Martin Dugard is back as the king of the indoor dirt track after winning last night's Bonanza at the Brighton Centre.

The former Eastbourne Eagles star roared to victory in an incident-packed affair to become only the second rider to win the title twice in the event's seven-year history.

Dugard only rides for fun these days, once a year at the Brighton Centre and occasionally in testimonial meetings.

But when the chips were down he showed not only is he still a class act but he has lost none of his fierce competitive edge.

Dugard, who had won seven out of his ten races in the afternoon and evening sessions, was out of the traps like lightning in the final.

The fact that he had to do it all again after the race had been stopped with him heading for victory made no difference.

Another six laps, and Dugard was a convincing winner, repeating his triumph in the Millennium year and joining Paul Hur-ry as the only dual winner of the event.

Dugard led Edward Kennett to a one-two over the two American war horses, Bobby Schwartz and Shawn McConnell, in an England v USA final.

And if Dugard was representing Eastbourne past, then Kennett showed that Eastbourne's future is in good hands.

The 17-year-old wonder kid, who will ride full-time for Eagles next season, was flying high all night, finishing as the top qualifier with 13 points.

His wheel-to-wheel battle with McConnell in the final was furious stuff until Kennett crashed into the boards, causing the red lights to come on.

Referee Dave Dowling ruled that McConnell had been guilty of unfair riding and excluded him from the rerun.

The rest is history. Dugard romped home, followed by Kennett, with Schwartz unable to find a way through.

More than 5,000 fans watched the action, and they were treated to some spectacular crashes as well as some top riding.

Adam Shields took no further part in the meeting after a crashing fall with Bryan Yarrow on the back straight.

Earlier Billy Janniro and Chris Neath had been lucky to escape injury in a pile-up on the same bend as Kennett came down.

Janniro and Yarrow were two of the pre-Bonanza favourites after the pairs event who failed to make the final shake-up.

British No. 1 Scott Nicholls, who did not ride in the afternoon, also missed out after a promising start.

And the man many of the fans came to see, Kelly Moran, never even made the start line in the evening after a disastrous effort in the pairs tournament.

The legendary Eastbourne ace failed to complete four laps in any of his five outings and was forced to concede defeat.

Moran told the fans: "I guess I'm suffering a bit of jet lag. Maybe I needed to come over a couple of days in advance.

"I hope I didn't disappoint too many people. I'd love to have another go next year."

Promoter Jon Cook said: "We tried him on all sorts of bikes, but nothing worked."

The remarkable Schwartz and McConnell, whose combined ages add up to 91 years, scooped the pairs championship for the fourth successive year.

They might have lost out to the pairing of Janniro and Yarrow but got a second chance when Janniro crashed out.

Yarrow, 19, took the individual prize on his debut, but it was not enough. Schwartz and McConnell finished second and third, and under the rules that beats first and fourth.

Ironically, Janniro and Yarrow were in the title-winning positions behind McConnell when Janniro went for broke and was excluded from the rerun.

BRIGHTON BONANZA Scorers: Edward Kennett 13, Bob-by Schwartz 12, Martin Dugard 11, Shawn McConnell 11, David Howe 10, Chris Neath 9, Scott Nicholls 9, Billy Janniro 7, Bryan Yarrow 7, Ricky Ashworth 7, Tomasz Jedrzejak 7, Roman Povazhny 6, Steve Masters 5, Adam Shields 3, Davey Watt 1, Rafal Szomberski 0, Glenn Phillips (res) 0. Final: Dugard, Kennett, Schwartz, McConnell (excl).

Pairs: Yarrow & Janniro 20, Mc-Connell & Schwartz 19, Howe & Neath 19, Dugard & Moran 15, Jed-rzejak & Watt 13, Kennett & Shields 12, Povazhny & Szomberski 11, Ashworth & Masters 10. Final: Yarrow, Schwartz, McConnell, Janniro (excl).