Arlington Stadium stages speedway's clash of the giants tomorrow night when Eagles go into battle against Elite League table-toppers Poole Pirates.

Nicki Pedersen, the new darling of the Eastbourne fans, versus Leigh Adams, the king of the Sussex track in 2003, is a mouth-watering prospect.

If there is one rider currently tearing up any more trees in world speedway than Pedersen, then it has to be Adams, and the Aussie has not lost a race at Arlington this year.

He fired an 18-point maximum in the previous league encounter in May and a 15-point maximum for the Rest of the World team against Great Britain last month.

Throw in a paid nine points from three rides in the abandoned Good Friday Knockout Cup encounter, and Adams has been unbeaten in 14 races at Arlington, not to mention ten races in two matches between the sides at Poole.

Eastbourne boss Jon Cook has gone on record as saying he believes Pedersen is the best rider in the world right now. That may be so, but there are some who would argue the case for Adams.

He won the last Grand Prix in Slovenia to move into third place in the world title race behind joint leaders Pedersen and Tony Rickardsson.

Pedersen won the British Grand Prix at Cardiff and has twice been runner-up, in the European round in Poland and in Slovenia.

Every head-to-head in which the two big guns are involved is a potential blockbuster and the way the programme works out that is scheduled to happen in three of the last five races.

The pity is that Mark Loram and Rickardsson won't be around to add to the drama. Loram is back on the sidelines after dislocating an ankle at Oxford on Monday, while Rickardsson suffered concussion the next night in a crash in Sweden.

Last week's massive effort at Poole, where Eagles lost by only four points at a track where they had been turned over by 52 points in two previous visits this season, has raised the Sussex squad's hopes of not only winning tomorrow night but also snatching the aggregate bonus point.

Pedersen has finished as Eastbourne's top scorer in all four of his matches so far and he beat Adams last week as Eagles forced a last-heat decider.

The target now is to scupper the Pirates as the race to the play-offs enters the final laps.

It has been said before, but the next few days could be make or break time for Eastbourne's title chances with the Poole match followed 48 hours later by Wolverhampton away.

Cook said: "It's a big weekend but we have come too far to be written off now. We will be aiming for six points from Poole and Wolverhampton."

In Cook's book, the whole title issue is still wide open. He believes Eagles can finish above both Wolves and Oxford, while things are still not cut and dried at the top.

Loram expects to be riding again before the end of the season, but Cook said: "There will be no pressure put on Mark. At this stage, we are probably assuming a month and that would mean counting him out of the run-in to the play-offs."

Eastbourne: Rider replacement, David Norris, Dean Barker, Adam Shields, Nicki Pedersen, Glenn Cunningham, Joonas Kylmakorpi.

Poole: Leigh Adams, Steve Johnston, rider replacement, David Ruud, Jason Lyons, Krzysztof Kasprzak or A. N. Other, Davey Watt.

Start is 7.30pm