Eastbourne, in their final match of the Elite League season, fell to another defeat in East Anglia as they lost 51-39 at King's Lynn.

It was the first match in three weeks for the Eagles and the riders looked out of sorts in the early stages.

King's Lynn produced a string of race winners to open up a 24-12 lead after seven races.

A good win by Dean Barker in heat eight lifted the spirits and that was followed by a 5-1 from guest rider Paul Hurry and Joonas Kylmakorpi in heat nine.

Barker also produced a fine ride in heat 11 when he jumped out of the gate to beat world No. 2 Jason Crump.

Eastbourne's new Russian signing Sergei Darkin looked at home on the big King's Lynn circuit and picked up useful points in each of his races.

Darkin and fellow countryman Roman Povazhny notched a 5-1 in heat 14 which kept the Eagles in the hunt for the match bonus point.

Eventually the aggregate scores were tied at 90-90 after heat 15 which meant a run-off and that match race for the bonus point was won for King's Lynn by Niklas Klingberg over Dean Barker by a matter of five yards.

King's Lynn: Nicki Pedersen 12, Jason Crump 10, Niklas Klingberg 8, Tom Madsen 7, Freddie Eriksson 7, Ronnie Pedersen 6, Niels Iversen 1.

Eastbourne: Dean Barker 11, Roman Povazhny 11, Joonas Kylmakorpi 6, Sergei Darkin 6, Paul Hurry 5, David Norris 0, Brent Werner 0.