STOKE lost their second meeting within the space of twenty-four hours losing out to the high flying Eastbourne Eagles 57-33 in the Travel Plus National League at Arlington on Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles dominated the meeting as the A.R. Richards Potters could only provide one race winner throughout the fifteen heats as former Eagle Ben Hopwood got the better of Jake Knight in heat four with Adam Ellis gaining a 15-point maximum and Georgie Wood also going unbeaten by an opponent to score a paid maximum for the Eagles.

Hopwood led the Potters scoring chart with 8 points with Tony Atkin scoring 7 points on a day when the Potters struggled around the tight Arlington circuit with little to cheer for the travelling Potters supporters as Eastbourne showed why they are the only team to have lowered the colours of league leaders Birmingham this season.

Potters team manager Malcolm Vasey commented “Eastbourne showed why they are unbeaten around their home track this season despite our best efforts. We were unlucky on a couple of occasions with Danny Ayres being excluded in his first ride but we have to admit that they were the better side on the afternoon and look forward to our next match and put this behind us. It was always going to be a difficult meeting here as they do have a massive home advantage around here and they are the only team to beat the league leaders Birmingham around here.”

EASTBOURNE 57: Adam Ellis 15, Georgie Wood 12+3, Ellis Perks 12+1, Luke Harris 9+1, Jake Knight 9, Connor Fletcher 0, Gary Cottham r/r.
STOKE 33: Ben Hopwood 8, Tony Atkin 7, Danny Ayres 5, Chris Hay 4+2, Shaun Tedham 4, Danny Phillips 3+2, Paul Burnett 2+2.