STOKE A.R. Richards Potters gained a 48-41 victory over the Rye House Raiders in the Travel Plus National League at Loomer Road to gain their first league win of the season.

The Potters raced to a 15-8 lead after four heats, started by Paul Burnett taking victory over Macaulay Leek after Potters youngster David Morgan retired with an engine problem and Connor Locke had been excluded after falling for a 3-2 which was followed by a 4-2 from Tony Atkin and Danny Phillips over Luke Priest and then Ben Wilson and Paul Burnett over Macauley Leek after Rob Branford had been excluded for going onto the centre green prior to the race.

Priest and Leek gained a 4-2 for the Raiders in heat seven over Wilson, but the Potters hit-back with a 5-1 from Shaun Tedham over Lee in heat eight and this was followed up with a 4-2 from Phillips and Atkin over Branford in the next race to give the Potters 32-21 lead after nine heats.

Branford and Morley combined for a 4-2 over Wilson and Ben Hopwood, but again Stoke struck back immediately with a 4-2 from Phillips and Burnett over Priest, Phillips and Priest swapping the lead several times before Phillips made the outside swoop to take victory.

Branford and Morley combined for a consolation 5-1 in heat fifteen over Phillips as the Potters took all 3 points on offer to extend their unbeaten run to three matches.

Potters rider Danny Phillips said “we didn’t have the strongest of teams at the start of the season and we never all fired at the same time, we now have a good top five that are all gaining in confidence and are doing the business and scoring points which is now putting together a few wins. We asked for a bit more grip tonight and it did have a little bit, but due to the weather being warm the track got a little dry and became a little choppy and as long as you attacked the track it was fine which is what we did. I wasn’t making gates at the start of the meeting, but I came in and changed a few things and finished the meeting with a couple of race wins. Getting three wins on the bounce has given the whole team a huge boost and we are looking to continue that form into our next meeting.”

Potters boss Malcolm Vasey commented “I think we can build on these three victories, but it’s a little frustrating for us now as we have just run into some form, but now have a two week break before our next meeting against the Isle of Wight. It was a funny sort of meeting tonight as Rye House had three excellent riders and then a number of riders who are not used to this track because they’ve not been here before and that obviously gave us a slight advantage where they were concerned and I always felt we had the upper hand and would take the three points available to us and prevent them from taking anything back to Hoddesdon with them.”

STOKE 48: Paul Burnett 9+3, Danny Phillips 9+1, Ben Wilson 9, Tony Atkin 8, Shaun Tedham 6+3, Ben Hopwood 6, David Morgan 1+1.
RYE HOUSE 41: Ben Morley 13, Luke Priest 13, Robert Branford 10+1, Macauley Leek 5, Kenny Bowdery 0, Connor Locke 0, George Hunter r/r.