 19 when they host
Swindon in a fixture originally listed for the night before the British GP in
June.
Eastbourne had already confirmed they would start the season
with the Dean Barker Farewell on the afternoon of Sunday, March 15, followed by
the home leg of the Elite Shield against Poole exactly a week later.
They also have a two-leg Knockout Cup quarter-final against
derby rivals Lakeside in March.
Swindon, being widely tipped as strong title challengers, visit
Arlington for a televised meeting on Monday, May 11.
The home fixture with Coventry on August 17 has also been
earmarked for live coverage.
Another highlight of the season comes on Saturday, August 8,
when Arlington stages the Elite League Pairs as part of Eagles’ 80th season
celebrations.
Eagles star is upbeat
Eastbourne Eagles star David Norris has backed speedway to
survive the recession.
The club’s record points scorer, who is poised to return from
retirement when the new season gets under way on March 15, believes fans will
still turn out to support the sport.
Norris said: “People talk about the recession but everyone needs
something to enjoy at the end of the week.
“Speedway is not the most costly thing in people’s lives. Maybe
they will knock a holiday on the head to save money but you need to get away
from your problems as well and speedway is a good way of getting out.
“I’ve spent £8,000 out of my own pocket just to ride this
season. There’s a commitment for you right there. I could have done with that
eight grand to spend on something else.”
Norris has attracted backing from Bob Brimson, the former Eagles
promoter who is committing a five-figure sum in sponsorship to Eagles and their
riders.
Eastbourne are relishing the chance to upset the pundits who are
already writing them off for the new season.
Norris added: “We’ll be underdogs but people in Britain love an
underdog. We’ve got five exciting kids. We’ve got the Russian champion, Denis
Gizatullin.
“Everyone is talking about Emil Sajfutdinov coming out of
Russia, and he’s very good, but our boy is their national champion. That’s
exciting for starters.”
Eagles’ press and practice session has been arranged for
Saturday, March 7 (from 11am) with supporters welcome to attend free of charge.
Track staff, officials and stewards are urged to attend the
customary pre-season briefing this coming Sunday at the track (11am).
Season could be cut in half unless Sky
answer SOS
Eastbourne Eagles chief Bob Dugard has revealed how
top-flight speedway clubs could cut their league fixture lists in
half if they fail to improve their TV deal in the next few days.
Elite League tracks are ready to scrap the second half of the
2009 campaign if Sky Sports do not offer them a helping hand through the
recession.
Clubs believe they can maximise gate revenue and minimise costs
by only racing each other twice in the coming season, once at home and once
away, rather than the usual four times.
Now promoters have asked Sky Sports, who screen league speedway
live on Monday evenings, to allow them to stage TV meetings on their usual race
nights, which is Saturday in Eastbourne’s case.
If that is not possible, promoters will call on Sky to
compensate not only the clubs who have to move meetings to Mondays but also
those tracks for whom Monday is the preferred race night and who therefore have
to go up against live speedway on TV.
Sky bosses are considering their position but, if they cannot
help, clubs are ready to take drastic action.
At the moment, each team races an A and B set of fixtures, the
letter referring to whether it is the first or second time they have met at each
track that season.
The contingency plan is to scrap the B fixtures in 2009.
That would mean just eight home league fixtures for each team,
plus at least one Knockout Cup tie and, hopefully, play-off action for fans to
enjoy next term.
As cup holders, Eastbourne will have an early-season home
meeting in the Elite Shield, the equivalent of football’s Community Shield.
The Dean Barker Farewell, on March 15, and the EL Pairs, on
August 8, will also take place at Arlington.
Eagles lost about £30,000 last season but other tracks fared
worse.
Now Dugard has broken his silence on what has been going on in
meetings behind the scenes recently and revealed to The Argus: “We have asked
Sky to revisit our deal with them.
“It costs money to race on another night. At Eastbourne, it
costs us at least £10,000 per meeting in lost gate revenue when we switch from
Saturday to Monday for TV.
“Sky have gone away to think about our proposals but we need a
quick decision.
“I’ve got 62 flights to arrange for riders and I want to do it
soon to get more competitive fares.
“I’m also sitting on 12,000 flyers to send out through the
Eastbourne Tourist Board so we need to know how the season will work.
“We are falling behind with our pre-season stuff.
“There is a meeting next Tuesday between promoters when this
will all be settled.”
The BSPA have already released a full set of Elite League
fixtures for 2009 which have been published in various quarters, including the
popular Speedway Star magazine.
Dugard, however, has always been reluctant to give The Argus a
fixture list when asked, warning it could change drastically.
He also advised us against printing the schedule put out by the
BSPA. The furthest Eagles are going for now is a draft fixture list, which has
been on the club’s own website for some time.
Dugard said: “There are five tracks that could not race a full
season this year without further funds from Sky. If we don’t get the money we
would probably just race the A fixtures and we would need to refund some season
ticket money.
“The biggest fear is some tracks would start the season and not
finish it.
“More people will come to meetings if there are fewer of them.
“I already think people are fed up with us racing teams twice at
home and twice away in the league. You see the same riders too often.
“My personal preference for Eastbourne is to have the A fixtures
only plus some other form of competition.
“If we had about 14 fixtures that could suit us and the riders
because they have a crowded fixture list although it would make it very
difficult for riders who only compete in Britain.”
Whatever happens, it appears unlikely Eagles will stage a
meeting on the eve of the British Grand Prix.
They were listed by the BSPA to host Swindon on Friday, June 26,
but Dugard is convinced there will be no racing at Eastbourne that night.
Norris is back on the track
David Norris admits he surprised himself on his return
to the track after 18 months out.
The Eastbourne Eagles star is planning to cut short his
injury-enforced retirement in the coming season and is already back in practice.
He had 19 laps in a private session at Arlington last Saturday
morning and could do something similar tomorrow if the weather holds.
