STOKE Easy Rider Potters moved off the foot of the table with a comfortable 56-36 victory over the Kent Kings in the City Gearboxes National League at Loomer Road on Saturday night completing their first league double of the season.

Three Potters riders hit double figures with only Ben Morley and to a lesser extent Danny Ayres and James Shanes putting up any real resistance against a Potters side that was firing on all cylinders.

Reserves Paul Burnett and Shaun Tedham gained maximum points in heat two with Tedham and Danny Phillips combining in heat three with the Potters second 5-1 on the bounce over Jamie Couzins after Ryan Terry-Daley had been disqualified for touching the tapes and Kent’s Ayres had been disqualified for bringing down Phillips at the first attempt of the race. Stoke continued to pile on the pressure as skipper Jon Armstrong and Chris Widman added the Potters third 5-1 in six races as they defeated James Shanes and this was followed up with a further 5-1 in heat seven from Lee Payne and Burnett over Couzins after Danny Ayres had been disqualified for falling to give the Potters a 29-13 lead at the midway point of the meeting.

The Kings stemmed the tied with a couple of race winner in the next few races as Ayres and Shanes took the chequered flag before Stoke extended their lead further with Armstrong taking the flag ahead of Ayres with Widman third for a Potters 4-2.

Kent nominated skipper Ben Morley as a tactical ride in heat eleven, Payne then touched the tapes at the start resulting in him going off 15 metres. Morley was comfortably leading when Payne got into trouble and fell after passing Ben Basford resulting in the race being stopped. Payne was disqualified and since Basford had retired from the race the heat was awarded with Morley taking the 6 points with Burnett second for the Potters 2 points.

Stoke finished the meeting with three successive 4-2 heat advantages with Payne taking victory over Morley in two of the final three races for a solid Potters display.

Potters team manager Malcolm Vasey said “It was a comfortable win tonight, but it was a meeting we also had to win tonight. Kent had to make a couple of changes which obviously didn’t help them and it was our job to get a victory here. We’ve moved off the bottom this evening and that does give us all a feel good factor around the place and I’m really pleased about that and we will now be going for it for the remainder of the season. There are times this year when we’ve been desperately unlucky and we’ve said that all along, we’ve proved over the last few weeks what we are capable of, even the draw against Eastbourne last week was a good result so let’s go for it.”

STOKE 56: Lee Payne 12, Paul Burnett 10+1, Jon Armstrong 10, Shaun Tedham 7+3, Danny Phillips 7+1, Chris Widman 6+2, Ryan Terry-Daley 4+2.
KENT 36: Ben Morley 16, Danny Ayres 8, James Shanes 6, Jamie Couzins 4, Ben Basford 2+1, Rob Watts 0, Aaron Baseby r/r.