STOKE Easy Rider Potters fought out a thrilling 45-45 draw against the high flying Eastbourne Eagles in the City Gearboxes National League at Loomer Road on Saturday night.

The Potters took the lead in heat two with a 4-2 from Paul Burnett and Shaun Tedham over Georgie Wood, but the Eagles hit back immediately with a 4-2 in heat three to level the scores with former Potter Ben Hopwood taking the flag ahead of Danny Phillips with Wood third after Ryan Terry-Daley had been disqualified for falling.

The Potters got their noses in front in heat six as skipper Jon Armstrong stormed to victory with partner Chris Widman for a maximum 5-1 heat win over Marc Owen to give the home side a 20-16 lead and this was extended in the next race as Lee Payne got the better of Hopwood with Burnett holding off Gary Cottham for a Stoke 4-2 to give the Potters a 24-18 lead at the halfway point of the meeting.

Eastbourne struck back in heat eight as Wood took victory from Widman with Matthew Bates finishing third for a Eagles 4-2 to reduce the Potters lead to four points.

Stoke extended their lead back to six points as Payne and Burnett combined for a 4-2 heat advantage over Bradley Wilson-Dean in heat eleven to give a Potters a 36-30 advantage with just four races to go.

The Eagles then showed why they are pushing for a top four place as they gained a maximum 5-1 in heat twelve from Hopwood and impressive reserve Wood over Terry-Daley and a further 4-2 in heat thirteen from Wilson-Dean and Owen over Armstrong to level the scores at 39 all.

The Potters again edged in front with a 4-2 from Phillips and Burnett over Hopwood to give Stoke a 43-41 lead going into the final race.

Armstrong made the start and just edged ahead of Wilson-Dean before disaster struck the home skipper with a puff a blue smoke signalling his engine had completely blown send the Potters hopes of victory up in smoke as the Eagles number one powered home to take the chequered flag ahead of Payne with Hopwood falling and then remounting to take for single point for the Eagles and complete a 45-45 draw.

Potters team manager Malcolm Vasey commented “It was a very entertaining meeting and I have to congratulate Eastbourne for a fine team performance, although I do feel we were unlucky not to win. We had chances to win and lost points when we shouldn’t have done and unfortunately it finished a draw and I take my hat off to young Georgie Wood of Eastbourne who was tremendous tonight. We had some good performances also with good rides from Lee (Payne) and Jon (Armstrong) and then unfortunately Jon blows his engine in the final race and the supreme irony was one of their riders Ben (Hopwood) falls and is able to get up as there are only three riders in the race to steal the point and gain a couple of points for the Eagles, but it was great entertainment and nobody could argue with that tonight.”

STOKE 45: Lee Payne 11, Jon Armstrong 9+1, Danny Phillips 8+1, Chris Widman 6+1, Paul Burnett 6, Ryan Terry-Daley 4+1, Shaun Tedham 1.
EASTBOURNE 45: Bradley Wilson-Dean 14, Ben Hopwood 13, Georgie Wood 12+2, Marc Owen 3+1, Gary Cottham 2, Matt Bates 1, Richard Andrews r/r.