STOKE gained an emphatic 54-35 victory over the Buxton Hitmen in their National League KO Cup first leg clash taking a nineteen-point lead into the second leg at Loomer Road in June.
Three of the Potters gained double figure scores with David Wallinger gaining a paid maximum at his former home track.
The A.R. Richards Potters received news that Hitmen new signing Ellis Perks was ill and that the home side would have to use youngster William O’Keefe ill replace the Hitmen heat-leader since he’d not ridden in a fixture for the club and the Potters showed no mercy as they quickly opened up a 17-7 lead after four heats.
Buxton registered their first heat winner and heat advantage in heat five after Mitchell Davey fell while in second place challenging Tom Woolley allowing Woolley and Lee Dicken to take a 5-1 over Shaun Tedham and this was quickly followed up with a 4-2 to the Derbyshire outfit from Matt Williamson and Shelby Rutherford over David Speight who managed to split the home pairing after Luke Priest had be excluded.
The Potters then gained to mid-meeting 5-1 advantages from Ryan Terry-Daley and skipper Tony Atkin and then Wallinger and Tedham to give the Potters an 18-30 lead and a further 3-2 advantage in heat nine saw Priest defeat Woolley after Speight had been excluded for falling and then home rider Lee Dicken was excluded after colliding with his partner Woolley while the Hitmen were on for a 5-1.
Davey stormed to victory in heat eleven from Lee Geary who held off Tedham for a further Potters 4-2 and Stoke gained the final heat advantage of the afternoon with maximum points in heat fourteen as Wallinger completed his paid maximum with Atkin following him home.
Luke Priest said “It was a good victory here this afternoon especially after last week against Belle Vue when we feel we should have won, but we took heart from that and came out with a lot of confidence from it and I think that showed today. Everyone had some good races and we have come out with a big win which is good for us in the second leg in June. The reserves scored well today and that helps everyone out when you have reserves scoring well and they are just as important as the top five because if they score well the team will normally be doing well. Mitchell (Davey) had a few unlucky races and I felt I was harshly excluded so the win might have been by more.”
NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP 1st leg BUXTON 35: Matt Williamson 14, Tom Woolley 8, Lee Geary 6, Shelby Rutherford 3+1, Lee Dicken 3+1, William O'Keefe 1, Carl Basford 0. STOKE 54: Tony Atkin 11+2, David Wallinger 11+1, Luke Priest 10, Ryan Terry-Daley 7+3, Shaun Tedham 7+1, Mitchell Davey 4+1, David Speight 4+1.