Norris gave one of the bikes he has bought from GP star Hans
Andersen a spin and was impressed.
The long-time Eagles fans’ favourite said: “I felt great, better
than expected.
“It was a bit of a weird feeling being back out there, quite
emotional to tell you the truth.
“I half expected to just pootle around but we had a good
session.
“Roy Prodger has done a great job on the track down there. It
was very smooth although it got a bit greasy because the frost was coming out of
it.
“I started at about ten-thirty in the morning but I could have
done with getting down there about an hour earlier.”
Meanwhile, Eagles promoter Bob Dugard and his fellow top-flight
promoters are making plans to combat the credit crunch.
Eagles lost £30,000 last season and were by no means the
worst-performing club in the Elite League.
Dugard said: “All the promoters got together to discuss the
situation recently and the mood was one of apprehension.
“I’m not allowed to say what ideas we have to make things easier
but there is a worry people will choose to take their entertainment money
elsewhere in the current economic climate.”
Eagles agree Kennett fee
Eastbourne Eagles have agreed a deal with another Elite League
club for Edward Kennett.
But the club concerned are not Coventry.
Kennett was keen to move to the Brandon outfit, who had two bids
knocked back by Eagles promoter Bob Dugard.
Now Dugard has agreed a price of £25,000 plus a rider for
Kennett.
The buying club, whose identity is not yet being revealed,
cannot fit Kennett into their 2009 line-up but would loan him out for a season.
Which means he could yet get his year with the Bees after all.
All the transfer requires now is the agreement of Kennett
himself when he returns from a ski trip.
Dugard had suggested Kennett could yet be back at Arlington next
season as he struggled to agree a price with Coventry.
But that, and any late rejig in the Eagles line-up, now looks
unlikely.
Russian champion Denis Gizatullin has been confirmed as a
four-point rider for the new season which means he goes at reserve alongside
Simon Gustafsson.
Appe Mustonen, originally named at reserve for Eagles before
Kennett’s transfer request led to a re-think, will still have a chance to shine
in England.
The Finnish teenager will come across before the new season and
Dugard will try to find him a Premier League track if he looks the part.
From Elite-Eagles.com
|
Eastbourne 80th year Meeting |
|
News
just in that in recognition of the clubs 80th year this year, that the
BSPA has awarded Eastbourne Speedway the final of the Elite League
Pairs, which will be held on the 8th August at 7:30
This is one of the clubs biggest meetings that has been
awarded to them by the BSPA and the club intends to make it a great
success.
As the meeting is a BSPA event, under normal
circumstances, a season ticket will not be valid. Once again Bob Dugard
has said that if anyone, who has an Eastbourne season ticket 2009 will
be welcome to the meeting and the club will sort out any payment to the
BSPA
This is an extra meeting for the club also an extra
meeting for season ticket holders at no extra cost! |
Kennett could still have Eagles future
EASTBOURNE Eagles boss Bob Dugard has told unsettled Edward Kennett
there could still be an opening for him at Arlington.
But he insists Kennett would have to convince him of his
commitment to the Sussex club before being included in the 2009 line-up.
The Hailsham-based racer has been linked with a move to Coventry
after putting in a transfer request when Eastbourne refused to let him go out on
loan for a year.
Dugard says he is happy to go to arbitration to hammer out a
deal for Kennett and would expect to receive at least £30,000 for the
23-year-old Team GB rider.
However, he is also willing to make a late rejig to his team and
bring Kennett, one of the successes of last summer at Arlington, back into the
fold on the club’s terms.
Eagles have scope to include Kennett at the expense of a
lower-average rider having come in below the 39.90 point limit.
Dugard said: “Edward has been here since he was eight years old
but we have only ever got one full season out of him.
“That was last year and the facts will tell you he improved
himself more than he ever did when he went to Poole.
“He has great potential and we would have brought it out of him
better than anybody. I would have seen him really pushing for the No. 1 spot
next year.”
Dugard added: “If Edward can’t get fixed up anywhere else I
would take him back on condition he is happy to be fully committed to Eastbourne
and that he wants to be here.
“He has to be worth £30,000 and I’m happy to go to arbitration
to fix a fee.”
Dugard, who feels his team will fare well next term, said he
would reluctantly loan Kennett if necessary but would prefer a permanent deal if
the rider is to leave.
Eagles ace can go on loan
Eastbourne Eagles have told Lewis Bridger he is free to go out on loan
in 2010.
But Eagles chief Bob Dugard predicts his young star will not
want to move on after a sparkling 2009 campaign.
Bridger, 19, will be one of the key men in the coming season for
an Eagles team widely tipped to struggle in the Elite League.
He had indicated he wanted to get away from Arlington for a year
to test himself on larger circuits.
Instead, Dugard offered him improved terms and insisted he
wanted the Bexhill racer to stay, especially as his contemporary Edward Kennett
had asked to leave.
Now the Eagles promoter has revealed he will keep the door open
to a loan switch in a year’s time, even though he would expect the rider to stay
at his local club.
Dugard said: “Lewis was amazed by the deal he got from me.
“I intended building the team for the next five years around
Edward and Lewis.
“Lewis is with us for 2009 but if he wants to go on loan in 2010
I will let him go. I would not want to sell him.
“Lewis has been honest enough to say he feels a year at a big
track would help him but let’s look at it in a year’s time.
“With the experience he gets in Poland over the next year I do
not feel he will need to go to a big track here.
“I’ve been in this sport all my life and the best riders in the
world have all come off smaller tracks.
“That tells you everything.
“Riding a small track like Eastbourne makes you a more skilful
rider.
“Riding a big track is easy. You just make the bike go forward.
The technique comes on the smaller tracks.
“If you talk to (world champion) Nicki Pedersen, he will tell
you he learned more riding on a small track at Eastbourne.
“Lewis is in for a barnstorming season with us. He is a
different person now and that will show in his riding.”
