EASTBOURNE are 12 points ahead after the first leg of the National League Grand Final against Belle Vue.
The Eagles managed a 45-33 victory over the Colts at Arlington on Saturday night, although the meeting had to be abandoned with two races outstanding because of fog. Belle Vue lost reserve Andy Mellish, who broke his foot in a crash in Heat 2. He will now miss this Wednesday’s return leg in Manchester. Eastbourne chairman Martin Dugard said: “I think we were in for the big run towards the end of the meeting. I was disappointed we could not run one more heat but that’s the way it went. “Over 13 heats, I think we did well to hold them back as far as we did. “It will be a different story when we go there. If it was over 13 heats each end, I would be quite happy but going to 15 heats at their place is going to make it quite difficult. “I was pleased with the way everybody rode. They all dug deep. Belle Vue are a good outfit, they finished top of the league.” Colts co-boss Graham Goodwin said: “It was quite a brilliant result considering the circumstances. We expected a tough night at Arlington and that’s what we got. “It’s just a shame about Andy. We’ve had it confirmed that he’s broken at least one of his toes and five of his metatarsals. “Overall, however, we’re more than happy to only have 12 points to make up come the home leg on Wednesday, though ideally we wanted to finish the meeting and reduce that a little more.”
NATIONAL LEAGUE GRAND FINAL, 1st leg EASTBOURNE 45: Georgie Wood 10, Jake Knight 10, Tom Brennan 8+2, Josh Bailey 7, Drew Kemp 5+2, Matt Bates 5+1, Jason Edwards (No. 8) 0, Charley Powell r/r BELLE VUE 33: Dan Bewley 11, Kyle Bickley 9+1, Jack Smith 7, Luke Woodhull 3+1, Rob Shuttleworth 3, Andy Mellish 0, Lee Payne r/r.
