Eagles all set for Gladiators battle

Eastbourne Speedway riders will be aiming to halt Danish racer Michael Palm Toft’s birthday celebrations tonight (July 31).

He has been drafted into the visiting Plymouth team as a replacement for the injured three times individual World Champion, Jason Crump, who is also the Arlington track record holder.

Palm Toft, who turned 31 earlier this week, rides for Peterborough in the Premiership and Redcar in the Championship.

Entry:

Tonight’s meeting against the Devon side begins at 7.30pm with the car park open from 5pm and the turnstiles from 6pm. The parade is scheduled for 7.20pm.

With Covid-19 restrictions lifted, on-the-day walk-up admissions paying by cash are again welcome.  All card purchases (including at the stadium up to 7.45pm) must be made via the secure Trybooking link – click on the image below.

Weather:

The HG Aerospace Eagles have access to an expert forecaster, who has proved remarkably accurate this season.

The latest forecast for the Arlington Stadium area for tomorrow is:

Saturday will start sunny and bright, the highest probability for some rain is between 10am and noon with some showers and 60% chance of a few hours of light rain.

A drier afternoon and evening with around 10% chance of the odd rogue shower but that recedes from early afternoon, becoming sunny with high cloud cover.

Temperature: around 20C, with south, south, south-westerly winds of up to 20mph.

Storm Evert has pulled away further to the west than north than anticipated.

Saturday Morning update:

The probability of showers decreases after 2pm to about 20% but the odd rogue short heavy shower may occur between 2pm and 5pm. On all models the showers fade away to almost zero risk after 5pm this afternoon. No sustained risk of steady rain after 2pm.

Wind from the west, calmer than the last 2 days, likely no more than 15mph and a warm day max 20 degrees into a mild evening.  Cloudy with outbreaks of sunny  intervals.

Teams:

Local Hailsham racer Nathan Ablitt makes his home Championship debut at reserve, whilst fellow Seagull Jake Knight comes in to replace Drew Kemp.

Tom Brennan returns to the team after riding for Team GB last weekend and Kyle Newman returns to the side following the shoulder injury he picked up against Kent.

A late change to the Gladiators line up with Connor Coles at reserve in place of Jack Smith.

Eastbourne:

Richard Lawson, Kyle Newman, Edward Kennett, Tom Brennan, Lewi Kerr, Jake Knight, Nathan Ablitt.

Plymouth:

Michael Palm Toft, Dillon Ruml, Zach Cook, Zane Keleher, Bjarne Pedersen, Alfie Bowtell, Connor Coles.

Image credit: Mike Hinves