Gustafsson was finding great form home and away

Eastbourne Eagles have lost in-form rider Simon Gustafsson for up to four weeks with a broken collarbone.

The injury occurred while he was riding for his Swedish league club, Indianerna, on Tuesday.

Eagles co-promoter Bob Dugard said: "Simon has got to be the hardest rider in our team to replace right now.

"He's currently riding to three points above his 2008 average and the rules only allow us to use a number eight to take his place."

Dugard added: "This we feel is a bad rule which I tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to get changed during the winter.

"As the rule stands, it means that until Simon has completed 12 league matches we can't do anything until he has established a new average.

"On the current standings Simon is our third heat leader but our hands are completely tied."

But Dugard concluded: "Thank goodness we have managed to sign Chris Schramm as our new number eight, we feel he is probably the best such rider in the Elite League."

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