STOKE A.R. Richards Potters hopes of getting something out their National League fixture at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena went out of the window with mechanical gremlins and a fall and tapes exclusion in their 50-40 defeat against the Leicester Lions Cubs on Sunday afternoon.

In difficult conditions early on after rain for the previous few hours had drenched the circuit Stoke took an early lead after home number one Ellis Perks crashed out of the meeting with a shoulder injury while leading giving Potters sensational guest Anders Rowe victory from Ryan MacDonald and partner Shelby Rutherford for a 4-2 opening heat advantage, but the Cubs hit back as the Thompson twins Dan and Joe took a maximum 5-1 advantage over Corban Pavitt and this was followed up with a 4-2 from Jordan Palin and MacDonald after Joe Lawlor had touched the tapes, Lawlor went off 15 metres and took third place before a mechanical failure dumps him onto the track. Connor Coles took victory from home skipper Danyon Hume in heat four for a drawn race leaving the Potters trailing 14-10.

The Potters reduced the lead to just 2-points with a 4-2 from Coles over Jordan Palin with Pavitt taking third place, but the meeting was effectively won with two mid-meeting 5-1 advantages for the Cubs in heats seven and eight followed by a 4-2 to leave the visitors trailing 33-21 and with a mountain to climb to gain anything out of the match.

Team manager Adam Isherwood introduced Anders Rowe as a tactical substitute in heat ten and he duly took victory in the first of three duals he had with Hume gaining victory in each with Lawlor taking third place. Stoke edged to within 8-points with two races remaining with a 4-2 from Rowe over Hume for a second time with Coles third, the cubs immediately replied with a 4-2 of their own leaving Stoke needing to gain a 5-1 in the final race, Rowe once again got the better of Hume, but Coles had to take his goggles off in order to see as he got filled in off the start line and he trailed in last.

Speaking after the meeting Connor Coles commented “I struggled a bit after the first few races and then in the last I couldn’t see anything and had to take my goggles off try and catch up and it was tough. It wasn’t the best of meetings and in my opinion, it should have been called off, but we have to ride when the referee decides the meeting is on and we did. When you have the experience of Ellis Perks crashing in the first race and withdrew from the meeting it showed conditions were far from right.”

LEICESTER 50: Danyon Hume 16, Jordan Palin 15+1, Dan Thompson 7+2, Joe Thompson 7+2, Ryan MacDonald 5+1, Ellis Perks 0, Luke Ruddick r/r.
STOKE 40: Anders Rowe 17, Connor Coles 9, Joe Lawlor 4, Luke Priest 4, Corban Pavitt 3+1, Shelby Rutherford 2+1, Joe Alcock 1.