Quarry worker Edward Kennett chalked up the biggest score of his top-flight career with Eastbourne Eagles at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night.

The 17-year-old whizz-kid roared to double figures with a paid ten points as the Sussex outfit ended a run of three defeats to get their Elite League play-off hopes back on track with a comprehensive 55-39 win over Coventry.

As far as it goes, Eastbourne's victory over the league's basement side was a fairly routine affair, but that is to take nothing away from Kennett, who has suddenly found cult status with the fans after his entry on to the big stage stalled earlier in the season.

They were out of their seats in the stands to give the teenager from Magham Down a standing ovation after he had raced past Coventry duo Chris Harris and Jason Bunyan in heat eight to complete a hat-trick of rides without dropping a point.

Kennett had earlier figured in two maximum heat wins, leading home team-mate Adam Shields in heat three and then partnering skipper David Norris to another 5-1 in heat six.

It all helped to put Eagles in the box seat, and by the time he ended his own personal contribution to Eastbourne's cause with a third place behind Norris in heat ten, Eagles were already ten points clear and soaring towards an important victory.

Kennett, who has vowed to fight for his place at Eastbourne, is a different character to the one who quit in despair a couple of months back, his attitude typified by his clenched fist reaction every time he added to his points haul.

The only blot on his score chart was a fall in the opening heat when he was trying to overtake. Not long ago, the incident would have fazed him. But not now. His answer was to pick himself up and finish the evening by being named the rider of the match.

Eastbourne provided 13 of the 15 race winners, the only Coventry rider to get in on the act being Andreas Jonsson, whose second win in heat 13 was achieved in the fastest time of the night, 55.6sec, just half a second outside the track record.

The fact that Jonsson left the previously unbeaten Norris and Nicki Pedersen in his wake was ironic because two races earlier he had failed to get the better of Pedersen when included as a tactical rider scoring double points.

What Pedersen managed in that one, Shields did in the next, beating another double points man, Billy Janniro, and in both races Coventry had to settle for a 4-4 because Andrew Moore kept first Harris and then Bunyan at the back.

Moore, another youngster who measures highly on the Eastbourne Richter scale, was a busy man, riding in seven races before motoring overnight to Glasgow where he was scheduled to ride yesterday for his Premier League club Sheffield.

Moore's tally included a win in the reserves race and second place behind Shields in heat 14 as Eagles registered their third 5-1 of the night.

Eastbourne's big three, Norris, Pedersen and Shields, again did their stuff, winning ten races between them, while the visitors had to settle for a single heat advantage, when Shields could only split Jonsson and Harris in the fifth.

The visitors stayed in touch in the first half by picking up the minor placings in five of the other seven heats, but Jonsson apart Coventry had no one to threaten Eastbourne's supremacy.

The one cause for concern for Eagles was the form of Steen Jensen with both Kennett and Adrian Miedzinski ruled out of next Saturdays clash with Belle Vue by the world under-21 semi-final in Sweden.

Having missed the previous five matches through injury, Jensen struggled on his return and was way off the pace in three attempts.

Eastbourne: David Norris 13, Adam Shields 13, Nicki Pedersen 12, Edward Kennett 9, Andrew Moore 8, Steen Jensen 0. Bonus points: Norris 1, Shields 1, Kennett 1, Moore 1.

Coventry: Andreas Jonsson 13, Billy Janniro 9, Stuart Robson 5, Chris Harris 4, Jason Bunyan 4, Michael Coles 2, Morten Risager 2. Bonus points: Coles 2, Jonsson 1, Harris 1, Risager 1.