Arlington is one of the smallest circuits in the Elite League at
275 metres and is known as a test of technique rather than outright speed.
Bridger is also under contract at Czestochowa in the Polish top
flight and hopes to be a regular in 2009. Although their circuit is not a
monster by Polish standards at 368 metres, the Ekstraliga offers far more chance
to pick up big-track knowledge.
Bridger narrowly missed out on a final spot in the his first
outing of 2009 at Poole’s New Year Classic on Sunday.
He enjoyed two heat wins on his way to nine points from four
rides but was excluded for unfair riding in his fifth and missed the top four by
a point.
Kennett won that final heat to pip Bridger to the final but then
finished last as Ben Barker took the honours from the previously unbeaten Adam
Skornicki.
Meanwhile, Eastbourne’s Cameron Woodward came fifth in the
opening round of the Australian Championship.
Woodward had three wins on his way to 11 points from five heats.
He was then second to Chris Holder in a semi-final from which
only the winner progressed.
Eagles skipper Davey Watt scored ten points but was last in the
semi.
Leigh Adams pipped recent Eagles transfer target Rory Schlein
for first place.
A message from the
promoters
You will have all had time to study our
selected seven which Trevor and I are sure many of you will not agree with. But
you must understand for Eastbourne, racing on a Saturday night and the majority
of riders racing in Poland on a Sunday, it’s not easy. However we are confident
that it is a brilliant team for 2009 - 5 of our seven are under 25 years old and
improving year on year, as does Davey who won’t let us down.
David Norris returns - nobody was more surprised than us when told David wanted
to race again and was adamant that it would only be for Eastbourne. With a
10.5% reduction on his average for being British and out of the saddle for a
season it gave an opportunity we could not afford to miss, especially as he is
so determined to get back to his best (which made him the highest scoring Eagle
of all time) you would be a fool not to grab such an opportunity with both
hands. His addition to the team carries an extra bonus as it leaves us some
slack - if any rider is not cutting the mustard we can make changes - but we
believe that won’t be necessary!
Trevor and I put 27 different teams down
after we received Edward’s transfer request.
We looked at numerous aspects to determine what would give us the best
opportunity to be a force to be reckoned with. Anybody who thinks cost came
into our selection consider this - 2 Australians, 2 Swedes and 1 Russian, bring
a legend out of retirement and kept the best British rider at Eastbourne – if
you think this comes cheap you couldn’t be more wrong.
Trust in us we’ve done the very best we can in difficult times. It only remains
to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a successful team for 2009. OH COME
ALL YE FAITHFUL! Trevor, Bob our families and our band of willing helpers; it’s
a time of goodwill to all men, especially our seven!
Eagles reject "joke" offer for Kennett
Eastbourne Eagles have turned down a £20,000 offer for Edward
Kennett.
Promoter Bob Dugard said he had no hesitation knocking back the bid from
Coventry Bees.
Now he admits the rider, who requested a move two weeks ago, might have to go
out on loan.
Eagles and Lakeside Hammers have already finalised their Elite League
line-ups for next season and places are quickly being filled elsewhere.
Dugard, who has revised his asking price for Kennett down to £45,000, said:
“Coventry offered £20,000. That’s an absolute joke. We will not sell him for
that.
“He would have to go out on loan somewhere and there is no guarantee that
would be to Coventry. He would go to whoever gave us the best offer of a loan
fee.”
Eagles’ new line-up, which includes a comeback for David Norris, has received
stinging and widespread criticism from fans posting on speedway websites.
Dugard, however, said: “Myself and (team manager) Trevor Geer have been doing
this for a long time and people should trust our judgement. We will now let the
dust settle and have a look at the other teams being put together.
“I’ve seen Lakeside and it looks very good on paper but they are lacking at
the bottom end.
“We went through a whole year with potentially one weak link and they
possibly have a couple. That will be hard to overcome.”
Dugard is still waiting for confirmation from the BSPA as to who he will have
at reserve alongside Simon Gustafsson.
He still expects Russian champion Denis Gizatullin to come in on a five-point
average, meaning Ricky Kling would be at reserve.
However the BSPA are listing Gizatullin at 4.00 on their website, which would
give him a reserve berth while on-loan Kling goes into the main body of the
team.
Dugard said: “Gizatullin at reserve would be good for us but I would not
trust that figure at the moment.
Norris ready and raring to go
Arlington legend David Norris has
reassured his army of fans he is fully fit to ride again for Eastbourne Eagles.
The club’s record points scorer has
signed up for a comeback, little more than a year after retiring due to a
culmination of head and neck injuries.
Norris, 36, has been given the all-clear
by his doctor, received backing from his family and done a deal with promoter
Bob Dugard to complete Eagles’ line up for next season.
He will be joined in the pits by former
on-track sidekick Dean Barker, who will be acting as his mechanic.
Norris’ decision to return to the
unforgiving world of no-brakes bike racing will delight many of his fans around
the Arlington terraces and British speedway in general It might also alarm a
few.
He appeared to have walked away from the
sport after the last in a series of crashes in mid-season 2007, when he waved to
fans on all sides of Arlington Stadium on his way back to the pits after picking
himself up from the shale on the third bend.
That gesture was seen by many present
that night as a star rider waving goodbye to his public. He has not raced since.
He announced his retirement at the end of
October last year, though he returned to the pits for a short stint as mechanic
to Lewis Bridger.
For almost two decades he was one of the
finest and most exciting riders in the league.
The locally-born racer made his Eagles
debut back in 1988 and broke Gordon Kennett's record for total points scored in
a home win over rivals Poole on Good Friday, 2007.
He has always kept the door to a comeback
slightly ajar and seemed slightly irked that he could not stage a farewell
meeting until late 2009 at the earliest.
Now he is back as the final piece of a
line-up which has been the subject of a re-think after Edward Kennett put in a
transfer request two weeks ago.
