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Nicki Pedersen The rider everyone loves to hate, except Eastbourne fans! With the 3rd highest overall Elite League average in 2005 Nicki is fast becoming the new “Master of Arlington”. His fast, uncompromising riding of the boards at Arlington is a delight to watch. Guaranteed to score his full quota of points most weeks Nicki is Mr Reliable at No. 5 in the team. Not only does he score consistently week in, week out in the UK, he also does it in Poland and Sweden too. Arguably he is one of the top 5 riders in the world. Grand Prix champion of 2003, Nicki has finished 5th and 4th in the past 2 years. Outside of Eastbourne Nicki appears to have few fans however for someone often described as a “dirty” rider by fans and pundits he has surprisingly few exclusions to his name, only 4 times in 160 rides for Eastbourne in 2005. With age and experience both on his side, plus one of the professional back room set ups Nicki has the potential to repeat his GP triumph. As Nicki matures he will surely only improve and be a delight to watch in the Eagles’ race suit. | Nicki Pedersen - 2005 | M | R | Pts | BP | Total | 1st | 1st % | 2nd | 2nd % | 3rd | 3rd % | 4th | 4th % | Exc | Exc % | CMA | | Home | 18 | 95 | 258 | 2 | 260 | 75 | 78.95% | 16 | 16.84% | 1 | 1.05% | 2 | 2.11% | 1 | 1.05% | 10.95 | | Away | 13 | 65 | 149 | 3 | 152 | 35 | 53.85% | 18 | 27.69% | 8 | 12.31% | 1 | 1.54% | 3 | 4.62% | 9.35 | | Total | 31 | 160 | 407 | 5 | 412 | 110 | 68.75% | 34 | 21.25% | 9 | 5.63% | 3 | 1.88% | 4 | 2.50% | 10.30 | David Norris 2005 is probably a year Dave Norris will want to forget. Following an innocuous looking crash at Swindon in April Norris was plagued by problems with his vision and balance. A number of comebacks, including a wildcard appearance at the GB Grand Prix, all turned out to be false dawns as he was forced to sit out the remainder of the season. As one of the Eagle’s longest serving riders, Norris will be looking to recapture his 2004 form which was one of his best seasons ever. One small consolation from a season cut short by injury is that with the reduction in the team building points limit Norris now holds hopefully an artificially low average. For the Eagles to be sure of a playoff berth Norris needs to follow in Nicki Pedersen’s tyre tracks and consistently score the kind of points his more than capable of making. | David Norris - 2005 | M | R | Pts | BP | Total | 1st | 1st % | 2nd | 2nd % | 3rd | 3rd % | 4th | 4th % | Exc | Exc % | CMA | | Home | 14 | 64 | 126 | 10 | 136 | 24 | 37.50% | 20 | 31.25% | 14 | 21.88% | 5 | 7.81% | 1 | 1.56% | 8.50 | | Away | 11 | 48 | 79 | 2 | 81 | 10 | 20.83% | 20 | 41.67% | 9 | 18.75% | 8 | 16.67% | 1 | 2.08% | 6.75 | | Total | 25 | 112 | 205 | 12 | 217 | 34 | 30.36% | 40 | 35.71% | 23 | 20.54% | 13 | 11.61% | 2 | 1.79% | 7.75 | Adam Shields Part of Australia's World Cup team in 2005, Adam Shields also suffered from injury, but was able to recover from a collar bone injury sustained in Sweden and represent the Eagles in the playoffs and Craven Shield final. Having started the season slowly Adam picked up momentum as the season progressed and contributed some valuable high scores over the summer. | Adam Shields - 2005 | M | R | Pts | BP | Total | 1st | 1st % | 2nd | 2nd % | 3rd | 3rd % | 4th | 4th % | Exc | Exc % | CMA | | Home | 18 | 86 | 147 | 14 | 161 | 28 | 32.56% | 21 | 24.42% | 21 | 24.42% | 12 | 13.95% | 4 | 4.65% | 7.49 | | Away | 20 | 103 | 157 | 18 | 175 | 21 | 20.39% | 32 | 31.07% | 30 | 29.13% | 19 | 18.45% | 1 | 0.97% | 6.80 | | Total | 38 | 189 | 304 | 32 | 336 | 49 | 25.93% | 53 | 28.04% | 51 | 26.98% | 31 | 16.40% | 5 | 2.65% | 7.11 | Dean Barker | Dean Barker - 2005 | M | R | Pts | BP | Total | 1st | 1st % | 2nd | 2nd % | 3rd | 3rd % | 4th | 4th % | Exc | Exc % | CMA | | Home | 21 | 94 | 129 | 40 | 169 | 10 | 10.64% | 32 | 34.04% | 35 | 37.23% | 16 | 17.02% | 1 | 1.06% | 7.19 | | Away | 19 | 89 | 107 | 19 | 126 | 7 | 7.87% | 22 | 24.72% | 42 | 47.19% | 17 | 19.10% | 1 | 1.12% | 5.66 | | Total | 40 | 183 | 236 | 59 | 295 | 17 | 9.29% | 54 | 29.51% | 77 | 42.08% | 33 | 18.03% | 2 | 1.09% | 6.45 | Andrew Moore The Eagles only ever present in 2005, Andy Moore proved to be a valuable asset and provided crucial points for Eastbourne. Moore started at No. 2 but found scoring hard from this position. However once he switched to reserve his scoring picked up and he ended the season with an average of 4.65 overall. | Andrew Moore - 2005 | M | R | Pts | BP | Total | 1st | 1st % | 2nd | 2nd % | 3rd | 3rd % | 4th | 4th % | Exc | Exc % | CMA | | Home | 21 | 94 | 97 | 21 | 118 | 11 | 11.70% | 19 | 20.21% | 26 | 27.66% | 36 | 38.30% | 2 | 2.13% | 5.02 | | Away | 22 | 97 | 85 | 19 | 104 | 6 | 6.19% | 18 | 18.56% | 31 | 31.96% | 42 | 43.30% | 0 | 0.00% | 4.29 | | Total | 43 | 191 | 182 | 40 | 222 | 17 | 8.90% | 37 | 19.37% | 57 | 29.84% | 78 | 40.84% | 2 | 1.05% | 4.65 | Brett Werner Lewis Bridger Viewed by many as the hottest young talent on the British speedway scene, 16 year old Lewis Bridger begins his professional speedway career at Eastbourne. Bridger who rode last season for Conference League Weymouth has impressed many and and scored consistently for the Wildcats. During 2nd half heats at Arlington Bridger was often clocking times under 2 seconds slower than the Elite League heat times for the day. With the lower team building limit in place for 2006, Bridger's average of 3.00 has allowed him to gain a place in the Eagle Elite League line-up. Bridger's Arlington experience should help him to match and hopefully increase his average over the season, something some Eastbourne reserve have failed to do in the past. It will be interesting to see if Lewis is able to live up to all the hype and pressure and become the wonderkid he surely has the potential to be. |
Rider Profiles
