Eastbourne Eagles sparked their season into action with a spectacular 48-42 win over Ipswich.

The Sussex squad won a thriller at the Arlington Stadium on Saturday night that went all the way to the wire before Eagles grabbed the bonus point in a mind-blowing finale.

Skipper Martin Dugard, the man his team-mates call Storming Norman, scored the vital win over world No.2 Tomasz Gollob in a race which might have seen both riders involved in an horrific crash. The front wheels of their bikes touched at high-speed as Dugard forced his way inside Gollob on the second lap.

Amazingly, both men stayed on board, and with David Norris suffering engine failure on the next lap Eagles needed Dugard's first place over the Ipswich big guns, Gollob and Chris Louis, to avoid going into a run-off.

Eagles got away to a flying start and led by ten points after three races, but they had to wait until four races from the end for their next heat advantage. Seven out of the next eight heats were shared, and in the end every point proved important, including Brent Collyer's surprise win in heat two when he overtook Savalas Clouting.

All the best action, however, came in the second half of the match. Gollob made it a hat-trick of wins by defeating Dugard in another breathtaking duel, and in the next Matej Ferjan upset the formbook by beating Dean Barker and Joe Screen.

When Ipswich did use Gollob as a tactical in heat 14, the move backfired. The Pole was last out of the gate, and Norris wrapped up the match points with Ferjan and Gollob unable to get in a blow. The last race was speedway at its best, and the big Arlington crowd won't see a more dramatic finish all season.

Ipswich won the toss for grid positions, but while Gollob flew into the lead from gate three Louis was pinned on the white line by Dugard as Norris went round the outside into second place.

It all changed when Dugard dived inside Gollob, Norris also went past the Ipswich rider as Gollob lost drive down the home straight, and for a lap Eagles were heading for a 5-1. Then when Norris packed up, Dugard was left on his own to hold off Gollob and Louis and send the fans wild.

Eastbourne: Martin Dugard 14, Paul Hurry 8, Dean Barker 7, Joe Screen 7, David Norris 6, Petri Kokko 3, Brent Collyer 3.

Ipswich: Tomasz Gollob 14, Chris Louis 12, Matej Ferjan 7, Toni Svab 4, Lawrence Hare 3, Savalas Clouting 2, Jason Bunyan 0.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.