Eastbourne Eagles are through to the last four of the Knockout Cup after they duly completed the demolition job on Ipswich at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night.

The Sussex squad eased to a 30-point aggregate win with their best all-round performance of the season, and no one could have been more delighted than Eastbourne reserve Savalas Clouting.

Clouting posted his best return in Eagles' colours with a paid eight points, which included two wins, against his former club.

He opened his account with a heat two victory which saw him roar past Leigh Lanham, and he signed off with an all-the-way win in heat 14.

In between, Clouting picked up a brilliant third place in heat 11, team riding with skipper Joe Screen to relegate England captain Chris Louis to last place.

Eagles had done the hard work at Ipswich two nights before, and any wild thoughts the Witches might have har-boured of rewriting the script were torn up at the start.

David Norris and Mark Loram raced to a 5-1 against Louis in the opener, and when Toni Svab backed up Clouting for a 4-2 in the next Eagles were already six points up on the night and coasting.

In the end it finished 54-36, giving the Sussex outfit an overall win by 105-75.

It is the first time East-bourne have successfully nego-tiated a cup round in four years.

This team, however, are made of sterner stuff than their predecessors, and for most of Saturday night their thoughts must have been more on tonight's Elite League visit to potential championship rivals Wolverhampton, such was their dominance of an under-achieving Ipswich.

Apart from Scott Nicholls, who took his personal tally to 31 points over the two legs, and the occasional interjection by Louis, the visitors produced little to trouble Eagles.

Joonas Kylmakorpi failed to score a point on the track where he rode all last season, while Craig Boyce and Jeremy Doncaster were well below their form of the past.

Nicholls and Louis did figure in the best action of the night, scoring a 5-1 over Loram and Screen in heat 13, with Louis and Loram involved in a tremendous battle for second place.

Ipswich's only other heat advantage came via a 4-2 by Nicholls and Boyce in heat nine, otherwise it was all a routine matter for an Eagles team who have now won seven out of eight this season.

Stefan Andersson clocked the fastest time so far in 2002 with 56.4sec. in heat three, and first Screen and then Loram got the better of Nicholls in four and six.

It was surprising, perhaps, that Eastbourne only put together four maximum heats, but far more significant was the spread of points right through the team.

Loram and Norris added a second 5-1 in heat ten, another came from Dean Barker and Svab two races later, and then Clouting and Andersson one before the end.

Even Nicholls, who scored a hat-trick of wins in nine, 11 and 13, couldn't match Loram in the finale.

Loram finished as top man with a paid 13 as Eagles won in a canter.

Eastbourne: Mark Loram 12, David Norris 9, Joe Screen 8, Savalas Clouting 7, Stefan Andersson 7, Dean Barker 6, Toni Svab 5. Bonus points: Loram 1, Norris 1, Clouting 1, Andersson 1, Barker 1, Svab 1.

Ipswich: Scott Nicholls 15, Chris Louis 9, Craig Boyce 7, Jeremy Doncaster 3, Leigh Lanham 2, Joonas Kylmakorpi 0, Lee Herne 0. Bonus points: Louis 2, Doncaster 2.