Eastbourne Eagles are banking on a lot of hot air to turn their home track into Fortress Arlington this season.

It all has to do with the new safety fences which have been installed around the circuit and are designed to absorb the impact of riders and machines when they crash into them.

Team boss Jon Cook said: "We used to be unbeatable at home, but we feel the changes we have made to the track over the last couple of seasons have eroded our home advantage to a great extent.

"The new fences which have gone in now have reduced the width of the track round the bends. That should make it more intimidating for visiting teams and we hope give us back our home advantage.

"We want to get back to the days when Arlington was a fortress."

Cook describes the fences, which cost £25,000 and are now compulsory for Elite League speedway, as "a fantastic bit of kit."

They first surfaced at world championship Grand Prix meetings and are similar to the ones used in motor-cycle road races.

The fences are filled with air but are not air tight, so that the air moves around when anything hits them, absorbing the impact and allowing riders and machines to sink into them.

There are 18 sections of the new fencing on each of the Arlington bends, replacing the wooden structures.

Cook said: "It's all about rider safety and the riders are donating their fees from the first meeting towards the cost of the new fences."

Eagles will go into tomorrow night's meeting as favourites to win the two-leg challenge skirmish against Arena Essex after Wednesday's first phase ended with Arena winning 48-47.

They could have a fight on their hands, however, if Arena take advantage of the new ruling which allows teams to include riders scoring double points in up to three races.

It worked twice for Eagles when they trailed by eight points at Arena, enabling them to cut the arrears in a match which on merit they should have lost 48-42.

Inevitably, much of the focus will be on the duels between world champion Nicki Pedersen and Mark Loram and between new skipper David Norris and Dean Barker after Eastbourne opted to keep Pedersen and Norris and release Loram and Barker.

On Wednesday, Loram outshone Pedersen, who failed to win a race, while Norris, with four wins out of five, was the man of the match. His only defeat came at the hands of Barker, but he later beat both Loram and Barker.

Cook was delighted with the first outing of the new-look Eagles. "I'm upbeat about the season. David was fantastic. So was Adam Shields and I thought there was plenty to get excited about over the way Ulrich Ostergaard rode."

Crucially, the Sussex squad need to put some points on the board at reserve. Cook rates the Arena pairing of Kelvin Tatum and Leigh Lanham as the best in the league and they outgunned Peter Ljung and Edward Kennett 13-3 in the first leg.

The decision to stage the return challenge against Arena tomorrow night has angered Ipswich, who were due to ride at Arlington in a Knockout Cup tie.

Irate Ipswich promoter John Louis said: "I am not happy, and I will be speaking to the authorities. What worth is there in a fixture list when it can get changed so early in the season? Scores of our fans had made plans to travel to Sussex this Saturday."