Eastbourne Eagles’ season is on hold amid financial concerns at Arlington.

The SGB Championship track have had to call off Saturday’s home meeting against Redcar.

It is the second successive home postponement.

The club have been told to pay debits before they re-open the gates.

Eagles have reported much lower than anticipated match receipts and revenues from mid-July onwards.

They say they remain confident of “a medium and long-term solution”.

A club statement read: “We are working hard to ensure that late and overdue payments are fulfilled as soon as possible and to secure the immediate future to get us to the end of the 2021 season and hopefully beyond.

“We are fully committed to honouring all outstanding financial commitments in the coming weeks.

“We have been unable to meet a financial deadline request at this time from the BSPL and SCB and have regrettably had to postpone our next planned fixture v The Redcar Bears on Saturday 21st August.

“The postponement will ultimately help us with our ongoing recovery plans without risk of any further deterioration in our financial position.”

Newcastle and Birmingham recently issued “use us or lose us” messages to supporters as they were hit hard by low attendances.

Eagles appear to be in a similar worrying position.

Tracks stood silent across the country last season due to Covid-19 but action resumed this year, initially under tight controls.

Eagles sold out their reduced capacity of around 900 for early fixtures and served up some thrilling contests.

But they would ordinarily have expected more than 900 fans for some of those attractive early-season matches – as many as 1,500 for the visit of old rivals Poole.

They also pursued an ambitious plan of running three teams, staging double-header 30-race extravaganzas at times.

Ironically, the lifting of restrictions around the stadium and the ability to pay on the night have coincided with smaller rather than improved attendances.

It is possible the need to book early for those opening fixtures created a sense of demand and excitement.

The poor weather and counter attraction of the televised GP series – both factors which have been around for years – have played their part in smaller turnouts.

Their last two home fixtures have now been called off early.

A decision to pull the plug on the recent visit of Birmingham paid off as a poor weather forecast proved correct.

The concern for fans will be when or whether racing will resume this season - and what Eastbourne team will be go to tapes.

Eagles have promised more information next Tuesday.

They pieced together a team which boss Trevor Geer said others would envy at the start of the season.

It is understood riders could now be free to join other tracks.

At least one already has an option to move on and others will be attractive to other clubs.

Eagles are not due to race again until the weekend after next, when they visit Edinburgh, Berwick and Newcastle on successive days.