Georgie Wood reckons his Gold Cup showing at Birmingham was the best speedway meeting of his career.

Which is not saying much – but saying an awful lot at the same time.

Not saying much because he has only been riding this season.

Saying a lot because, seven months after first sitting on a speedway bike, he was winning races and top-scoring against the National League champions on their own track.

Wood led the way in a 47-43 win which puts Eastbourne in pole position – but by no means out of reach – ahead of the second leg of the final at Arlington tonight (7.30pm).

Signed as a reserve with not much by way of expectation on his shoulders, grasstracker Wood has been a revelation.

He led a performance at Perry Barr which underlined Eagles’ strength in depth.

They beat the recently-crowned champions – and led them by 14 at one stage – despite No.1 Bradley Wilson-Dean not winning a race.

Wood told The Argus: “I can’t believe what has happened this year. I’d never sat on a speedway bike until February or March. Martin Dugard has been a massive help. In the last few meetings I’ve been riding one of his bikes.

“He has been setting everything up for me. I haven’t had to change things in terms of set-up. If you get the set-up right to start with, you don’t change it.”

Encouraged by his efforts this year, Wood could put grasstrack on hold next season and concentrate on speedway. That is likely to mean another year at Arlington with chairman Dugard indicating the club will stay in the third tier.

Wood said: “I might focus more on speedway because I want to go further in the sport. I’ll stay with the National League next year but, after that, I’ll think about stepping up.

“Grasstrack costs me money to do and I don’t get a lot out of it. Speedway has been funding my grasstrack this year.”

Brummies are still in the contest after outscoring Eagles 14-4 over the last three races of the first leg.

But Wood said: “We should win it. Birmingham were a strong side at the end because they knew how the track would slicken off.”

Although Birmingham finished top of the table, Eagles are convinced they are the better side. It is too late to change what happened in the league but success in the Gold Cup, competed for by the top four clubs in the table, would be sweet.

Eagles beat Rye House home and away in the semis while Birmingham were defeating Cradley.

Team boss Glenn Martin said: “We set out with the goal of winning all four meetings in the Gold Cup.”

Wilson-Dean is expected to shrug off a knee injury to ride while Brummies are without injured Zach Wajtknecht.

Eagles: Wilson-Dean, Wood, Owen, Spiller, Hopwood, Dugard, Andrews.