Eastbourne Eagles are on track for the Elite League title after beating Ipswich 51-39 at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night.

The victory takes the Sussex squad two points clear of King's Lynn at the top of the table with five matches remaining.

There are a few banana skins in their way, including a possible championship decider against King's Lynn, but there are no signs of Eagles slipping up.

A severely depleted Ipswich were never likely to put a spoke in Eastbourne's title-chasing wheel, despite a spirited effort which earned them the bonus point with plenty in hand after trouncing Eagles by 26 points in the reverse fixture.

Minus injured top guns Chris Louis and Tomasz Gollob, they took an early lead and were level 18-18 after six heats, courtesy of a Paul Hurry tumble and a Martin Dugard machine failure.

Back-to-back 5-1's in heats seven and eight, first by Joe Screen and Petri Kokko and then by Stefan Danno and Mark Lemon, put Eagles in the driving seat.

Asset Danno, back at Arlington for his ninth successive season as a short-term replacement for the injured Dean Barker, didn't set the place alight but did enough to show he is a priceless asset to have in your armoury in a crisis.

Lemon, conjured up by Eastbourne boss Jon Cook as a guest in the A. N. Other slot at No. 7, also figured in a maximum heat win with Screen and finished with a paid seven points. Ipswich, with guest Ryan Sullivan winning a couple of races and Toni Svab getting better as the meeting went on, hung on until heat 11 when Screen produced the ride of the night.

With Sullivan in as a tactical substitute and Jeremy Doncaster as rider replacement, Screen needed all his track craft to keep the Ipswich pair at bay for four furious laps and team ride Kokko home for a 5-1.

That put Eagles 39-27 ahead, but just when you thought it was plain sailing from there on Ipswich hit back with a maximum from Svab and Doncaster against David Norris and Lemon.

Dugard won an explosive heat 13, roaring on the inside of new Continental champion Matej Ferjan on the last bend.

The unlucky Ferjan ran out of track and finished up in the boards as Screen and Sullivan also went past, and that was another 5-1 for Eastbourne.

Svab won his second race in the next, and Dugard and Screen wrapped it up with a 4-2 in the last in another thriller against Sullivan and Svab.

athletics in tomorrow's argus