Eastbourne Eagles lost a last-heat thriller at Poole last night.

The Sussex squad are still favourites to win the Elite League despite suffering a blow to their title hopes when they were beaten 46-44.

The score, however, meant they picked up a crucial bonus point which puts them six points clear of championship rivals King's Lynn, who have two matches in hand.

Eagles looked like winning when they opened up a ten-point lead in the first five races.

And they were on track to draw the match when Joe Screen led in the final heat with skipper Martin Dugard in third place.

They reckoned without Scott Nicholls, however, the Poole rider bringing the house down by riding round the outside of Screen on the last lap to secure victory for the Pirates.

Poole went into the deciding race leading by two points, and the win by Nicholls meant the last five heats were shared.

Earlier, there had been drama at the start when world championship leader Mark Loram's clutch snapped, and he rode into the tapes.

That meant the Poole rider had to start 15m behind in the rerun, and when Screen led from the gate Eagles were favourites to snatch at least a share of the spoils.

Nicholls, who had been in brilliant form all night, had other ideas and when he roared past Screen it was Poole who celebrated.

He finished with 14 points, while Loram, who rides against Screen and Stefan Danno in the Danish Grand Prix on Saturday, scored 11.

Dugard was Eastbourne's best rider with 12, with Screen providing most support with double figures.

Poole: Scott Nicholls 14, Mark Loram 11, Lars Gunnestad 8, Gary Havelock 6, Craig Watson 4, Alun Rossiter 3, Emil Lindqvist 0.

Eastbourne: Martin Dugard 12, Joe Screen 10, Stefan Danno 8, Petri Kokko 6, David Norris 4, Paul Hurry 3, Buzz Burrows 1.