(SPEEDWAY 1)

CRADLEY and Eastbourne drew 30-30 in a curtailed first leg of the National League KO Cup Final at Perry Barr on Wednesday.The sides will therefore start all-square in Saturday’s return at Arlington after only ten races were possible in their opening encounter

due to incidents and a lengthy delay for remedial track work.Cradley guest Danny Ayres won three races on his way to nine points, whilst Richard Andrews scored 7+2 for the Eagles, who led by eight

points after Heat 8 until the Heathens levelled matters with two 5-1s.Heathens boss Will Pottinger said: “Circumstances were extremely difficult for both teams and we're disappointed with how things went.“However I want to focus on the positives and there's a few for us as a team. We showed good character to fight back from eight down and

the effort of all of our lads cannot be faulted.“The odds will be stacked against us on Saturday but anything can happen in speedway and we're going to give it our best shot to try and

end on a high.”Eagles director Connor Dugard said: “The team did a fabulous job on what was a difficult track for both sets of riders.“We battled hard and the result sets us up perfectly for the second leg at Arlington. Our performance summed up the spirit we have

developed at Eastbourne this year.”(FIXTURES)

SATURDAY OCTOBER 24:NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP FINAL 2nd leg: Eastbourne v Cradley 7.30

SUNDAY OCTOBER 25:CITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: Coventry v Eastbourne 4pm, Coventry v Mildenhall (follows previous fixture)