Glory and a place in the history books beckons Eastbourne’s speedway riders.

That’s what the Fineprint Eagles’ head of speedway Jon Cook is telling the team ahead of the Championship Shield Final against the Leicester Lions.

The first leg is at Arlington tonight (7.30pm) and the teams meet again tomorrow at Leicester (5pm).

It is Eastbourne’s biggest meeting of the season and arguably the biggest since they won the top division’s Elite Shield ten years ago.

Eastbourne came close to making a second final this season but eventually came up short last week in the Knockout Cup semi-final against Redcar.

Cook said: “We need to put Redcar behind us and quickly.

“Fine margins were the difference in the end.

“We have licked our wounds and are ready to go again.”

The Eagles will be without captain Edward Kennett for the home leg. He is representing England in a world long track team competition.

Somerset’s Rory Schlein takes his place at Arlington with Kennett back at No.1 for the second leg.

Eastbourne bring in Nathan Stoneman as a guest replacement for the injured Alfie Bowtell and will continue using rider replacement for suspended Georgie Wood’s rides.

Cook added: “Our line-up this week looks a tad stronger than when we faced Redcar.

“It is a weekend when any Eagle has a chance to write themselves into our rich history.”

in what has been a most memorable and enjoyable season.

“We intend to savour it one last time in a fortnight [when the Eagles face Birmingham] and hopefully with a trophy to parade that night.”