Norris said: “I could get on a bike
tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to racing again. I want to lose 5kg but I
never usually start training until January anyway.
“It is what it is. It’s wind the throttle
on and turn left. Maybe having been away I won’t be as intense about it as I was
before.
“The timing is right to come back. In two
years’ time I’ll be too old to do this.
“I’ve seen my doctor. I was more nervous
about seeing him than anything because I consider him to be a friend.
“He just said he had no problems with it.
He said ‘it’s your life to live’.
“My wife has given me her blessing as
much as she can. She is right behind me and the kids are excited about it.”
Norris, like all riders, will have to
pass a medical before being allowed to start the Elite League season.
He comes in on a modest average 5.58
after receiving an 8% reduction due to not having raced last season.
Dugard said: “There will be reservations
from some people but as far as I and (team manager) Trevor Geer are concerned we
are both confident he can fill a massive void.
“We will get him practising as soon as we
can.
“David will know himself if he doesn’t
measure up but I'm elated he wanted to come back.”
The club have done a deal to help buy two
bikes worth a total of £8,000 from GP rider Hans Andersen in Denmark though
Norris insists reports that he had already shelled out that money before signing
are wide of the mark.
He said: “We have done a deal. I’m very
happy.
“I said what I would like and Bob
bettered it. He looked after me good as gold.”
Norris will continue his day job as an
electrician but is now likely to pull out of the running for the vacant post of
Great Britain team manager.
Eagles 2009: Watt (capt), Bridger,
Woodward, Gizatullin, Norris, Gustafsson, Kling
Martin Dugard rules out becoming Eagles boss
Martin Dugard has ruled out an immediate
move into management at Eastbourne Eagles.
But he insists he will still be around to
help out.
The former British GP winner and star
Eagles rider has been asked by his father and club boss Bob to take a
co-promoter’s role ahead of the 2009 season.
Dugard junior, who undertakes an array of
unsung tasks during the week and on race nights, said: “I’m still around to
help.
“I’m not interested in running the thing
at the moment.
“At some stage I could be but not at the
moment.”
Meanwhile, Martin Dugard admits there is
no prospect of the Brighton Bonanza, or Indoor Speedway as it was called last
season, making a quick return.
The ten-year-old pre-Crristmas event did
not take place this time around after he failed to agree terms with the
Brighton Centre.
Dugard said: “I’ve been trying to find
different dates and a different venue but they are hard to come across. The hunt
goes on
Eagles move in on Kling
Eastbourne Eagles expect to sign Swedish
reserve Ricky Kling on loan from Lakeside tonight.
Kling has been left out of the Hammers’
new line-up and, subject to agreeing personal terms, will come in alongside
compatriot Simon Gustafson at the bottom of the Eagles’ order.
That leaves Arlington supreme Bob Dugard
with just one place left in his line-up and about six average points with which
to work.
Kling is in Sussex today and will meet
Dugard to discuss a one-year deal.
Dugard said: “Ricky would probably say
himself Arlington is his favourite track.
“We definitely want him. I’vet wanted him
for weeks. He has got to be more solid on a 4.90 average than bringing in a
three or four-pointer.
“I know he is very excited about coming
to us and I don’t envisage any sticking points.”
The under-rated Kling averaged 6.24 paid
points per four rides in all matches for the Hammers last season as they reached
the finals of both the Elite League play-offs and Craven Shield.
The 21-year-old from Mallila had a very
creditable 38 wins or paid wins in 160 rides and, as in 2007, proved he can be a
handy performer at Arlington.
In three visits to Sussex last term, he
won the reserves’ race twice, had victories over Lee Richardson and Cameron
Woodward and posted scores of 8+2 (5), 9+1 (7) and 7+2 (5) for an average of
6.82 including bonuses.
Kling would join Davey Watt, Lewis
Bridger, Denis Gizatullin, Woodward, Gustafson and one other.
Last season’s Eagles skipper Richardson
will spearhead the new Lakeside one-to-seven. He joins Adam Shields, Jonas
Davidson and Joonas Kylmakorpi in a strong looking top four.
Kauko Nieminen and reserve Stuart Dobson
are also on board, with the last reserve spot to be shared between Chris Mills
and another rider to be named.
Meanwhile Dugard admits he is yet to do a
deal to offload wantaway Edward Kennett, for whom he has set a reduced asking
price of £45,000.
Kennett has admitted he would like to
ride for Coventry.
He had also been linked with
Peterborough, but the Panthers’ promoter Mick Bratley has described Dugard’s
asking price as ludicrous.
Bratley added: “I know some people think
I’m stupid, but I can assure them I’m not that stupid. We were briefly
interested in Kennett but then someone else became available who we preferred.
Denis heading back to
Arlington
9:00am Tuesday 9th December
2008
Eastbourne Eagles look set to bring back
Denis Gizatullin for next season as they re-think their team building plans.
Arlington chief Bob Dugard has been
knocked back by Coventry in an audacious move to sign Rory Schlein in exchange
for Edward Kennett, who has requested a transfer.
Now Dugard is splashing out on Gizatullin,
the Russian champion who rode once for Eagles in 2007.
If the 24-year-old completes formalities,
that would leave room below the average points limit for Eastbourne to make
further changes.
Sergey Darkin and Appe Mustonen would be
left out, with Eagles lining up an alternative second string and reserve.
Eagles would not need to stump up a
transfer or loan fee for Gizatullin.
But they would have to provide him with a
van, bikes, accommodation and regular flights.
Dugard insists: “It would no longer be a
cut-price team but if you want to try and win titles you have to spend some
money.”
Team manager Trevor Geer is in contact
with Gizatullin through the rider’s English-speaking compatriot Roman Povazhny,
Bringing in Schlein, who enjoys riding at Arlington, would have been a major
coup for Eastbourne but he is now a confirmed starter for Coventry.
