stevec

I think Charlies problem is his average. He would surely have to go in the main body of the team. I would hope Kelsey could progress more but maybe not. Who knows!

Yeh, I was tempted to put Jenkins in but wanted to keep it real, Surely we would be able to get 'both' the top young reserves!! Willing to agree we could better Phillips but also dont think we had seen enough to rule him out.

lol, what a great question. What a stupid rule anyway.

ok, I will start 1. Ellis Perks - I cant see for one minute that Adam would stay another year and not sure the averages would allow us to keep him 2. Kelsey Dugard - A year away, maybe he can come back and do the business. As much as anything, my 'heart' hopes he can because he is a Dugard. 3. Georgie Wood - Reminds me of Cam in a lot of ways and in great form. 4. Gary Cotham - Seems keen to return and I dont think we really know what he can do for us yet 5. Jake Knight - Mr entertainment. 6. Tommy Brennam - Probably the most obvious dead cert. 7. Nick Phillips - Seemed to struggle and then got injured and 3 pointers are always a gamble so maybe another try?

As a long-term Eastbourne fan, I ditto this. I remember a couple of years back someone asking me what I thought of the possibility of Eastbourne going to the National League and my answer was, I will spend more time going to race meetings at Brands Hatch and maybe the odd Elite League meeting at Lakeside, its Elite League or nothing for me. Well I gave NL a try in 2015 and ended up going to all home meetings (I always do anyway) but more Away meetings than ever before. I loved it from the off! National League is a very good product and highly entertaining. Would I have NL if it was my choice? no. But is it worth going to? 100% yes! I hope whatever happens is good for Lakeside and personally I hope the go NL some we can have the local Derby back.

Such a shame really that the two second legs of the finals turned out to be a bit of a let down. First of all, congrats to the worthy NL champions (wrong thread I know but I wanted to make one post) Birmingham have been brilliant all year and deserve to be champions. I really hope the fans that wrote them off months ago and even more so in recent weeks are happy now. And just maybe, the likes of JPB have proven that you CAN ride our track without being a home rider. However, both the finals were a let down for me based on missing riders. I get that Georgie need to be with his Mrs for the PO second leg (btw, she was being induced that day) but it was such a shame we could not get a good replacement. We were always going to struggle with a 3 man team. So I get to Arlington ready for us to turn Birmingham over BIG TIME. As much as I like a close meeting I was expecting us to pretty much have it wrapped up by heat 10. But then they announce that James Shanes cant ride. Unbelievable! Here we all were talking about this on social media....we even assumed thats why Eastie did not use Connor Coles at Brumland but here we are being told what we already know. Yes, the Arlington massive all cheered (all 5 of them) but most of us were looking at each other in disbelieve. They may have well announced 'we are really sorry but we are going to take away your entertainment tonight and dish up a second rate product and take away any chance of a battle for the KO cup. So we go in to heat one with 3 riders. Wonderful. What a bore this match will be. But hell, Someone must have forgotten to tell JPB the plot! Did no-one tell him that the plan was for Birmingham to win the League and Eastbourne to win the KO cup? I am not sure I have ever enjoyed a performance by an away rider so much. Just brilliant. He single-handedly dished up something worth watching and had us nervously looking at the race programme and I really hope the Brummie fans that came down found it worth while. Also hope they ignored the ONE Eastbourne fan chanting 'who are ya' at them. The NL Champions thats who! And quite possibly the KO champions had they not been robbed of their highly entertaining guest. So yeh, I walked away feeling a bit down on Sunday. Not really sure why. I think I was gutted that we could not have made the PO second leg final closer...because of a missing rider and I felt a bit down that we won the KO cup against a team that also had a rider missing. I spose you could say that evened things out but somehow that didnt help.

Regarding Georgie, I understand his girlfriend was being induced on Wednesday and that why he could not go to Brumland.

There is an 8 day rule for using a guest and the thinking was that that was why eagles did not use Connor on Wednesday. So if thats the case, Hunters is asking why can they use Shanes tomorrow and if not, why did Eastie not use Coles on Wednesday?I think

lol, funny how different people think. He is one of the first names on my team sheet for Eastbourne.

