Eastbourne Eagles failed to grab their first Elite League bonus point of the season in a dramatic finish at Peterborough last night.

World champion Nicki Pedersen was beaten by Grand Prix rival and one-time Arlington junior Lee Richardson in a run-off after the teams had finished level 93-93 on aggregate over two legs.

The match, however, highlighted the farcical situation which can be caused by the new rules involving tactical riders whose points score double.

Eagles employed the tactic twice during the match, scoring 8-1 heat wins on both occasions, which enabled them to close the gap to just four points at the end.

And although Peterborough still won 50-46, Eastbourne were desperately close to getting the bonus point because they won 47-43 at Arlington last Saturday, when Peterborough were not able to play any double cards.

Pedersen, supported by Brett Woodifield, scored six points in heat six, reducing Peterborough's lead from 20-10 to 21-18.

And Eagles swooped again in heat ten when skipper David Norris bagged six points and was followed home by Joonas Kylmakorpi as the Panthers had their lead cut from 33-24 to 34-32.

Eastbourne's only genuine 5-1 of the meeting came in heat 13 when Adam Shields and Pedersen finished first and second to level the scores at 42-42.

A Peterborough 5-1 in the next race threatened to ground the Eagles, but when Richardson suffered engine failure in the final heat all Pedersen and Shields had to do was finish behind Gary Havelock to force a run-off.

Pedersen, Shields and Norris scored all but eight of Eastbourne's points, the biggest disappointment being Kylmakorpi who failed to score in three of his four rides.

Peterborough: Gary Havelock 14, Lee Richardson 9, Ricky Ashworth 9, Ales Dryml 6, Tomasz Piszcz 5, Lukas Dryml 4, Henning Bager 3.

Eastbourne: Nicki Pedersen 15, David Norris 13, Adam Shields 10, Paul Pickering 3, Brett Woodifield 3, Joonas Kylmakorpi 2, Ulrich Ostergaard 0.