Kennett, who asked for a move last week,
is still keen to join the Bees although Eagles are keen on a permanent deal
rather than a loan.
Dugard said he has reached agreement to
sell Kennett to Peterborough for £45,000 but added: “He doesn’t want to go
there.
“Coventry are his only choice and we are
still waiting for a call from them.”
Eagles skipper wants team spirit
New skipper Davey Watt reckons Eastbourne
must take a tip from their arch rivals if they want to battle for Elite League
honours next season.
The Poole Pirates asset has rejoined
Eagles for a third loan stint ahead of the 2009 campaign.
Watt heads back east as a reigning league
champion after helping Poole top the regular season table, then hammer closest
rivals Lakeside in the final of the play-offs.
The powerhouse Dorset outfit attract the
best crowds in the league and were many people’s tips for silverware even before
the campaign started.
Watt, though, insists the title might
have eluded them had they not shown the sort of team spirit he now wants to see
at Arlington, where Eastbourne will be hoping to finish in the top six and reach
the new look play-offs.
He said: “We had a lot of success at
Poole but I was riding with a bunch of guys who all got on very well.
“They were really supportive of each
other and that was key to our success last season.
“I don’t particularly think we had the
best team on paper.
“We were top heavy, as a lot of people
were pointing out, but everybody really wanted to win and was hungry.
“That can help you make up a lot of
points and that is what I’m looking for at Eastbourne next year.
“Hopefully we will be able to create a
good team spirit and atmosphere.”
Although Watt has never been Eagles’
official captain, he stood in for Nicki Pedersen on various occasions during the
2007 season.
Many considered him the true team leader
within the Eagles camp even when the Danish star was present.
He will join Pedersen with Swedish
champions Lejonen next season and also be riding in Poland.
The new Eagles skipper heads home on
Sunday to compete in the Australian Championship and enjoy a holiday.
Meanwhile Eagles boss Bob Dugard has
confirmed there is no way back into his plans for wantaway heat leader Edward
Kennett but has assured fans he has good replacements lined up.
Kennett could be heading to 2007 treble
winners Coventry.
Dugard insists he wants a transfer fee or
rider exchange for Kennett and will not settle for a loan deal.
The Arlington supremo said: “In my honest
opinion I’ve got three options to bring in and two would be better for the club
than Ed.
“We are talking about experienced
international riders.
“Let’s be honest, last season was really
the first complete season he has ridden for us even though he has been with us
since he was eight years old on the junior track.
“I’ve said if he wants to leave again
it’s for good this time.
“It is not a decision I’ve taken lightly.
I was mortified with Edward when he rang me and told me he wanted to leave but I
could see there was no way he was going to change his mind.”
Dugard expects teenager Lewis Bridger to
flourish after his fellow local boy quit the club.
He added: “There have always been
undertones between Lewis and Ed. It’s like this town is not big enough for both
of them.
“This will simplify things for the club.”
Eagles will begin their Knockout Cup
defence with a two-leg quarter-final against Lakeside Hammers, the side they
beat in last season’s semis.
The home leg, scheduled for May 16, will
be included in season tickets, prices for which have been set at £270 for
adults, £250 for OAPs and concessions and £108 for children aged 8-14.
All prices include a programme for each
meeting, with other offers available at elite-eagles.com.
On-the-night admission next season will
cost £15 for adults, £13 for OAPs and concessions, £6 for children aged 8-14 and
£38 for a family of four, the latter to include a match programme.
Eagles will not let
Kennett go cheaply
Eastbourne Eagles have slapped an £80,000
asking price on Edward Kennett after the Team GB rider said he wanted to leave
Arlington.
Kennett has been told to submit an
official transfer request after Eagles boss Bob Dugard refused to let him go out
on a year’s loan.
The 22-year-old is keen to ride at a
larger circuit than 275 metre Arlington and would love to join Coventry, though
Peterborough could also come into the reckoning.
The bombshell news emerged from the KO
Cup winners last night just as Lewis Bridger, the rider most widely linked with
a move away from his native East Sussex, was shaking hands on improved terms to
stay at the club next season.
Bridger’s role in the new-look team,
which will be captained by Davey Watt, now takes on even greater importance
though Eagles insist they have two or three possible replacements for Kennett
lined up.
Kennett, who came within one vote of
being named Eagles’ rider of the year for 2008, admits he wants to leave the
club but only for a year.
He believes a loan deal to a bigger track
would benefit him and, in the longer term, Eastbourne, with whom he still sees
his long-term future.
The Hailsham-based racer said: “I don’t
want to leave permanently. I wanted to go for a year but Bob says if I go I’m
not welcome back.
“I feel I need to move on. When I went to
Poole for a year in 2007 I felt I came back a better rider and I believe I can
do that again.
“Bob wasn’t happy with that. I don’t want
to put an official transfer request in but I’m going to have to.
“I don’t even know how to go about it
because I’ve never done it before.”
Dugard has based his eyecatching price
tag on talk doing the rounds of a potential £100,000 fee being asked for rising
star Tai Woffinden.
He said: “I’m disappointed with the way
it has happened. I didn’t believe there to be any doubts about Edward.
“He wants to go to Coventry or
Peterborough but I don’t think Coventry can fit him in.
“We would rather sell him than loan him
out.”
Although Kennett has the better average,
Dugard sees Bridger as the harder man to replace as he has potential to improve
significantly on his starting average of 5.11.
Bridger had been linked with a move to
Swindon but Dugard said: “I explained how Edward was going and how it was so
important Lewis stayed. Lewis was fantastic about that.
“He is very happy with the terms. We have
repaid him for his loyalty.”
Meanwhile Eagles rider Cameron Woodward
is celebrating in his native Australia after winning the Victoria State
Championship
Watt is new Eagles skipper
New signing Davey Watt is relishing the
chance to captain Eastbourne Eagles after signing for a third loan stint.
