Eastbourne skipper David Norris goes head to head with Grand Prix ace Leigh Adams as the Eagles enter the last home lap in the race for a top three Elite League play-off place.

They don't come much bigger on the circuit than Adams and if Norris can lower his colours it will be another feather in the cap of the rider who has found a new gear this year at the age of 32.

The last time Swindon were in town Norris rattled up an 18-point maximum, but Adams was not around on that occasion because he was chasing world championship glory.

It promises to be a lot tougher this time but few people would bet against Norris in his present mood.

"It's been one of my best ever seasons. I've beaten all the top riders and it would be great to send us into the play-offs by beating Adams in front of my home crowd."

Away from the roar of the track, Norris has other fish to fry, although a monster 42lb common carp called Tulip won't be one of them.

Tulip is the prize catch at the Whitevane Pond fisheries near Horsham and Norris landed her on the second day of a 48-hour marathon session last weekend.

"She tore my rod off and it took a 15-minute battle before I netted her. I couldn't believe it. She's worth megabucks."

Norris returned Tulip to the water but not before the catch had been confirmed as a lake record.

"It was the first time I'd fished there for two years and ten minutes earlier I'd got a 20lb 12oz mirror carp."

Norris, a self-confessed fishing nut, took up angling seriously in 1995 while recovering from a speedway crash in which he broke a leg. He landed his first 20lb carp two years later at Tilgate.

"I only fish for carp and since then my goal has been to just catch 20-plus pounders. Before Tulip, my personal best was 24lb. I guess she must be about 15 years old and she comes out about four or five times each year."

Norris was fishing with his friend Richard Butcher, who also lives in Hailsham. Fishing is his way of relaxing away from the speedway track.

"As I'm a good boy now and I don't drink any more, my wife lets me go off fishing, and this was a bit of a jolly."

Norris recently finished second in the celebrity section of the Fish 'O' Mania competition at Doncaster, where his fellow team members included another track star, Gary Havelock, and England angling team coach Mark Addy.

"It was awesome. There were 17,000 spectators at the event. I thought what are all these people doing here? Bob Nudd's team won it. He's a legend in angling.

"Afterwards Mark Addy gave me some of his special Van den Eynde carp bait. The first time I used it was when I caught Tulip. The first thing I did when I got home was ring Mark and tell him."

Apart from Adams, one rider Norris would like to lock horns with on Monday is Peter Ljung, who quit Eastbourne in acrimonious circumstances earlier in the season, but Ljung's participation is by no means certain.

Eastbourne: David Norris, Edward Kennett, Joonas Kylmakorpi, Adam Shields, Nicki Pedersen, Adrian Miedzinski, Steen Jensen
Swindon: Leigh Adams, David Ruud, Peter Ljung or rider replacement, Charlie Gjedde, Steve Johnston, Andy Smith, Oliver Allen.

Monday's match starts at 7.30 pm.