Eastbourne Eagles turned the speedway world on its head with a stunnning victory away to the Elite League leaders Oxford last night.

The Sussex squad won 46-44 with skipper Martin Dugard and recent signing Toni Svab pulling off a shock 5-1 in the last heat to upset the team who are hot favourites to win the title.

Eagles, who have rebuilt their team in recent weeks with a view to challenging for the championship next season, led throughout the match until two races from the end.

The home team grabbed a 5-1 in heat 12 and a 4-2 in the next race to square the match at 39-39.

And when they scored another 4-2 in heat 14 to go in front for the first time in the match, it looked all over an Oxford victory despite a gallant display by the visitors.

The Cheetahs needed only a 3-3 in the final heat to make sure, and with the unbeaten Leigh Adams involved that looked odds-on.

But Oxford, and their fans, reckoned without Dugard and Svab, who roared to victory ahead of Adams.

Dugard led the Eastbourne scorers with 13 points, while Svab was paid for 12, and there was splendid support from Dean Barker and Roman Povazhny.

Eagles' boss Jon Cook hailed it as one of the club's finest victories.

Oxford: Leigh Adams 16, Steve Johnston 10, Brian Andersen 6, Todd Wiltshire 6, Lukas Dryml 3, Ales Dryml 3.

Eastbourne: Martin Dugard 13, Toni Svab 11, Roman Povazhny 8, Dean Barker 7, David Norris 3, Joonas Kylmakorpi 3, Brent Werner 1.