Eastbourne Eagles were stung by the rider who got away as their 100 per cent record crashed on Saturday night.

Lee Richardson's mesmeric display galvanised Coventry Bees to a thrilling 45-44 Elite League win in front of a spellbound Arlington crowd.

At one stage, the diminutive one-time Eastbourne protege rode in five out of six races ... and won all of them.

Rico's astonishing one-man blitz sparked a shock Coventry comeback after they had trailed by 11 points and set up a smash-and-grab victory in a last-heat decider.

Richardson, son of former Eagles high-roller Colin Richardson, began riding at Arlington as a pint-sized kid but never signed for the club.

Eastbourne could never have regretted that decision more than on Saturday as Richardson blasted his way to a total of six wins on the bounce, which included defeating home-track big guns Joe Screen twice and Mark Loram.

One more win would have given him 21 points and a place in the record books, but a tumble in the last race cost him a possible piece of Arlington history.

By then, however, Eagles were on the back foot, and Billy Hamill's victory over Loram and Screen was enough to stop the Sussex outfit in their tracks after four straight wins.

It was a remarkable effort by Richardson, whose career was under threat last year when he was plagued by a serious illness which kept him off the track for much of the season. Now he is one of the hottest properties in speedway after taking his tally to 59 points in the last four matches.

Eastbourne had no answer to Richardson, yet there wasn't a hint of the drama which was to unfold when Eagles flew into a 23-12 lead after half a dozen heats.

In fact, the visitors were so far adrift they were able to use a double tactical substitution involving Richardson and Hamill in heat eight. That, plus a rider replacement appearance for the injured Stuart Robson in heat 11, saw Richardson in almost perpetual action, and he ran up wins in heats seven, eight, ten, 11 and 12.

All five races resulted in heat advantages for the visitors, Eastbourne's only respite coming in heat nine when Richardson was back in the pits.

The Rico show apart, the race which really did for Eagles was heat 14. They went into it still a point up at 39-38, but American teenagers Billy Janniro and Ryan Fisher turned it round with a 4-2 over Stefan Andersson and Toni Svab. Svab, a tactical replacement for Savalas Clouting, was crucially passed by Fisher, and two races earlier had also finished last behind the previously out of the points Wayne Carter.

Eastbourne: Mark Loram 11, Joe Screen 10, Stefan Andersson 8, Dean Barker 7, Toni Svab 3, David Norris 3, Savalas Clouting 2. Bonus points: Loram 1, Screen 1, Barker 1, Norris 1, Clouting 1.

Coventry: Lee Richardson 18, Billy Hamill 13, Billy Janniro 6, Andreas Jonsson 5, Ryan Fisher 2, Wayne Carter 1. Bonus points: Hamill 1, Janniro 1.