Eastbourne Eagles safely negotiated their first hurdle in the new British League Cup at Reading last night.

The Sussex outfit, parading only three of their Elite League team, were still too good for their Premier League rivals, winning 51-42.

David Norris, who had a spell at Reading earlier in his career, led the charge with a 15-point maximum, figuring in five of Eastbourne's eight heat wins.

Dean Barker was also unbeaten by an opponent, finishing with a paid 12-point maximum, while Mark Loram, who scored 13 points from five rides, was beaten for the only time in the final heat.

The visitors won 13 of the 15 races, and the winning margin would have been a lot more but for Reading making the most of a golden double tactical substitution in heat eight.

Their star man, Andrew Appleton, won the race from 15m back, and with Paul Clews taking second place ahead of Wayne Barrett and Daniel Giffard it meant Reading won the heat 8-1.

It cut Eastbourne's advantage to just three points, 27-24, at the time, but Eagles continued to build on their lead.

Norris had earlier bagged a 5-1 in heat seven with Garry Stead.

The same pairing were also responsible for a couple of 4-2's, while Barker picked up others with Barrett and Matt Read.

When Norris combined with Read in another 4-2, and Loram and Barker raced to a 5-1 in heat 13, there was no way back for the home side.

The only other race which Eagles failed to win was heat 14, when Appleton and tactical substitute Phil Morris scored a 5-1 over Stead and Barrett.

Appleton also dented Loram's maximum hopes in the finale, but with Norris out in front it was still a 4-2 for Eagles.

Reading: Andrew Appleton 17, Phil Morris 8, Scott Smith 5, Jonas Davidsson 4, Paul Clews 3, Shane Colvin 3, Peter Collyer 2.

Eastbourne: David Norris 15, Mark Loram 13, Dean Barker 11, Garry Stead 5, Matt Read 5, Wayne Barrett 2, Daniel Giffard 0.