Bjarne Pedersen is ready for the rain to cease and the racing to re-start.

But Eastbourne’s battered and bruised No.1 admits a quiet week has come at the right time.

Pedersen leads his side against play-off rivals Lakeside tonight refreshed and recovered after niggling back pains.

He has had a clear week since Eastbourne beat Wolverhampton last Saturday.

And he even had a timely phone call to save him a wasted trip to England for the postponed fixture at Wolverhampton on Monday.

With no fixtures in the European leagues, he has made a rapid recovery from a back problem brought on by one too many crashes.

He said: “I had a crash in Sweden, I had a hard fall in Denmark and then another the next night for Eastbourne against Coventry.

“It’s not a major injury but I think it’s just a few falls in a row and I was feeling quite rough. I had a lot of bruising.

“I’ve had some treatment this week and a rest and I’m feeling a lot better already.

“I needed it because I could see my performances were going downhill. You don’t want to let the team down by missing meetings.

“But you don’t want to let them down by only scoring a few points either.

“I’ve now had five days off, which is quite unusual, and it has done me a lot of good.”

Pedersen was due to ride 23 meetings this month although that has dropped slightly because of rain-offs.

He said: “You have usually still had to travel to the meeting when it is rained off. Fortunately on Monday my flight to England was just about to board when I got the call from Trevor (Geer, team manager) that the meeting at Wolverhampton was off.

“I only travel with hand luggage so I was able to take myself off the flight at the departure gate and call my mechanic to give me a lift home.”

Pedersen concedes Coventry now look likely to finish in the top four along with King’s Lynn and Poole That leaves tonight’s opposing teams at Arlington in a three-way battle with Swindon for the final play-off spot.

Kyle Newman replaces the injured Lewis Blackbird at reserve for Eagles with both sides otherwise at full strength.