Martin Dugard's career ended in a blaze of glory when he beat world champion Tony Rickardsson at Arlington Stadium on Saturday.

The Eastbourne Eagles' captain pulled out all the stops to defeat Rickardsson in a thriller in his last race in heat 13.

Earlier on, Dugard also beat former world title-holder Gary Havelock, but there was little else for the home fans to cheer as Eagles crashed spectacularly.

The Sussex squad suffered their biggest home defeat of the season, 54-36, against Poole Pirates in the Craven Shield.

And while there was nothing riding on the last match of the year, the margin of Poole's victory raises serious doubts about the rest of the Eastbourne team as the club face up to life without Dugard.

The Pirates simply sunk them without trace, scoring five 5-1 heat wins and opening up a huge gap.

Rickardsson was immaculate, winning four other races, while Krzysztof Cegielski scored three wins.

Lars Gunnestad, who failed to score a point the last time Poole were at Eastbourne, finished with a paid 15 points, while newcomer David Ruud had a paid 11-point return on his first appearance at the Sussex track.

In contrast, another rider making his Arlington debut, Sergei Darkin, failed to complete four laps in any of his three attempts.

The Russian fell twice and suffered engine failure on his other outing, inadvertently triggering Eastbourne's collapse.

When Darkin came to grief the second time, he impeded team-mate Dean Barker, who was left stranded by Rickardsson and Ruud.

That was Poole's first heat advantage, and it was downhill for Eagles from there on. Barker and Joonas Kylmakorpi grabbed a 5-1 in heat seven when Cegielski was excluded, and David Norris and Kylmakorpi scored a one-two in heat 14.

They were Eastbourne's only heat wins of the night, while the visitors ran up eight, including five on the bounce between heats eight and 12 to stretch their lead from 23-19 to 46-26.

In between his two victories, the malaise even got to Dugard, who crashed while chasing Rickardsson on another occasion, was excluded after a ding-dong with Cegielski and was then headed by Gunnestad and passed by Havelock in the same race.

Dugard confessed to a feeling of relief.

He said: "I've felt under a lot of pressure this year and now I'm glad it's all over."

On the evidence of this display, whoever takes over the mantle of No.1 faces an unenviable task unless the club can conjure up some magic, and a few different faces, before next season. And Dugard knows it.

Eastbourne: David Norris 10, Joonas Kylmakorpi 9, Martin Dugard 7, Dean Barker 6, Roman Povazhny 2, Brent Werner 2. Bonus points: Kylmakorpi 2, Povazhny 1.

Poole: Tony Rickardsson 14, Lars Gunnestad 12, Krzysztof Cegielski 10, David Ruud 8, Gary Havelock 7, Hans Andersen 3. Bonus points: Gunnestad 3, Ruud 3, Havelock 2, Andersen 1.