Lewis Bridger can further stake his claim for Andrew Moore's No. 2 spot with another sparkling display at Arlington Stadium tomorrow.

The 16-year-old ace claimed arguably the biggest scalp of his fledgling career on Monday night when he beat British No. 1 Scott Nicholls to spark Eastbourne Eagles' fightback against Coventry Bees.

Bridger showed little regard for reputation as he stormed past Nicholls on the outside and comfortably held off the Grand Prix rider to complete a vital 5-1 behind Nicki Pedersen.

Many observers considered the ride to be even more impressive than his victory against former world champion Billy Hamill at Wolverhampton two weeks ago.

The teenager from Bexhill went on to hold his nerve to win heat 12 after both Dean Barker and Chris Harris had crashed out to claim his second highest points haul of the season with 11.

He will need to be in good form again tonight when another former world champion, in the shape of Mark Loram, visits Arlington with the Ipswich Witches.

Eagles boss Jon Cook is certain Bridger is up to the challenge ahead and is so confident in the youngsters ability is considering promoting him just three months into his Elite League career.

Cook said: "If you look at Coventry one to seven there is not a weak link and for Lewis to go and get a big score is very impressive.

"His ride against Scott Nicholls was fantastic. Scott didn't expect him to be coming past him but Lewis has proved he is as fast as anyone around Arlington.

"He is as fast as anyone around a lot of circuits really and he more than proved that once he got in front of Scott as he never looked like getting back past him."

While Bridger's rapid rise shows no sign of slowing down, Moore's struggles continued on Monday night with another disappointing display.

He failed to score on his first two rides as Eagles slipped six points adrift of the Bees and ended with just four points from six outings.

Moore has already admitted he is unhappy in the No.2 spot and is desperate to join a Premier League outfit to help rebuild his battered confidence.

If that happens Cook has just the man ready to step into his shoes.

Cook said: "Andrew has suggest that he would like to get in a doubling up position so on that basis we are speaking to Sheffield who own him to make those arrangements. "We are more than hopeful if that is what he needs to give him more meetings and get him going that bit better then that is what we will arrange for him.

"We don't want anyone to have their heads down and I think Andrew is finding No.2 a struggle but from next month he will be at reserve and I think, ironically, Lewis Bridger will move up, certainly after Monday night's performance."

Cameron Woodward is likely to continue in place of Brent Werner tomorrow despite getting the all-clear to resume riding following a broken colllarbone.

Woodward looked out of his depth on his Arlington debut on Monday as he failed to score in his three rides but Cook is confident the Australian will improve.

Cook said: "Brent didn't see the doctor to receive the all-clear until Thursday so the three-day rule made it hard to put him straight back in.

"We brought Cameron over with an eye to the future, even though he is not our asset, and as much as we want Brent back we want to see a bit more of Cameron too.

"I think in his rides he showed he's certainly got the gating prowess and from the few meetings he rode for us last year that he could be something a little bit special."