Mate, it was about 5 of them, ignore them, I have to every week. When your guys came round the stock car track for laps of honour after a race I clapped them just like most Eagles fans do. As for the result. GUTTED! Its been a long, long wait for the league and I was desperate for us to win it. I guess the one thing I really would have liked is to have had 7 riders on both teams with no guests and yes, that includes the Brummie number one. However, I hate play offs and the right team are lifting the thophy. I just hope plenty of Brummie fans turn up for the KO cup so our idiot fans (all 5 of them) can chant 'who are ya' at them when we win!!

Seems like us Eastbourne fans are all talking roughly the same Mine would be something like this 1. Ellis Perks (love him and he has mastered Arlington) 2. Kelsey Dugard (Surely they can get him going a bit better and put a point on his average....he is a Dugard) 3. Georgie Wood, (time the next baby for winter please) 4. Gary Cotham (would like to see what he can do and I like that he is so keen) 5. Jake Knight (Although I do tend to get a bit stressed if he dont gate)! 6. Tommy B (Probably the biggest dead cert in the league) 7. Nick Phillips (as per Gary Cotham) Obviously I would make the call to Jordan Jenkings if I was Connor but I am guessing pretty much every other club will do that as well so I am assuming we dont get him. Luke and Charlie just a victim of averages really. I sponsored Charlies race suit this year so its hard to leave him out and Luke has done nothing wrong! I would HATE to be a team manager.

ha ha, and even then you cant believe it. Lewis Bridger does that almost every year and I am still waiting for the 'Martin Dugard returns' rumour on a bargain average for our play off meeting with Birmingham tomorrow. Good luck for the future Ryan.

Gonna agree with the above. I am an Eastbourne fan and would be delighted if he signed for us. Not only is he an entertaining rider but a lovely guy to speak to as well. It is just the home straight fans that give him stick and the main reason is just whats said before, he play to it. I reckon he loves it as much as they do.

But looking at some of the scores Danny Aryes has put in up there this year, this one could be different

I really would not want to guess how this will go. I am sure many Eastie and Brummie fans think this is Eastbourne to win now but with a good performance from Danny Ayres to match the scoring by the rest of the team, I reckon this can go all the way to heat 15. If we had Georgie I would feel confident of an Eagles win but not so sure without him.

Surely Georgie could get off work early for a final!

yeh, would be nice to know,

Max Clegg beat him last weekend, twice I think! Shane's could be a very good guest and great to watch. He was flying when Kent we in town last. My gut feel is that he wont do as well this time round.

Can someone remind me what radio station its on?

Not having Georgie has put the KO cup in the Brummies favour imo. If our reserves can score a few tonight it may sway back but I am not so sure. The fair and right result for me would be a share of the spoils with Birmingham winning the play offs and Eastie the KO cup and their own tracks but hey, I will take em both!!

Yep, I agree. Still hope Eastbourne win but hate play offs and dont agree with them. I was gutted for Belle Vue this year and I little bit of me will feel for Birmingham Team and Fans if we do

With the rider replacement thing, you make it sound like an advantage but I see it as the opposite. I would rather see someone signed or at least a guest. Even at home we have only been scoring 4 or 5 with r/r so not really an advantage

Gotta agree with you on one thing. You were the best team this year and should be champions. Love the way you are gearing up and ready to blame out home track advantage if Eastie win but if you have really followed your team home and away, you would know that you are the best team to push us at home. I would suggest your riders dont agree with you on the hime track advantage as they were the ones that pushed us the hardest at home in the league this year and personally, the only team I fear over two legs. As for a wet dodgy track giving an even better home track advantage, I gotta say, that the first time I have heard that in speedway. Normally words like 'leveller' are usedas home track advantage is often wiped out. Can you not just look forwards to two meetings with two cracking teams? And yeh, if you lose I and many other Eastbourne fans would feel your pain. After all, we were the first team that ;lost out' in a playoff final after topping the league! That still hurts!

Maybe it the regular season they cant hold them in. I would imagine there is a date set at the beginning of the year.

I cant see Cradley being a problem. Birmingham will be really tough through and we will need our top four on fire to make up for their reserves. I would like to see someone in at number 2 rather than going with R/R and name Tom at number 8 (assuming Luke is riding).