World champion Mark Loram roars into Arlington Stadium tomorrow night.

Loram leads his new club Peterborough into action against Eastbourne Eagles and in their present state the Sussex squad could well do without a head to head with the man ranked No.1 in the sport.

Ironically, Loram was earmarked to ride for Eagles a couple of weeks ago in place of virus victim Martin Dugard, but the match was washed out.

Eastbourne would have been banking on Loram coming up trumps on that occasion, but now the last thing they will want is a vintage show from the rider who made history last year by becoming Britain's first Grand Prix champion.

The 30-year-old Malta-born star, whose hobbies include motocross and snowboarding, annexed the title with a series of spectacular displays.

Although the GP stage favours Loram's round the boards style, it will be no consolation to Eagles that he also has little trouble getting round the tight Arlington turns, testimony of that being 16 points on his last visit and 14 points the time before that.

In fact, the only rider to beat Loram last October was Paul Hurry, who is no longer on the Eastbourne pay roll.

What will be of some consolation is that Loram has yet to hit top form since his surprise move during the winter from Poole to Peterborough.

Poole have emerged as the shock merchants of 2001, while Peterborough have endured a similar up and down start to Eastbourne this season.

The Panthers have already been beaten at home by Ipswich, and they were hammered at Coventry, where Eagles gained their only win in the league in six attempts.

The jury is out on the current Eastbourne team, who go to Peterborough tonight, and taking into account it is not one of their happier hunting grounds, it is vital they collect in the return on their own track.

Promoter Jon Cook is planning a big shake-up in the Arlington match with David Norris taking over the No.1 race jacket, Joe Screen at three, Martin Dugard at five and reserves Brent Werner and Marcus Andersson swapping positions.

Cook said: "Things have got to improve. One point at home from two matches is simply not acceptable. A lack of consistency at the top is as much of a problem as anywhere else at the moment.

"I need to see if changing the order around makes any difference before we look at changing the riders. We know we are not the worst team in the league, but we want to be the best."

One effect of the changes will be that Eagles will go into the next to last race with Dean Barker and Brent Werner instead of rookie Swedes Joonas Kylmakorpi and Marcus Andersson.

Apart from Loram, Peterborough have two more Grand Prix men, Elite League riders' champion Ryan Sullivan, from Australia, and Slovenian Matej Ferjan, the reigning Continental champion, plus another Aussie, Shane Parker, who usually scores well at Arlington.

Eastbourne: David Norris, Joonas Kylmakorpi, Joe Screen, Dean Barker, Martin Dugard, Brent Werner, Marcus Andersson.

Peterborough: Ryan Sullivan, David Howe, Matej Ferjan, Shane Parker, Mark Loram, Grant McDonald, Dave Mullett.

Tomorrow's start is at 7.30.