Eastbourne Eagles notched their first double of the season with a 47-43 win over Belle Vue in Saturday night's Elite League clash at Arlington Stadium.

The Sussex outfit beat the league's cellar team with a bit in hand but not without a scare or two en route and clearly missed injured talisman Mark Loram.

Eagles managed only five points from Loram's four scheduled rides, with David Norris and Joonas Kylmakorpi failing to register, a return which in different circumstances might have proved costly.

Belle Vue, who were going down to their eighth successive league defeat, showed plenty of spirit in cutting the gap from ten points after halfway to just four with two heats left.

By then, however, they had run out of trump cards, and Kylmakorpi and Shields, who came from the back to take second place from Chris Manchester and Ales Dryml, put the match beyond the Aces.

That was one of only six wins for the home side. Belle Vue won the other nine races but were undone by the lack of depth in their squad.

Jason Crump took his tally to 11 out of 12 against Eagles this season, his five victories all being achieved in a canter, while Jason Lyons weighed in with three and Steve Johnston one.

In contrast, Manchester, Dryml and Josh Larsen failed to beat anyone all night in nine attempts, Dryml picking up their only point against an Eastbourne rider courtesy a Norris fall.

Crump and Lyons took five of the last seven races as the visitors made maximum use of their tactical substitute chances via wins for both riders and a paid win by Johnston.

Eastbourne might have been in trouble if Crump had not made his only mistake of the night when he fell in heat 11. Shields crashed into Crump's bike and was catapaulted into the air. Both riders escaped injury, but Crump was excluded from the rerun.

The world No. 2 was back on track to win the next two, but crucially Lyons and Johnston both failed to capitalise on 5-1 opportunities when they were last away from the tapes.

Shields did well to hold off Johnston for a shared heat with Norris, then Lyons got past Kylmakorpi but couldn't catch Screen.

Earlier the visitors had been robbed of a couple of points in a bizarre incident.

Craig Watson was in second place behind Shields when the red lights came on to stop heat two when referee Phil Griffin mistakenly pressed the button.

Griffin, making his Arlington debut, ordered a rerun, in which Watson was beaten into third place by Leigh Lanham.

At one stage, the meeting looked unlikely to take place because of rain. The start was delayed for half an hour before eventually getting under way on a heavily sawdusted track.

That did nothing to deter the top riders. Some of the racing was top class, with Dean Barker, who topped the Eastbourne scorers, figuring in two of the best pieces of action.

Barker held off Lyons by a whisker to partner Screen to a 5-1 in heat six but then lost the race of the night to Lyons in heat ten. Barker roared past Lyons on the back straight, but the Belle Vue man past him on the boards in spectacular style.

Eastbourne: Dean Barker 12, Joe Screen 9, Adam Shields 8, Joonas Kylmakorpi 7, David Norris 6, Leigh Lanham 5. Bonus points: Shields 2, Lanham 2, Barker 1, Screen 1, Kylmakorpi 1.

Belle Vue: Jason Crump 15, Jason Lyons 13, Steve Johnston 8, Craig Watson 5, Ales Dryml 1, Chris Manchester 1, Josh Larsen 0. Bonus points: Lyons 1, Johnston 1.