STOKE Easy Rider Potters went down to a 44-45 defeat against the Rye House Raiders in their first round second leg meeting at Loomer Road on Sunday afternoon with the Potters going through though 89-87 on aggregate.
The Potters went into the meeting three points ahead of the Raiders and extended their lead with a 3-2 in the opening heat with Chris Widman got the better of Tom Perry after skipper Jon Armstrong suffered a mechanical failure and Sam Woods had fallen.
The meeting then swayed in the Raiders favour with a 4-2 from Danyon Hume and Kyle Hughes and then a maximum 5-1 from the impressive Luke Chessell and Brendan Johnson leaving the Potters trailing 18-23 at the midway point of the meeting. Stoke hit back though as Shaun Tedham and Widman combined for a 5-1 before Danny Phillips and Ryan Terry-Daley gained a 4-2 in heat nine to put the Potters back in front.
Perry and Woods gained a 4-2 for the visitors in heat eleven before Stoke struck back in heat thirteen as Lee Payne and Armstrong gained a 4-2 to put the Potters in front again with two heats remaining.
The Raiders needed a 5-1 in the final heat and Chessell maintained his form to complete a 15 point maximum but home captain Armstrong held Perry at bay as the Potters took a two point aggregate victory despite losing on the day.
Potters top scorer Shaun Tedham said “We are obviously disappointed for the supporters and ourselves that we lost the meeting today, but the main thing is we have got the aggregate victory and are through to the next round. I’m really pleased with my performance today scoring paid 12 and hopefully that will continue. There is a good team spirit in the team this season they are a group of lads that just want to help each other out and do well for the club and the supporters. We were unlucky with Lee coming down twice when leading, but our heads didn’t drop as they did when I rode here back in 2013 we just knew we had to battle even harder. I took last year out of the National League and learned more about the bikes and set ups and feel more accomplished this season and I can make the necessary changes on the bike and this year there is the added bonus of having Jon Armstrong at number one as he can offer so much advice on set ups at different tracks also and I’m really just happy to be here winning races for Stoke. It’s a big task taking on Cradley in the next round but it is a challenge and one all the team are relishing.”
Stoke team manager Malcolm Vasey commented “I thought the meeting was an excellent advert for speedway but did not feel that it was us at our best by any means. Yes, we won on aggregate by 2 points but I feel we should have won by more, but we are through and I’ve talked to a lot of supporters today and they’ve said that if every match was like this one then the place will be packed it and they felt it was entertaining. We started slowly and didn’t make the impact we wanted to on the match and if we are to beat Cradley in the next round we will have to ride better than that if we are to make an impression on them, we know that and I know all our lads can ride better than today. We have a great team spirit and we are building in confidence and we want our supporters to be part of the team because the lads really value their support. We have a team of improvers we did okay today but we can and will do better.”
STOKE 44: Shaun Tedham 11+1, Danny Phillips 8+1, Jon Armstrong 7, Chris Widman 6+2, Ryan Terry-Daley 5+2, Lee Payne 5, Ryan MacDonald 2+1 RYE HOUSE 45: Luke Chessell 15, Tom Perry 11, Danyon Hume 6, Brendon Johnson 5+1, Kyle Hughes 5, Sam Woods 2, Alfie Bowtell 1+1 Stoke win on aggregate 89-87