Eastbourne Eagles lost a thriller in their opening speedway match of the season at Poole last night.

The Sussex squad went down 46-44 in a last-heat decider despite skipper Martin Dugard winning the race to finish as the team's top scorer with 11 points.

At one stage, Dugard and Paul Hurry looked like scoring a 5-1 to clinch victory in the challenge match, but Lars Gunnestad and Gary Havelock forced their way past Hurry to steal it for the Pirates.

Hurry had earlier won his first three races for Eagles, while another new signing, Petri Kokko, had two wins, but it was a disappointing night for Joe Screen.

Eastbourne's new No. 1 started with an engine failure and could manage only two second places. Eagles led 28-26 after nine heats, but two 5-1's, both involving former captain Havelock, put the home outfit in the driving seat.

Poole: Gary Havelock 11, Lars Gunnestad 11, Scott Nicholls 10, Mark Loram 9, Emil Lindqvist 4, Justin Elkins 1, Craig Watson 0.

Eastbourne: Martin Dugard 11, Paul Hurry 10, Petri Kokko 9, Joe Screen 4, Dean Barker 4, David Norris 3, Brent Collyer 3.

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