Eagles boss Bob Dugard has successfully
brought in the Australian star from Poole Pirates for next summer, five days
after revealing he planned to do so in The Argus.
Watt, whose most recent stint at
Arlington saw him win rider of the year honours in 2007, will ride in the No. 1
position for Eagles.
Poole were unable to fit the rider, who
turns 31 in January, into their new line-up as they plan to defend the Elite
League title.
Watt, who will continue to live in Poole,
said: "I'm sorry the team had to split up but I can't think of a better place to
go than Eastbourne.
"Bob asked if I wanted to be captain and
I'm more than happy to do that.
"It means extra responsibility and it's
not something I will take lightly.
"Unfortunately I'm a little bit older
than most of the other riders now and hopefully that makes me a little bit wiser
Dugard asked to take
over from Dad
Martin Dugard has been offered the chance
to succeed his father in charge of Eastbourne Eagles.
The former Grand Prix rider, dubbed the
Master Of Arlington during his racing days at the Sussex track, has been told a
co-promoter’s position alongside Trevor Geer is his if he wants it.
Eagles supremo Bob Dugard would like to
take more of a back seat at Arlington, possibly within the next year, and sees
son Martin as a possible successor.
Geer has been handed co-promoter duties
alongside his role as team manager but will also retain his day job with a
construction company.
Dugard senior is very much top man at
Eastbourne but combines his roles as club promoter and stadium co-owner with
running the family machine tools company in Hove.
He said: “I’m waiting for an answer from
my son Martin if he wants to get involved as well.
“I’ve offered it to him. I’d like to
think he would also become a co-promoter and within half a season he and Trevor
could pretty well be handling all that together.
“I’m going to be 67 next year and I want
an easier life, not a harder one. I think Martin knows what a big decision it
is, though, because it takes your life over.”
Dugard believes he has cut costs
radically with his new look line-up and has revised his break even crowd figure
down from 1,350 to about 1,000.
However, he remains keen to bring in
investment. He said: “I'm talking now with two sponsors. One would be a
secondary sponsor and I’m talking with one company that would be a mainline
sponsor. It’s an international household name.”
Meanwhile, former co-promoter Martin
Hagon has decided against rejoining Eastbourne to take charge of a team in the
new National League.
Eastbourne will not be represented in the
new third tier of British speedway next year but will continue to develop young
riders through second-half meetings and challenge fixtures.
Hagon had planned to take a young Eagles
side into the Conference League but that has now been replaced by a more
professional National League and the costs of entering a competitive team are
seen as prohibitive
Eagles reveal 2009
line-up
Eastbourne Eagles expect to bring back
Davey Watt as their No. 1 for next season.
Sergey Darkin definitely returns to the
club but there is no place for Scott Nicholls or Lee Richardson in the new
line-up.
The arrival of Finnish teenage prospect
Appe Mustonen in place of James Brundle is the only other change to the team
which won the Knockout Cup but failed to make the Elite League play-offs in
2008.
That means Lewis Bridger, Edward Kennett,
Cameron Woodward and Simon Gustafsson stay at Arlington.
Eagles were this evening waiting for
confirmation that Watt is not required by Poole next season before completing a
loan deal with the Pirates to bring him back for a third spell.
Nicholls and Richardson had both
indicated they might give the Elite League a miss next season.
Neither rider has shut the door
completely on the English league but Eagles boss Bob Dugard has already made his
move and selected a team with a total average of 39.18, a shade below the limit
of 39.90.
Watt is likely to be captain while Trevor
Geer remains as team manager.
Dugard said: “Team building is going to
be a very hard thing to do and most teams will carry two heat leaders whereas it
used to be three.
“We have set our stall out slightly
differently in that our heat leaders won’t be the highest in the league.
“But we’re backing it up with five pucker
riders whereas a lot of other clubs are going for real big heat leaders will be
really struggling at the lower end.”
Bridger had been linked with a move to a
bigger track, probably Swindon, but Dugard has blocked any attempts to prise him
away.
Six of the team are Eastbourne assets
while Watt is a popular figure at Arlington and was Eagles rider of the year in
2006.
Uzbekistan-born Darkin, 34, has fought
back from life threatening injuries sustained in a crash in Russia in 2005
though his most recent stint in the Elite League, with Poole, was a flop.
He had a spell with Eastbourne in 2001
and has since ridden for Coventry and Arena-Essex.
Dugard hopes the fact he has permission
to base himself in England will be a big plus and help him more than meet a
modest 5.12 average.
No riding order has been fixed yet. Watt,
if he signs, must go at No. 1 but there are no other restrictions among the top
five.
Dugard added: “I have Poole’s assurance,
providing they can do deals they want to do with other riders, that Davey Watt
is coming to Eastbourne.
“I’ve looked at every other team in the
league and the combinations they can put together and I’m happy with what we
have got.”
Eagles legend in running
to be new GB boss
Eastbourne Eagles legend David Norris is
in the running to be the new Great Britain team manager.
Norris’s name was put forward at the
recent get together of speedway promoters.
Eagles’ record points scorer has not
ridden since midway through the 2007 season but said he would jump at the chance
to guide the Brits in next year’s World Cup.
Norris, 36, has re-trained as an
electrician and said: “I don’t have much time on my hands now but it’s your
country, isn’t it?
“I would have to see what it entails and
discuss it with my wife but I’ve got lots of ideas.
“If it only entails doing the World Cup
and maybe seeing some younger riders through international rounds then I’d do it
but I can’t be flying off to all the GPs.”
Eagles provided three riders to the GB
line-up in last season’s World Cup in Lee Richardson, Scott Nicholls and Edward
Kennett while Lewis Bridger is pushing ever closer to a place.
Doubts Early indications, however, are
that Eastbourne could have less of a home grown look next term.
Finnish teenager Appe Mustonen is being
lined up to replace James Brundle at reserve.
There are also doubts over the
continuation of Nicholls and Richardson, both at Arlington and in the Elite
League altogether.
