Eastbourne Eagles got back on to the winning track at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night when they roared to a 60-30 victory against Belle Vue.

It was their biggest win of the season and the first time they had hit the 60-point mark since they beat Oxford by the same margin on April 25, 1998.

In truth, however, it was no more than a confidence booster for the Elite League title chasers against the beleagured Aces.

For the most part, the affair lacked any sort of competitive edge with Eagles providing the winners of 14 out of the 15 races.

The only blip for the Sussex squad came in heat nine when Jason Lyons led from start to finish to defeat David Norris.

The visitors took the heat 4-2, courtesy of a fall by Paul Hurry, otherwise the best they could manage were a couple of shared heats.

The rest was one-way traffic with Eastbourne skipper Martin Dugard scorching to a 15-point maximum despite suffering the after-affects of a virus.

Lyons finished with 13 points from seven outings, but for all that even he appeared somewhat subdued.

He did, though, provide the one piece of spectacular action when he ruined Joe Screen's paid maximum and snatched second place with a sensational overtake in the last race.

Hurry won his other three races, and Dean Barker showed signs of a return to something like his best form.

Barker nipped past Lyons in heat one and then beat him comprehensively in heat eight when Belle Vue brought him in as a tactical substitute.

As though things were not difficult enough for the league's bottom side, the Aces did themselves no favours with a lamentable use of what few resources they did have.

Pitching Lyons against Dugard in the opener was tantamount to throwing away his rider replacement ride, and putting in Andy Smith as a tactical in heat 13 alongside Dugard, Screen and Lyons a complete nonsense when he could have gone in against Hurry and Petri Kokko in the next.

Eastbourne: Martin Dugard 15, Joe Screen 12, Paul Hurry 9, Dean Barker 8, David Norris 8, Petri Kokko 6, Brent Collyer 2.

Belle Vue: Jason Lyons 13, Andy Smith 8, Kaj Laukkanen 4, Brent Werner 4, Kevin Doolan 1, Glenn Cunningham 0.

l Eastbourne's match this week away to Peterborough has been switched from Thursday to Friday.