Hebbs

Kelsey is riding "through the pain". See the official website. http://eastbourneeagles.co/news.php?extend.1062

Could be like the 1977 White City Rebels (Promoted by Bob Dugard & Danny Dunton) that won the league with Rider Replacement (Dag Lovas) for the whole season.

You maybe right about the name, but the way some Sky commentators announce the teams; The Eagles of Eastbourne, or the Pirates from Poole, I thought the Creepy Crawley's would fit the bill.

I think they should change their name though as we already have The Heathens. How about "Creepy"

Nice and handy for Gatwick if any of your riders have to fly in.

Agree with that entirely. Having been there when the Eagles lost the first ever EL playoffs, when we had been the best team all year, left a terrible feeling of injustice. The league should be won by the team that is top at the end of the season, that's it. Playoffs are just another type of cup competition. In my view, and I suspect several other Eagles fans, Birmingham have won the league regardless of what happens next.

Very Sad news. He was captain of the Eagles when I started going to speedway in 1969. Towards the end of the season I became very ill and ended up in hospital for many months. My Dad mentioned this to Reg who sent me filled in programmes and a lovely letter telling me how he and the team were doing. As a 9 year old it was very very special, & I still have the letter today. A boyhood hero of mine. RIP Reg

From what I saw Martin was a far better rider than Bob. though I never saw Charlie Dugard ride.

No such thing as a trick track, just those who haven't learnt to turn the bike (yet).

I don't think a match race would tell us who will go on to be the best rider. Back in 1969 (or maybe 1970) I remember a match race between two young riders starting their careers, Dave Jessup and Barry Thomas. Much hyped by Dave Lanning & Johnny Hoskins as you would expect, I saw the Arlington leg and remember that Barry Thomas won. I was only 9 or 10 and DJ was my hero. Barry went on to be a hero of the Hawks, but I think most people would say that DJ went on to greater things. No disrespect to BT who was a great club rider, who I saw many times riding for Hackney. Like many have said earlier we are lucky to see both riders developing their skills.

I have read some ill informed comments on here before, but this has got to be up there with the best of them. During the Kings Lynn match Martin Dugard was interviewed, and his comments about Kelsey were pretty hard. There is no way that he would have said the same things about other Eastbourne riders, he certainly does not get preferential treatment. Kelsey may have had a better opportunity to get into speedway than many others, but he is earning his team place. The bottom line is would any other team want to sign a number seven with an assessed average of 3 who is averaging 5.58. Answer all of them.

I must admit that I thought that Sunday would be the best day, but after having to miss two meetings already I am realising that Sunday afternoons take away almost the whole day because of the travelling. I think we may get bigger crowds on a Saturday night. Anyway, I would say to anyone who is staying away because we have gone NL, give it a try, it is far better than anything that has been served up at Arlington in the last 10 years or so. The new promotion is a breath of fresh air, and we have a TEAM. I can't wait until the Cradley match.

I agree with Steven101. In the Elite League I felt that we were being conned because we didn't really have a team. With a couple of exceptions we had some riders who would ride when it suited them. Also the away sides rarely turned up with their declared team. They were also suffering from the same lack of interest in the UK. But on top of that their riders who didn't like our track wouldn't turn up, which sometimes gave them an opportunity to book a guest who was a track specialist. Put all this together with the win at all cost (to the sport) of some teams (Poole), and I got so fed up I didn't go for four years. I am now back and enjoying almost every moment. As Steve said the Kings Lynn match may have had a one sided scoreline but there was more entertainment in that match then a whole season of EL. I would also like to congratulate Martin & Conner Dugard on the new approach to promotion at the club, that too is also a breath of fresh air. In the words of a well known burger chain, I'm loving it!

I agree that some are getting a bit ahead of themselves, but after such a dire few years recently it is hard to hold back on some excitement. I had not been for about 4 or 5 year of the recent EL rubbish, but I went to the opener against Kent and I loved it. I feel almost born again with speedway. Sunday will be a rerun of the first meeting I went to. Eastbourne Eagles v Kings Lynn Starletts (BL Div 2), Easter Sunday 1969. I feel almost as exited about going as I did then as a youngster. I still have the programme, filled out by my Dad, we won 39-37. I remember it was close, unlike the 75-0 I had to witness once. Anyway I will go with a 6 to 8 point win for the Eagles, but more importantly a good crowd for the promotion, and some exciting racing for us fans. Can't wait!!

The trick egg shaped track is often levelled at Arlington, but I think that the odd shape actually makes the racing safer and fairer than the previous shape. The cut off bit on bend one allows more room entering the 1st bend from the start, but is not used once racing is under way, unless you are well off line. This has reduced incidents from the start and can only be good, (I hate re-starts). The second bend was very narrow, so cutting off a bit of the inside gives a bit more room for cut backs. Also the old shape seemed to catch people out and they would often go too wide. Strangely this was the case before the stock car track was built as well. The track was bigger then at 342 yards but that bend still used to be the place where most falls happened. Of course it was the 4th bend for a lot of that time, so that may have been a factor too.