Eagles would almost certainly have to
look to overseas riders with Elite League experience to replace those two, who
were the highest scoring Brits in the league last season.
Kennett is expected to stay at Arlington
and the club are hopeful Bridger will also be around for his fourth professional
season, despite rumours doing the rounds to the contrary.
However arguably the two riders most
likely to remain at the East Sussex circuit are Cameron Woodward, from
Australia, and Simon Gustafsson, from Sweden.
Eagles chief Bob Dugard has advised fans
to expect a young, exciting line-up and has welcomed the points ceiling of 39.90
per team which should help keep the wage bill down.
He is unlikely, however, to make use of
the new facility allowing Elite League clubs to use Premier League riders with
modest averages on a doubling-up basis.
Eagles plan busy season
Eastbourne Eagles are lining up a bumper
34-meeting schedule for Arlington fans next season after welcoming Martin Hagon
back to the club.
Hagon, who quit as co-promoter alongside
Bob Dugard recently, is expected to return in charge of a new youth side to race
in the third tier of British speedway.
Eagles will be racing in the inaugural
National League, where their closest rivals geographically will include Poole’s
youngsters as well as Isle of Wight and possibly Sittingbourne.
Hagon admitted life in charge of an Elite
League club took up too many hours which he could have dedicated to his shock
absorber business and his family.
However he clearly enjoyed developing
Eastbourne’s youth set-up and made no secret of his wish to take a junior team
into what was, at the time, the Conference League.
Eagles expect to run 22 first team
meetings in the nine-team Elite League and its associated competitions, as well
as 12 National League fixtures.
Dugard said: “We have been accepted into
the National League and that will be Martin’s baby.
“I’m very happy about that. He wants to
run on GP Saturday nights but not on Sundays, so that will give us something
nearly every Saturday night.”
Eighteen-year-old Finn Appe Mustonen has
been identified as the young Scandinavian prospect Eagles intend to bring in at
the No. 7 spot next season.
Elite League bosses have agreed various
rule changes for next season, most notably a new points scoring system.
Home teams will now receive an extra
point for winning by seven or more.
Away sides will earn one point for a
defeat by six or less, two points for a draw, three points for a win by six or
less and a bumper four-point haul for winning by seven or more.
There will be a doubling up system in
place, allowing riders with a Premier League average of 8.00 or less to share an
Elite League place
BRITISH SPEEDWAY AGM
FULL STATEMENT 17/11/2008
BRITISH Speedway enters its 80th anniversary of league racing with a clear and
concise message:
"Our wonderful and exciting sport has built 80 years of heritage in the hearts
of our nation, and we are pleased to be at the pinnacle poi nt of re-building
its foundations to make for another 80 years and beyond of action where o ur aim
is to capture the hearts of a new generation."
The British Speedway Promoters' Association, which as a group controls and runs
league Speedway racing in the UK, has just returned from their annual AGM with
firm plans in place which emphasise that the sport, once having a public image
of being short-sighted, is now in actual fact in the middle of building and
completing numerous long-term plans that will make it's 80th season the
strongest in decades.
Elite League Speedway spearheads British racing for the TWELFTH consecutive
season with nine clubs, featuring some of the world's best riders, competing on
a weekly basis with matches being screened live across the world through an
exclusive rights deal with Sky Sports.
The Elite League goes into the second year of a plan to re-build its strength
from the ground up by increasing the average from last season to which they can
build their team.
Elite League spokesman Chris Van Straaten commented: "Our decision and faith to
start the three year plan last season was endorsed by all the Promoters during a
conference where one of our main concerns was to protect our fans and the sport
from the effects of the current economic climate.
"We have also listened to the fans about the home advantage that previously
existed i n the play-off semi finals, and we have some exciting news coming
about a change to that, which will see home and away matches for everyone
involved. One other improvement is that we may assign one of our team places to
be shared by any two Premier League riders that have an average of 8 points or
less."
For a TWELFTH consecutive season Premier League Speedway also returns. The
second tier of British Speedway brings together all the nations of Great Britain
with clubs such as Glasgow, Birmingham and Newport all competing.
The Premier League will have at least 14 teams competing with the successful
takeovers of Berwick, Redcar and Newport all confirmed just before the
conference, and the door has
also been left open until January 1st for a new club from the south of England
to join subject to planning approval.
Premier League spokesman Alex Harkess is keener than ever for the season to get
underway. He said: "Last year, the Premier League adopted the principle of the
league play-off system to qualify for the promotion and relegation race-off,
this provided the British public with one of the best and most climactic ends to
the season the Premier League has ever seen. We are pleased to be keeping this
for a second season and the foreseeable future.
"We have also taken a long-term view on building our teams, just as the Elite
League did last season, and have therefore adopted a 3-year plan where the
league is limited to a maximum of 16 teams and a team building average of 42.50
points is applied. This is an
increase on last season's team building average and should please fans all over
the country as it will give their team a chance of being stronger than ever
before.
"We have also introduced a revolutionary new `Tactical Gates' system for trial
in thi s years KO Cup competition. This gives the losing team the chance to
select their gate positions on two separate occasions if they are behind by six
points or more. It will be run in addition to the Tactical Ride rule but cannot
be used at the same time."
One of the most exciting and positive moves for British Speedway this decade is
the formation of the new National League. This will form the third tier of
British Speedway and is aimed at producing young and talented riders that want
to pledge their future to British Speedway.
The National League will be recognised by the association in a professional
light with rules and regulations falling in line with the Premier and Elite
Leagues, including the use of rider averages. The league boasts the inclusion of
at least ten teams including former Premier League KOC champions, the Isle of
Wight, plus Conference League champions, the Weymouth Wildcats and Conference
League KO Champions, the Plymouth Devils. Former Management Committee member
Dave Pavitt has been given the job of overseeing and managing the formation of
the new league
He said: "This is great news for British Speedway, I have been chasing this
dream for the last few seasons and it has finally been delivered. Fans will see
a good value league that
will produce some of the world's top Speedway Stars.
