Joonas Kylmakorpi was taken to hospital with a suspected broken collar-bone after a crash last night.

Eastbourne's flying Finn was injured during the Elite League match at Arena Essex when he smashed into team-mate Peter Ljung.

Ljung's bike stopped suddenly on the second lap of heat 11, giving Kylmakorpi no chance to avoid a pile-up.

Arena went on to win 47-43, Eastbourne's first defeat in five matches, but the result gives Eagles a good chance of lifting the bonus point when the teams meet again at Arlington on Saturday, when Eagles expect to include new Danish signing Steen Jensen.

The Sussex side twice fought back to level the scores after going down by six points and then four points.

They trailed 15-9 after four heats when former Eastbourne riders Mark Loram and Paul Hurry outgunned Nicki Pedersen.

David Norris combined with Adam Shields for a 5-1 over Loram in heat seven, but another maximum, this time by Hurry and another former Eagle Dean Barker, put Arena back in the driving seat.

It was all square again when Norris and Shields scored a 4-2 against Barker in heat ten, but they never recovered from the crash involving Kylmakorpi.

He was awarded third place by referee Chris Gay, but Loram and Josh Larsen got the 5-1.

Norris dropped his only point to Greg Walasek in heat three.

Arena: Mark Loram 12, Dean Barker 8, Josh Larsen 7, Paul Hurry 6, Leigh Lanham 6, Greg Walasek 4, Kelvin Tatum 4.

Eastbourne: David Norris 14, Adam Shields 8, Nicki Pedersen 8, Joonas Kylmakorpi 6, Ulrich Ostergaard 4, Edward Kennett 2, Peter Ljung 1.