STOKE Easy Rider Potters confirmed their place in the end of season Young Shield play offs with a hard fought 44 all draw against the Newport Wasps at the Hayley Stadium yesterday afternoon.

 The Potters went in front early on with a 4-2 heat advantage from Klaus Jakobsen and Lee Complin over Chris Kerr to give Stoke an 8-10 lead after three heats.

 The Potters lead was short lived though as former Potter Paul Fry and Jonas Andersson gained maximum points in heat four over Kristiansen and Robert Ksiezak to put the Wasps in front for the first time of the afternoon as they gain a two point lead with the score 13-11 in favour of the home side.

The Wasps extended their lead as Chris Kerr managed to hold off Jason Bunyan to take victory and with Kerr’s partner Frampton taking third place Newport gained the 4-2 race win to extend the Wasps lead to four points after five races.

 In heat eight Newport’s James Holder fell and was excluded from the rerun. Jonas Andersson is then excluded for falling allowing Stoke’s Jesper Kristiansen and Tom P Madsen to take a 5-0 heat win and put the Potters back in front by a point with the score 23-24 in favour of the Potters.

 Team manager John Woolridge replaces out of sorts Robert Ksiezak in heat nine with in form reserve Jesper Kristiansen who takes his second ride on the bounce but the Dane runs out of steam as Jordan Frampton takes the chequered flag ahead of Craig Branney and Wasps Kerr to give Newport a 4-2 advantage and put the Wasps back in front by 27 points to 26 after nine races.

 Newport number one Leigh Lanham is excluded in heat ten after he takes a tumble and requires medical attention for a suspected broken arm as the Wasps number one leaves the track in an ambulance. After a long delay racing finally recommenced as Klaus Jakobsen chalked up his third win of the afternoon to head home James Holder and with Lee Complin third the Potters regain the lead with a 4-2 heat win. The Potters extend their lead in heat eleven as Tom P Madsen and Jason Bunyan take maximum points over Kyle Newman and Paul Fry to give Stoke a five point lead.

 Potters reserve Craig Branney falls in heat twelve and is excluded as the primary cause of the stoppage. In the rerun Jakobsen is leading when his bike splutters to a halt allowing the Wasps pairing of Kerr and Andersson to take an unopposed 5-0 to level the scores up at 35 points each with just three races remaining.

The Wasps re-take the lead with a 4-2 from Jonas Andersson and Paul Fry in heat thirteen as Potters number one Jason Bunyan is unable to find a way past Andersson to give Newport a slender two point lead. Newport extend their lead to four points as Frampton takes victory from Kristiansen with youngster Kyle Newman keeps Potters skipper Lee Complin as bay to take third place to give the Wasps a 43-39 lead going into the final race with the Potters requiring a maximum points from the final race to force a draw.

 In heat fifteen Klaus Jakobsen and Jason Bunyan took the chequered flag ahead of Jordan Frampton and Chris Kerr to gain maximum points and level the scores for a 44 all draw to complete a dramatic last heat and gain the Potters two points on their travels with the Wasps taking a point.

 Team manager John Woolridge said “We were unlucky not to come away with a win as Klaus suffered an engine failure while in front in heat twelve and Craig also had a fall in the same race while in a points scoring position but we managed to get something out of the meeting and the main thing is that we did not lose and that was important for us. “We’ve taken five points over the weekend and we would have liked more but it has taken us clear off Glasgow and has made sure we’re now in the end of season young shield play offs.”

 Newport 44: Jonas Andersson 11+1, Jordan Frampton 10, Chris Kerr 7, Paul Fry 5+1, Leigh Lanham 5, Kyle Newman 3+1, James Holder 3+1

 Stoke 44: Klaus Jakobsen 12, Jason Bunyan 10+2, Jesper Kristiansen 8, Tom P Madsen 6+2, Craig Branney 6+1, Lee Complin 2, Robert Ksiezak 0