Eastbourne Eagles got their Elite League title bid back on track with a runaway 60-30 win over Poole Pirates at Arlington Stadium last night.

In terms of a confidence booster, it must have worked wonders for the Sussex squad after three defeats on the bounce and a month without a win.

Poole, however, with the exception of world champion Tony Rickardsson, were shambolic.

How they have remained unbeaten at home this season, and won away at championship contenders Coventry recently, is a total mystery on this display.

Rickardsson was in a class of his own, winning all his six races unchallenged to post an 18-point maximum.

The rest, including Bjarne Pedersen, who was the top scorer in the World Cup final the previous night, might as well not have bothered to turn up.

And tracking reserve Mariusz Staszewski, who had not beaten anyone all night, in the nominated race was tantamount to putting two fingers up to the fans who had paid to watch the whole dismal affair in the rain.

Astonishingly, this was Eastbourne's first victory over their South Coast rivals in 11 league and cup meetings between the teams since June, 2000.

Joonas Kylmakorpi scored a paid 12 points on his comeback in place of the injured Toni Svab, while Joe Screen showed a return to form with double figures.

The only time an Eastbourne rider failed to score was when Savalas Clouting finished behind Gary Havelock and Pedersen, providing the visitors with their only shared heat of the night when Rickardsson was not involved.

Eastbourne: Joe Screen 10, Mark Loram 10, Dean Barker 9, David Norris 9, Joonas Kylmakorpi 8, Stefan Andersson 7, Savalas Clouting 7. Bonus: Kylmakorpi 4, Screen 3, Andersson 3, Clouting 2, Barker 1.

Poole: Tony Rickardsson 18, Gary Havelock 4, Grzegorz Walasek 4, Bjarne Pedersen 1, Hans Andersen 1, Tomasz Chrzanowski 1, Marius Staszewski 1. Bonus: Pedersen 1.