STOKE earned an impressive 53-37 victory over the Plymouth Devils in the Travel Plus National League taking all three points available at Loomer Road on Saturday night.
The Potters took the lead in heat three with a 5-1 from skipper Tony Atkin and David Wallinger over Henry Atkins after Benji Compton had fallen, but the Devil struck back with a 4-2 from former Potter Adam Roynon over Luke Priest with Richard Andrews taking third place leaving the Potters leading after four heats 13-11.
Stoke extended their lead in heat six as Wallinger rode superbly to keep Devils number one Steve Boxall at bay to take the chequered flag with Atkin taking third place for a Potters 4-2 heat advantage and the Potters extended their lead to 8 points in heat eight as Ryan Terry-Daley and Burnett took a maximum 5-1 heat win over Callum Walker and Richard Andrews as the Potters lead 28-20.
The Potters then came strong on strong in the latter part of the meeting with 5-1 FROM Atkin And Tedham over Andrews after Benji Compton had been put off 15 metres for exceeding the two minutes time allowance eventually retiring, and then two successive 4-2 advantages with Priest getting the better of Roynon with Davey third with Wallinger and Burnett repeating in fourteen over Henry Atkins to leave the Potters leading 50-34 with one heat to go.
Roynon took a consolation win in the final heat but with Davey and Priest taking the minor placing the Potters took a comfortable victory to send the Devils back to Devon empty handed.
Potters team manager Malcolm Vasey commented “I’m absolutely delighted with tonight’s performance it was a real team effort and everyone played their part. Plymouth have had a recent upturn in form and dumped Birmingham out of the cup the other week and in Steve Boxall, Adam Roynon and Benji Compton had three former league riders’ champions in their line-up but we got our noses in front early on and never really looked back tonight we showed what we are capable of.”
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE STOKE 53: Mitchell Davey 10+1, Luke Priest 10+1, David Wallinger 9+2, Tony Atkin 9, Paul Burnett 7+3, Ryan Terry-Daley 5, Shaun Tedham 3+2 PLYMOUTH 37: Adam Roynon 13, Steve Boxall 8, Benji Compton 5, Richard Andrews 5, Henry Atkins 4+1, William O’Keefe 1+1, Callum Walker 1 National League points: Stoke 3 Plymouth 0
