STOKE Easy Rider Potters gained a 58-37 victory over the Isle of Wight Islanders to take all three points in the National League at Loomer Road on Saturday night.

On a track which was made difficult by a downpour around 5pm the Potters adapted well to open up a 19-5 lead in the opening four heats.

The Islanders gained their first heat advantage of the night when Kyle Hughes took victory from Tony Atkin with Ben Hopwood got the better of Ross Walter. The Potters struck back straight away as Ashley Birks and Ben Reade continued their impressive form with maximum points over Paul Starke leaving the Potters leading 26-10 after six heats.

Both Stoke riders were disqualified in heat seven after firstly Jaimie Pickard fell and then in the rerun Liam Carr crashed out leaving tactical ride Danny Warwick and Aaron Baseby to take a huge 8-0 heat advantage as the Islanders reduced the Potters lead to eight points at the halfway stage of the meeting.

The Potters were then relentless in the next three heats as they piled on the pressure with three successive maximum 5-1 heat advantages to lead 41-21 after ten heats.

Kyle Hughes was introduced as a tactical ride by Islanders team manager Chris Hunt in heat eleven and he and partner Hopwood gained an 8-1 heat advantage over Carr and Pickard.

Stoke gained a 5-1 in heat twelve courtesy of Atkin and Reade over Warwick and then the Potters completed the victory as Birks and Reade completed their maximums with a 5-1 in the final heat over Hughes to give the Potters a 58-37 victory.

Easy Rider Potters team manager Malcolm Vasey said "It was a man's track tonight and a victory for common sense in the end after a few riders who did not relish the prospect of riding tonight, but our riders got stuck in there like men and we gained a good result against a very good Isle of Wight team. Ben (Reade) and Ashley (Birks) are in phenomenal form at the moment and they are terrific lads and I'm glad that they are with us. We had the misfortune of losing Richie Worrall could you imagine if he had been here tonight I'm sure we could have possibly hit sixty points here tonight. Ross Walter will have gained some confidence tonight with two paid wins and I'm really pleased with Liam Carr as when some senior riders were kicking the track and looking around he followed home Ben Reade in heat two. The is sixteen years old this is only his third ever league match his third visit to Stoke and he showed other people it's sometimes best to be quiet and get on with the job in hand. It was a great all round display by us tonight and we should not forget our skipper Tony Atkin who again scored double figures and went about his job professionally as always."

STOKE 58: Ben Reade 17+4, Ashley Birks 14+1, Tony Atkin 13+1, Ross Walter 6+3, Liam Carr 5+1, Jaimie Pickard 3, Richie Worrall R/R.
ISLE OF WIGHT 37: Kyle Hughes 11+1, Aaron Baseby 8+1, Danny Warwick 7, Ben Hopwood 5+1, Paul Starke 4, Danny Stoneman 1, Gary Cottham 1.