Eastbourne Eagles brought down the curtain on their title winning season with a 50-40 win over Oxford at Arlington Stadium yesterday.

Boss Jon Cook made sure the cam-paign ended with a bang by bringing in £3,000 worth of fire-works to provide a fitting finale.

But his riders were determined not to be upstaged and gave the fans plenty to cheer on the track.

David Norris won four out of five to finish as the top scorer for the fifth time in the last seven matches.

Exciting Martin Dugard, Dean Barker and guest man Jesper Jensen were also on the victory mark, but it was another Eagle who came up with the most exciting action of the day.

Paul Hurry, whose Eastbourne future is now in doubt after he spent this year on loan from Oxford, produced a brilliant pass on the inside of Steve Johnston in heat nine to partner Norris to a vital 5-1.

Then, in the last race, he roared round the outside of Todd Wiltshire to back up Norris for a 4-2 and make sure Eagles ended on a high note in the Craven Shield.

Oxford played their part in an entertaining affair, coming back from eight points down to level things at 24-24 before Eagles seized the initiative again.

Eastbourne: David Norris 12, Martin Dugard 11, Paul Hurry 9, Dean Barker 6, Jesper Jensen 5, Petri Kokko 4, Savalas Clouting 3.

Oxford: Todd Wiltshire 11, Brian Andersen 10, Steve Johnston 7, Mark Lemon 6, Ales Dryml 5, Lukas Dryml 1.