Stoke Easy Rider Potters went down to their second defeat in twenty four hours as they went down to a 54-42 defeat against the Berwick Bandits at Shielfield Park last night.

 The Potters trailed 12-6 after the opening three heats before they managed a drawn heat in heat four. Robert Ksiezak made a good start but was passed by Stanislaw Burza who took victory from Ksiezak with Jesper Kristiansen third.  

The Bandits extended their lead in heat five with a 4-2 from former Potter Paul Clews gaining victory over Jason Bunyan to give the Bandits a 19-11 lead.

A series of drawn heats saw the Potters remain eight points down before Berwick gained
a maximum 5-1 heat advantage from Trent Leverington and Guglielmo Franchetti over Madsen and Kristiansen to give the Bandits a comfortable 30-18 lead.

Michal Makovsky and Trent Leverington continued to add to the Potters woes as they gained maximum points in heat ten over Lee Complin and Klaus Jakobsen to give the Bandits a sixteen point lead over the Potters.

 Team manager John Woolridge introduced Jason Bunyan as a tactical ride in heat eleven and he promptly took victory over Stanislaw Burza and with Craig Branney third the Potters gained a 7-2 heat advantage to leave the score at 40-29 in favour of Berwick after eleven heats.

Craig Branney touched the tapes in heat twelve resulting in him having to go back fifteen metres but home skipper Paul Clews and Franchetti gained a 5-1 over Kristiansen and Branney to extend Berwick’s lead back up to fifteen points.

 Jason Bunyan won heat thirteen but with partner Ksiezak at the back it resulted in a drawn race but Bunyan’s winning time was just three tenths outside the Shielfield Park track record.

 Easy Rider Potters skipper Lee Complin took Stoke’s second tactical ride and won heat fourteen but with Jesper Kristiansen tailed off in last place the Potters had to settle for a 6-3 heat advantage, and with a drawn three all in heat fifteen the Potters had lost out to a Bandits side who secured their first win in four meetings as they gained a 54-42 victory.

 Potters boss John Woolridge said “I’m disappointed we have not come away with anything from tonight as I felt we could have sneaked something out of this meeting. “Jason and Lee fought hard and scored some big points for us but we lacked the necessary back up that was needed which is disappointing for us.” 

Berwick 54: Michal Makovsky 17, Paul Clews 11+1, Stanislaw Burza 11+1, Guglielmo Franchetti 8+3, Trent Leverington 5+1, Tamas Sike 2+1, Josef Franc (Rider Replacement)

 Stoke 42: Jason Bunyan 14+1, Lee Complin 13, Craig Branney 6+1, Robert Ksiezak 5+1, Jesper Kristiansen 3+1, Tom P Madsen 1, Klaus Jakobsen 0