"It will be run in a more professional manner then has ever been seen in the
third ti er of British Speedway before, and I look forward to being able to
confirm the teams that will be
competing in 2009 and publishing more detailed rules and regulations in
January."
For a THIRD consecutive season, British Speedway's Super7even series, which
groups together all of British Speedway's major events, has been given a big
thumbs-up by all the promoters with events, dates and venues set to be announced
in January.
One of the other big changes for British league Speedway is the introduction of
a groundbreaking league points scoring system that will create the most exciting
speedway meetings and league tables the sport has seen in its' 80 year history.
Last year, in an attempt to encourage teams to be built with more strength away
from home and create more exciting matches, the aggregate bonus point was
dropped in favour of rewarding teams with three league points instead of two for
winning an away match. This worked well to an extent but was not perfect - some
matches were still dead and buried by heat seven or eight, and teams simply gave
up because there was no aggregate point to
worry about or race for.
This has been addressed with a league scoring system now in place that will
reward a team for even getting within six points of the home team. In theory,
this now means that even a
team that is losing a meeting by 18 points with only three races left can still
turn the meeting around and salvage a league point. They could do this, for
example, by using a tactical ride in Heat 13 and gaining a maximum seven-point
heat advantage followed by two four-point heat advantages in Heats 14 and 15.
To counteract this, the home team's fans will also be watching on tenterhooks as
thei r team will gain an extra league point if they can win the meeting by more
than six points. A draw
will simply give the home team a single point - but the away team will get two.
NEW LEAGUE SCORING SYSTEM
Home loss by any amount of points 0
Home draw 1
Home win by between 1 and 6 points 2
Home win by 7 points or more 3
Away loss by 7 points or more 0
Away loss by 6 points or less 1
Away draw 2
Away win by between 1 and 6 points 3
Away win by 7 points or more 4
The promoters have also decided to give team managers more scope to pit their
wits against each other and give the fans more to talk about. They have achieved
this by requesting that the home team declares their team and riding order in
writing to the away team manager, so he can decide how to structure his team to
give him the best chance of securing points.
This may have sounded simple in the past as a team's two top riders were always
placed at numbers 1 and 3, but this has now been changed with the only rider who
is restricted to any place in the team being the top rider, who WILL ride at
No.1. The other four main team members can be placed in any order, with the
reserves still at numbers 6 and 7.
The British team manager and British Under-21 team manager positions have also
been shortlisted, and all final nominations will be considered at greater depth
before a final choice is made and announced in January. These will complement
the already enhanced coaching and training system which was established last
season.
Some other rule changes include the disposal of the `Tactical Substitute' rule
which allowed a rider to come into a race from a 15-metre handicap and score
double points. This has been replaced in favour of the more simple `Tactical
Ride' rule which can now be used for a second time, but only when a team is 12
points or more behind their opponents.
The chairman of the British Speedway Promoters' Association, Peter Toogood, has
a message for the fans of British Speedway.
He said: "I am delighted to have the privilege of being at the helm of British
Speedway in its 80th anniversary season, and I plan to make it a special
occasion for every fan.
"One of the plans we have, for example, is to send our special 80th Anniversary
stand to a track each week throughout the season. This will be manned by some of
the greatest riders
from over the eras and will give fans of young and old the chance to re-live
some nostalgia.
"It actually feels like years of hard work and lessons for everybody have
finally paid off, and we now have a sport which will make big strides in a year
where most other sports will struggle. I can say this with confidence because
Speedway is a good value entertainment package for the whole family. In times
where the economy is struggling, people look to be entertained for a reasonable
price and that is where we score so highly. Our sport is great value with most
clubs even offering free entry for children.
"We are able to do things like this because we started to take control of our
costs last year where most other professional sports went the other way and
actually allowed them to spiral out of control. I do hope that even if the big
Grand Prix stars choose not to ride he re in the UK then the fans will
appreciate the reason why, and in actual fact I do believe this could be a good
thing as it we will create a new breed of superstars as a consequence.
"So the 2009 season opens on Sunday 15th March and I hope to see you all turn
out in force to support your favourite team in what promises to be the most
dynamic and exciting season we have ever seen..."
2009 ELITE LEAGUE TEAMS
Belle Vue, Coventry, Eastbourne, Ipswich, Lakeside, Peterborough, Poole,
Swindon,
Wolverhampton
2009 PREMIER LEAGUE TEAMS
Berwick, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, King's Lynn, Newcastle, Newport,
Redcar, Rye
House, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, Somerset, Stoke, Workington + 1 more
Summary of major changes in British Speedway for 2009
* Groundbreaking new league points scoring system.
* Formation of new 3rd tier of speedway which will be known as the National
League.
* 39.90 points limit for Elite League and 42.50 for Premier League.
* Tactical Gate rule for Knock Out competitions in all leagues.
* Disposal of 15 metre Tactical Replacement rule. One Tactical Ride remains for
a team
losing by ten points or more and a second has now been added which can be used
if a
team losing by twelve points or more.
* Elite League teams may utilise one team place to be shared by any two riders
contracted
to a Premier League team with an average of 8 points or less.
* A team's highest-averaged rider must always ride at No.1 in the team, while
riders averaged from second to fifth can be placed in any order in the remaining
positions of the
team. The two lowest averaged riders will remain at numbers 6 and 7.
* A home team must declare their team formation to the visiting team first.
* The Premier Trophy will be split into a North and South group with seven teams
in each.
* Promotion and Relegation race-off will remain.
* Premier League's play-off system will remain the same while the Elite League
have
adopted a new play-off system (more details to follow soon).
* New National Senior and Junior team managers to be announced in January.
* Super7even to continue for a third year, events and venues to be confirmed in
January.
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