CRAIG Boyce stressed he believed his bust up with Nicki Pedersen was already "history" after Pirates had beaten Eastbourne 49-41 at home on Wednesday night.

The veteran Poole Castle Cover rider had punched the Dane in retaliation for an alleged head butt on him at Arlington on Saturday after they had collided in race action.

So all eyes were on the duo in the challenge match second leg at Wimborne Road, especially when they lined up alongside each other for the start of heat seven.

But the fireworks never came in that race.

Although they got out of the traps level, the Eagles rider just had enough room to stay ahead of Boyce on the outside of the second bend to grab the lead and go on and handsomely win their clash.

Boyce, fined the maximum on-the-spot fine of £300 for decking Pedersen in the first leg, said: "It is all done and dusted.

"It was heat of the moment stuff, history really.

"That's why I shook hands with Nicki after our race last night."

Boyce, who scored seven points as Pirates also won 92-87 on aggregate, added: "He got to the dirt before me in the first corner and that was that.

"There is no point anyone carrying on with this thing."

Pedersen, who was roundly booed by a large section of Poole fans before his name was even announced during the pre-match parade, was involved in fireworks at other times in the meeting, though.

He took a heavy fall into the first bend safety fence after a heat 10 tussle with world champion Jason Crump, but escaped injury.

The Dane, who could yet face action from the Speedway Control Bureau for his part in Saturday's ugly incident, got up and walked back to the pits under a crescendo of boos from a lot of Pirates fans.

Pedersen also incurred the wrath of the home fans when his hard, but fair, challenge pushed Sergey Darkin wide on the first bend in heat one.

And when he noticeably slowed up, seemingly directly in front of Troy Batchelor, in the last 20 metres of heat 12 causing the Poole rider to take avoidance action before securing third place and a Pirates 4-2.

Boyce, happy with his side's opening night win, said: "The track was a bit slick and a few of our new boys hadn't really raced here before.

"It's a learning curve for them, but to win was a good start for us.

"I didn't start like I should have done. I used a different engine than last year just to try it, but couldn't get out of the starts.

"So I'll be back on the Old Faithful' next week at home to Ipswich."