Paul Hurry makes an emotional return to Arlington Stadium tomorrow night.

Hurry, who played a key role in Eastbourne's Elite League title triumph last season, lines up for Eagles against in-form Peterborough Panthers.

He takes the place of the injured Dean Barker and couldn't be more pleased to be back in an Eastbourne race jacket if only for one night.

Said Hurry: "It's no secret that I never wanted to leave Eastbourne, and I'm delighted to be back riding for the team."

The England international was a victim of the averages game. Eagles couldn't fit all their title-winning riders into this season's line-up, and Hurry had to go.

The separation hasn't been good for either party. Eagles have missed Hurry's solid contributions in the middle order, while the rider has been stuck in a struggling Wolves team.

All that will be forgotten tomorrow night when Hurry makes his first appearance for Eastbourne at Arlington since the championship celebrations.

Hurry himself is just recovering from a battering in the World Cup when he crashed while riding for Great Britain in Poland.

Hurry suffered concussion and severe bruising, plus a fractured thumb, in a horrific pile-up when American Billy Janeiro's bike punctured and slewed across the track in front of him.

"Explained Hurry: "I went into the fence and over the handlebars, and Billy kept on going and rode over me. At least that's what I'm told. I don't remember anything about the crash.

"I bruised the side of my brain, and I'm not 100 per cent now, but I'll be OK and am really looking forward to riding for Eastbourne again."

Eastbourne boss Jon Cook is backing new signings Toni Svab and Roman Povazhny to help put Eagles back on top of the speedway world.

Cook says he was delighted with both men, despite their lack of points, in last week's win over Wolves, which Hurry missed because of his injuries.

Said Cook: "We knew it was a pressure meeting for them to come into, and I feel we have set out our stall now for next season.

"Having been beaten twice at home in front of the television cameras this season, it was a big gamble to go off race night and take another TV meeting.

"We put ourselves in the spotlight, but I believe we relaunched our season last Thursday. The atmosphere was turned round in one night."

The trick for Cook's new-look Eagles is to keep the momentum going.

At the end of May, Panthers had only four wins and nine points from 12 matches and had only Belle Vue were below them in the Elite League table. Since then, they have won five out of six, and last week's win over Coventry took them above Eastbourne.

Some indication of the turnaround can be gauged by the fact that Eagles came away from Peterborough with a draw in April but three weeks ago, albeit with a depleted team, crashed to a 62-28 defeat.

Eagles will be without Svab while Peterborough will be missing Mario Jirout, because of the championships in the Czech Republic. Dave Mullett is the likely replacement for injured Sam Tesar.

Eastbourne: Paul Hurry, rider replacement, David Norris, Brent Werner, Martin Dugard, Joonas Kylmakorpi, Roman Povazhny.

Peterborough: Ryan Sullivan, rider replacement, Dave Mullett, Shane Parker, Mark Loram, David Howe, Nigel Sadler.

The match starts at 7.30.

Meanwhile, Edward Kennett is through to the semi-finals of the world under-16 championships in Denmark. The 14-year-old Eastbourne whizz-kid finished third with 11 points in his first meeting in Vojens.