STOKE Easy Rider Potters went down to a 51-39 defeat against Scunthorpe at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night. 

The Potters were up against it after heat four as they lost Claus Vissing after a fall which resulted in the Dane being taken to hospital with an ankle injury before Hynek Stichauer followed him after a nasty heat fifteen fall.

 The Easy Rider Potters took the lead in heat one as Ricky Wells made a superb start to lead from tapes to the chequered flag heading home Tero Aarnio and Potters number one Lubos Tomicek to give the Potters a 4-2 heat advantage.

 Scunthorpe took the lead with two maximum heat advantages the first coming in heat four after Claus Vissing had been excluded for falling Jerran Hart and Carl Wilkinson taking the win over Lee Smart while David Howe and Viktor Bergstrom doubled the dose over Wells and Tomicek to give Scunthorpe an 18-12 lead after five heats.

 Stoke reduced the deficit to four points as Hynek Stichauer took victory in heat seven as he drives round the fence to go past Hart with Taylor Poole benefiting from Wilkinson’s engine failure to give the Potters a 4-2 heat advantage as the Potters trail by four points at the halfway stage of the meeting.

 The Scorpions returned the compliment in heat nine as David Howe took a comfortable victory with Stoke’s Smart in second but Jan Graversen was overhauled by Viktor Bergstrom to gain a 4-2 heat win and extend Scunthorpe’s lead to six points as the Scorpions lead 30-24.

 Heat ten was stopped after Taylor Poole lifted coming out of bend two Poole managed to get off the bike which has then gone over the safety fence the bike hitting a couple of spectators who were taken to hospital for medical attention.  The race was awarded by referee Barbara Horley with Stichauer being given victory from Aarnio and Karlsson for a drawn heat with Poole being excluded.

After a lengthy delay permission was granted by the BSPA management committee representative to continue the meeting.

 The Potters continued to battle away and reduced the deficit to four points as Hynek Stichauer took victory in heat twelve from Bergstrom with Jan Graversen keeping Hart at bay but it was the Scorpions that still held the advantage as the continue to lead as the Potters trail 38-34 with three races remaining.

 Scunthorpe extended their lead in heat thirteen as Wilkinson and Karlsson gained maximum points over Tomicek and Smart to open up an eight point lead.

 The Scorpions rounded the meeting off with maximum points in heat fifteen after Howe and Wilkinson made an electric start Stichauer drove around the outside off the final bend but unfortunately came to grief hitting the deck extremely hard and meaning a trip to hospital for the Czech Republic rider. 

Potters team manager Malcolm Vasey said “We’ve had some bad luck tonight and it’s increasingly likely that both Claus and Hynek will not be riding tomorrow night. We will now have to look at our options and Dave Tattum and I will be burning the midnight oil tonight in order to put a team together for tomorrow night’s fixture against Scunthorpe at Loomer Road. I’m off to the hospital now and we will give an update on Claus and Hynek as and when we have some more information. Our thoughts also go to the two supporters who were taken to hospital after Taylor’s bike went over the safety fence and we wish them both a speedy recovery from all Stoke Speedway.”

 Scunthorpe 51: David Howe 14+1, Carl Wilkinson 11+1, Tero Aarnio 7, Jerran Hart 7, Magnus Karlsson 6+1, Viktor Bergstrom 5+1, Steve Worrall 1+1

 Stoke 39: Hynek Stichauer 11, Ricky Wells 9, Lee Smart 7+2, Jan Graversen 7+1, Lubos Tomicek 3+1, Taylor Poole 2+1, Claus Vissing 0