STOKE A.R. Richards Potters were comprehensively beaten 53-36 defeat against the Isle of Wight Warriors in the Travel Plus National League at the Smallbrook Stadium on Thursday night.

The Potters who are still looking for their first win of the season got off to the worst possible start as they suffered two 5-1 reverses in the opening two heats with Ben Wilson suffering an engine problem while leading heat one resulting in home pairing Benji Compton and Kelsey Dugard taking the chequered flag ahead of Shaun Tedham. Danny Phillips touched the tapes in heat three leaving him to go off 15 metres, in the restart Potters skipper Tony Atkin led the way until he suffered an engine failure resulting in Lee Smart taking the flag ahead of Phillips after Warriors rider Mark Baseby also suffered an engine problem giving the Warriors a 3-2 heat advantage. A further 4-2 heat win for the Warriors as James Cockle took victory from Chris Widman with Tyler Govier taking third left the Potters trailing 17-6 after the opening four races.

The Potters luck got no better as Wilson suffered his second engine failure while leading the race in heat five as the Warriors extended their lead with another maximum heat advantage. Phillips touches the tapes for a second time in heat seven resulting in going off 15 metres for a second time, in the restart Atkin takes the lead and wins the heat, and Phillips comes off the handicap to overhaul both Matt Saul and James Cockle to gain the Potters first heat advantage of the night with a 5-1 leaving the Potters trailing 28-13 after seven heats.

The Warriors extended their lead in the next couple of heats with a 4-2 in heat eight and then a maximum heat win in nine as Widman fell while challenging Baseby for second place, Atkin and Phillips gained a drawn heat in the next race as the Potters trail 40-19 and the points being sealed with five heats to go for the Warriors.

The Potters gained a 5-1 in heat eleven as Wilson put his engine woes behind him to take victory with partner Shaun Tedham taking second place after Cockle had fallen while challenging Wilson. A further 4-2 heat win in heat thirteen as Wilson gained his second win on the night with Widman taking third behind Cockle. The Warriors gained a 4-2 in the penultimate heat as Phillips did everything in his attempt to pass Baseby with Saul taking third. Phillips took a heavy fall at the start of the final heat before dusting himself down, as Baseby took the flag ahead of Atkin with Phillips third for a drawn heat giving the Warriors a comfortable victory on the night.

Potters boss Malcolm Vasey commented “I was very disappointed to get nothing from the meeting tonight, but we cannot keep giving teams a head start as we are continually doing. I got the team together after the opening four heats and told them that the performance was unacceptable and things needed to change and they did turn it around in the second half of the meeting, but it was too late in order to gain anything from the meeting. Ben (Wilson) suffered mechanical problems in his opening two races while leading and borrowed one of the other lads’ bikes and promptly won his final two races, Tony (Atkin) had his throttle come away in his hand while leading his opening ride and Danny (Phillips) touched the tapes twice although he did redeem himself coming back from a 15 metre handicap to finish second behind his partner. On the whole though this was a very disappointing result for us.”

ISLE OF WIGHT 53: Mark Baseby 11+1, Lee Smart 10+1, Benji Compton 9, Kelsey Dugard 7+2, Tyler Govier 6+1, James Cockle 6, Matt Saul 4+1
STOKE 36: Tony Atkin 10, Danny Phillips 8+3, Shaun Tedham 6+1, Ben Wilson 6, Chris Widman 4, Joe Lawlor 2, Ryan MacDonald 0
National League points: Isle of Wight 3 Stoke 0