"Are you watching, Hans Andersen?" would have been an appropriate chant at Arlington Stadium last night.

While David Norris was lead-ing Eastbourne Eagles to vic-tory with another big score, mystery surrounded Andersen, who was nowhere to be seen.

The official line was that the Dane, currently Public Enemy No. 1, was suffering from a hand injury.

But Andersen went on record in the Danish media yesterday claiming that he had received threats from fans in Britain.

Eastbourne boss Jon Cook said: "Andersen was guaranteed a hostile reception, but we haven't received any threats against the rider from Eastbourne fans."

Andersen, the villain of the piece as Britain lost the World Cup to Sweden, also clashed with Norris during another recent match.

Whatever the true reason for his absence last night, the in-form Eastbourne skipper was happy to make hay with four straight wins as Eagles out-gunned Elite League rivals Ipswich 52-45 in front of the TV cameras.

Norris was unstoppable until the last race when Chris Louis and Scott Nicholls, before he was forced out by engine failure, led him and Nicki Pedersen a dance.

By then, though, Eagles were home and dry, having secured an early ten-point lead and seen off two out of three tactical efforts by the visitors.

Norris was only 0.7sec. out-side the track record on a rain-affected surface which caused all sorts of problems for the riders.

In another race, he was last away but in front by lap two, including going past Nicholls.

Andrew Moore's two wins included foiling a double points bid by Nicholls off 15m, while Joonas Kylmakorpi also won two races in his first meeting, barring an aborted attempt to ride with a broken collar-bone, since mid-June.

Eastbourne: David Norris 14, Nicki Pedersen 10, Joonas Kylmakorpi 8, Adam Shields 8, Andrew Moore 7, Edward Kennett 4, Adrian Miedzinski 1. Bonus points: Kylmakorpi 2, Pedersen 1, Shields 1, Moore 1, Kennett 1.

Ipswich: Chris Louis 16, Scott Nicholls 14, Jesper Jensen 7, Daniel King 4, Kim Jansson 3, Paul Pickering 1. Bonus points: Jensen 2, King 2.