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Eastbourne 2018


eaglesno1

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Considering it snowed all afternoon and night at Arlington Saturday , the shale looked in good condition. Hardly any cars went on there during the evening, 'so I would say the conditions have affected the track rather then the stock cars.

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The changes to the under 21 Semis have made them very lopsided.  Originally the Arlington venue had five riders (Shanes, Zach, Bailey, Clegg and Perks) all at 8+ average with Newcastle getting only four (JPB, Greaves, Mountain and Smith). If they all qualified as expected it left two spare places to be fought out at Arlington and three at Newcastle.

Now JPB and Perks are out which was one from each venue but with Mountain joining Coventry they have had to switch him to Arlington but instead of moving one of the better riders up to Newcastle they made it Kelsey Dugard.  This only leaves two at Newcastle which becomes easily the weakest line up.

Kelsey must be a very unhappy bunny having to give up his home track and travel all that way.  It is easier to qualify up there but he has probably never even seen the track before.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Great start to the much delayed campaign last night despite Kelsey obviously having mechanical problems and Charlie Brooks will need time to adapt from Long Track.   Have they banned reserve switches this year?    Edwards for Brooks in heat 12 was an obvious one but did not happen.

I can imagine what was going through Mark Baseby's head prior to heat 15, determination not to lose. It looked to be a real captains performance.

Blue sky and sunshine at last,  should be a good home opener tonight. Hope Ben Wilson and Connor Coles are at their best because the Hit Man tail looks rather fragile. 

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3 hours ago, Hunters said:

Great start to the much delayed campaign last night despite Kelsey obviously having mechanical problems and Charlie Brooks will need time to adapt from Long Track.   Have they banned reserve switches this year?    Edwards for Brooks in heat 12 was an obvious one but did not happen.

I can imagine what was going through Mark Baseby's head prior to heat 15, determination not to lose. It looked to be a real captains performance.

Blue sky and sunshine at last,  should be a good home opener tonight. Hope Ben Wilson and Connor Coles are at their best because the Hit Man tail looks rather fragile. 

Sure reserve switches are still allowed, could have cost Eastbourne the win. Not sure what happened regarding Kelsey's bike, couldn't understand why he didn't use someone's else bike in his scheduled 2nd ride and then came out late and missed the 2 mins in Ht8 on Marks bike, mistakes like that could have cost the Eagles the win. Devils unlucky with Cockle having a off night but overall a good meeting with Eastbourne deservingly just edging it. Edwards a fine young prospect.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Eastbourne typically looking comfortable at home.The side this year young & all seem to get along well. They are fortunate to have had track time unlike some clubs. It's good they seem to be moving on quickly between racing, not hanging around.

 Also good they are doing second halves more value for money for fans that stay to support & maybe see a few future NL stars. Even though weather last night was cold, nice to see more atmosphere than previous week. The Mike man makes it better for the kids with chatter & selfies etc.

Might be worth Eagles giving time for fans to have pics/ autographs with a different rider each week like they do on the Isle of Wight. Myself & my family all like the new colours freshens things up.

 

 

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i would say enjoy the 60 pt wins for now as i see another one next week . as a team the eagles are improving by the meeting and i don't see the same in the i.o.w team so can only see another hammering maybe even bigger than the cup . kent will certainly be no whipping boys and mildehall will  really fancy their chances even though lack of meetings might count against them .  can't wait for the return to covcester in the cup to see what they can do there when they haven't ridden twice and driven 1000 mls before hand. oops , just noticed mildenhall is away so they will definitely fancy their chances .

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I think you are correct in that this Saturdays match will be fairly one sided - again!, and I know you can only beat what's put in front of you.  I wouldn't want the marketing mans job at the moment, anyone coming along to the opening matches wouldn't be coming back in a hurry, many of the 'races' are really 'riding around' with only the die-hards appreciating the riders efforts.

So, I really hope that things pick up pretty quickly in terms of entertainment, Mildenhall, Kent, Coventry all look interesting. I have been attending Eastbourne since 2004 so am fairly well versed with the ups and downs of the club since then, and I have welcomed the NL as I like to think some speedway is better than no speedway. I also appreciate that the NL riders are mainly new to the sport and mostly 'hobbyists', so I have no axe to grind there. I just wonder if Eastbourne might be better off in the Championship ? The Dugards obviously have a competitive instinct and ambition, and I'm fairly sure the crowds would support professional speedway riders - the fortunes of Lakeside may well be worth keeping an eye on this year.

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Eastbourne would be better off in the championship, but wether they have the finances is another matter. Lakeside's crowds have gone up, and there is a more positive feeling at arena this year. Arlington on the other hand seems to have outgrown NL racing, and the crowd levels reflect this.

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Given the nature of the track at Eastbourne teams will always come and struggle. Its not trick just takes a couple of attempts to master generally. Therefore there will be plenty of hammerings during the season. There are obviously some supporters who want to see constant 5-1's and others who want to see close racing. Ive often wondered if the Eagles could become a works team and affiliate with one engine supplier only like jawa/godden or GTR (remember them). Get the sponsored engines in and see what level of success they could have? 

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The Eastbourne track has always been a difficult one for inexperienced riders. It’s grippy condition means it has to be attacked and makes for some strung out races.

Better riders do ok but if you are in the novice bracket then learn fast!

I don’t understand why it can’t be slicker for NL least to give riders the chance to actually slide the bike around the corners consistently.

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10 minutes ago, GWC said:

The Eastbourne track has always been a difficult one for inexperienced riders. It’s grippy condition means it has to be attacked and makes for some strung out races.

Better riders do ok but if you are in the novice bracket then learn fast!

I don’t understand why it can’t be slicker for NL least to give riders the chance to actually slide the bike around the corners consistently.

Learn fast is definitely the answer. Personally i think its one of the smaller tracks that can handle grippy preparation. Far too many slick tracks these days which is why riders at this level can struggle as there is just not enough opportunities to gain experience on them.

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