Eastbourne Eagles raced to their second home Elite League win in five days with a 50-40 victory over Ipswich at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night.

The result was never really in doubt once Eagles had manoeuvred their way into the driving seat midway through the match against a spirited Witches team.

British champion Scott Nicholls was in immaculate form for the visitors, winning six on the bounce to post an 18-point maximum, but apart from one other solitary win by Ipswich's Polish World Cup star Jarek Hampel, Eagles bossed the rest of the action.

A lot of their points were picked up from the back, making it an exciting affair for the fans, which was just as well for the home side because Ipswich frequently beat them out of the gate.

Mark Loram and Dean Barker both shot past Hampel to give Eagles a flying start, and Adam Shields came from behind to beat Danny Bird in the next.

Ipswich hit back in heats three and four, first with Paul Hurry going past Joonas Kylmakorpi coming off the last bend to snatch third place and then Nicholls doing the same to deny Joe Screen victory.

Loram and Barker, Eastbourne's in-form pairing, both came from the back to overtake Bird in heat six and keep Eagles on terms, and it was still all square, 21-21, after the next.

Heat eight proved decisive, with Eagles bringing in Shields to partner Barker to a 5-1.

The home side were never headed after that, despite Nicholls winning every other race for the remainder of the meeting.

Loram continued to do things the hard way, getting past Daniel Nermark and Hurry in race ten, and when Hurry fell Eagles were awarded another maximum heat advantage to stretch their lead to 34-26.

Screen roared past Hampel on the outside in the next but Nicholls, in as a tactical substitute, had flown by then, and Ipswich bagged a 4-2 to cut the deficit to six points.

Hampel, a tactical in heat 12, trailed in last, and with David Norris winning it, and Shields taking Hurry on the boards, Eastbourne went ten up at 41-31.

Nicholls and Hampel stalled the Eagles victory march, racing away from Screen and Loram in heat 13, but it was only a temporary reprieve for the Witches.

Kylmakorpi picked up his first win of the season at the eighth attempt in heat 14, and with Shields pipping Nermark on the line for second it was 47-37 and all over bar the shouting.

That just left Nicholls to clean up in the last. For a moment, Ipswich threatened to reduce the winning margin but Hampel lost control and came down, leaving Norris and Barker to chase Nicholls home.

For once, Loram was not the man to take centre stage for Eagles.

While Screen and Shields were usually in the thick of the action, Norris and Barker fired most of the ammunition, which is a promising sign for Eastbourne's title-chasing ambitions.

Norris topped the scorechart with 12 points, while Barker finished with paid 13.

It is early days, of course, but what must concern Eagles is the form of new signing Peter Ljung, who has never looked like scoring in six outings and appears way out of his depth.

Eastbourne: David Norris 12, Dean Barker 10, Adam Shields 9, Joe Screen 8, Mark Loram 7, Joonas Kylmakorpi 4, Peter Ljung 0. Bonus points: Barker 3, Shields 3, Loram 1, Kylmakorpi 1.

Ipswich: Scott Nicholls 18, Jarek Hampel 7, Daniel Nermark 5, Paul Hurry 4, Danny Bird 3, Tom Madsen 2, Chris Slabon 1. Bonus points: Hampel 1, Nermark 1, Hurry 1, Madsen 1.