STOKE Easy Rider Potters gained three National League points with a 48-42 victory over the King’s Lynn Young Stars at the Norfolk Arena on Wednesday night.

The Potters went behind early on suffering three successive 4-2 heat advantages against them to leave them trailing 12-6 before skipper Tony Atkin and reserve Lee Geary gained a maximum 5-1 heat advantage in heat four to bring the Potters back into the meeting as they trailed by just two points the Young Stars leading 13-11.

King’s Lynn’s two point advantage was maintained in the next four heats as they packed the minor placing with Stoke riders taking victories in them. James Cockle was disqualified in heat seven after he lifted causing him to collide with Young Stars reserve Lewis Rose who crashed heavily and was withdrawn from the rest of the meeting by the medical team at the Norfolk Arena. It was the Young Stars that eventually opened up a four point lead to break the series of drawn heats with a 4-2 from Jake Knight and Scott Campos over Atkin and Liam Rumsey which left the Potters trailing 29-25 after nine races.

The Potters pulled level after ten heats as Ben Reade and James Cockle combined with a 5-1 over Tom Stokes and Darren Mallett and they followed this heat win up with a second one this time Ashley Birks and Lee Geary combining for a 4-2 heat advantage over Lewis Kerr and Andy Mountain to give the Potters a 34-32 lead after eleven heats.

Stoke sealed the points in heat fourteen as Reade and Geary combined for a 5-1 over Campos to secure victory for the Potters with one heat to spare. Ashley Birks took victory in the final heat as the Potters leave the Norfolk Arena with a 48-42 victory over the Young Stars.

Easy Rider Potters team manager Malcolm Vasey commented “Although many will see this match as academic it wasn’t as far as I or the team were concerned because we all felt it was important to gain a little bit of momentum with the play off meetings with Dudley next week coming up and this will certainly give us some confidence going into those meetings against the Heathens next week. It was important to get back to winning ways after three successive defeats as we did not want losing to become a habit and I’m delighted with the way the team went about it’s job tonight. Everyone got amongst the points and I have to give a special mention to our reserves who did extremely well on a track they are not familiar with and both Lee ((Geary) and Liam (Rumsey) gained points by making some good passes. King’s Lynn were unlucky losing Lewis Rose but then again we had Liam Carr missing for the meeting also.”

KING’S LYNN 42: Jake Knight 12+1, Lewis Kerr 8, Darren Mallett 6+1, Tom Stokes 5+1, Andy Mountain 4+2, Scott Campos 4+1, Lewis Rose 3.
STOKE 48: Ashley Birks 14, James Cockle 10, Ben Reade 8+1, Tony Atkin 8, Lee Geary 5+2, Liam Rumsey 3+1, Liam Carr R/R.