STOKE head to local rivals Buxton on Sunday afternoon, 3pm, in the National Trophy hoping it’s third time lucky after suffering postponements to their previous two meetings due to the inclement weather.
The A.R. Richards Potters have had a good record around the Hi=Edge Raceway in recent seasons’ and last season beat the Derbyshire outfit home and away, but with a virtually new team for the Potters and the Hitmen the Potters will be taking nothing for granted as they look to get back to winning ways following the defeat against Coventry in the wet last week. The Potters name the same side that were beaten by the Bees’ and it sees’ the return to Hi-Edge for Potters number 1 Max Clegg who spent some of the season there last year and Paul Burnett who has spent several seasons with the Hitmen in the past and not forgetting Stoke skipper Tony Atkin so the team has plenty of experience around the Buxton circuit.
The Hitmen have totally revamped their team this year with only skipper Tom Woolley returning from last season for the Derbyshire outfit. Woolley got the nod from new and youngest ever permanent team manager Joshua Moss as captain for a second season and he will be well supported by new Hitmen number 1 and former Stoke rider Ben Wilson who joined the club from the Isle of Wight as did other heat-leader Connor Coles and both are more than capable of scoring double figures. Another newcomer for the Hitmen is also not a stranger to the Potters supporters as last seasons’ joint rider of the year for Stoke David Wallinger takes his place in the new look side with Corban Pavitt completing the top five for the Hitmen. Lewis Whitmore is a reserve that is more than capable of scoring a few points for Buxton at reserve while Kieran Douglas completes the Hitmen side as he looks to make a mark in the National League for his new club.
Potters boss Malcolm Vasey commented “Both teams look pretty even and appear to have a bit of a long tail end and it is going to be interesting to see who wins out in the battle of the reserves because it really could well be decided on who takes the points on the day. William O’Keefe has taken delivery of another bike after he suffered mechanical problems against Coventry last week and I’m hoping that will help him get amongst the points on Sunday. We have a few ex- Buxton riders in our team in Tony Atkin, Max Clegg, Adam Extance and Paul Burnett and they go around the Buxton track well and we will be looking to get a result against Buxton. They have assembled a practically new team and riders that do go well around Hi-Edge in our former rider Ben Wilson and David Wallinger who I do have a lot of respect for and he will be one rider to watch and Connor Coles who on his day is a very good rider also, so I am expecting a close meeting between us on Sunday and we are ready for a real battle against the Hitmen.”
BUXTON: Ben Wilson, Corban Pavitt, Tom Woolley (Captain), David Wallinger, Connor Coles, Kieran Douglas, Lewis Whitmore STOKE: Max Clegg, Paul Burnett, Tony Atkin (Captain), Adam Extance, Rob Shuttleworth, Joe Alcock, William O’Keefe
