Stoke 51 Newcastle 38

 STOKE Easy Rider Potters moved into second place in the Premier League after they gained a 51-38 victory over the Newcastle Sapphire Engineering Diamonds at Loomer Road last night.

 The Potters did not get off to the best of starts with Jason Bunyan pulling up in the first heat with engine problems, but at the front of the race Diamonds guest Jason Lyons makes a mistake on the third and fourth turns of lap one allowing Tom P Madsen through to take the lead but on the last lap Madsen locks up in front of Craig Branney leaving Branney no where to go causing both riders to fall. Referee Jim Lawrence awards the race with Branney gaining the victory from Lyons and excludes Madsen as the primary cause of the stoppage giving Newcastle a 5-0 heat advantage.

Stoke’s Tom P Madsen is withdrawn from the meeting with chest injuries while Newcastle’s Craig Branney is withdrawn from the meeting with an ankle injury.

 Stoke strike back with a 5-1 Jesper Kristiansen making a good start with Mark Burrows driving around the outside of lone Diamond Casper Wortman to follow his partner home for maximum points leaving Newcastle in front by a single point with the scores at 5-6.

 The Diamonds reply with a 4-2 advantage in heat three as Derek Sneddon and former Potter Trent Leverington make the start but Potters skipper Lee Complin hunts Leverington down for two laps before managing to pass Leverington to split the Diamonds pairing, the Diamonds lead by three points.

 Newcastle extend their lead to five points in heat five as Lyons takes a comfortable victory but Complin manages to squeeze past the lively Sneddon to once again do a damage limitation job for the Potters.

 Newcastle’s Jason Kings fails to beat the two minutes time allowance in heat six and has to start fifteen metres back from the starting gate and despite his best efforts in catching the Potters pairing of Bunyan and Burrows he is unable to catch them as Stoke cut the deficit to just a single point as they gain an important 5-1 heat win leaving the scores at 17-18. 

The Easy Rider Potters take the lead for the first time in heat nine as Klaus Jakobsen finally gets points on the board with a comfortable victory but his partner Complin has to fight hard to gain secondly place. The Potters skipper made the start but was then passed by Jason King but Complin returned the compliment as he drove right around the outside of King to take second place and give Stoke a valuable 5-1 to put them three points up. Stoke extended their lead in heat ten in what was an epic battle between Derek Sneddon and Jason Bunyan. Sneddon made a superb start and managed to hold Bunyan off for three laps before Bunyan’s persistence paid off as he forced his way through to take the win. The battle for third place was just as intense but Kristiansen managed to hold Leverington at bay and Stoke gained a 4-2 heat win. 

The Diamonds replied immediately as Leverington and Lyons make the start and the Potters pairing of Phil Morris and Kristiansen have no answer the Newcastle are back in the meeting and trail the Potters by a single point with the scores 33-32 with just four heats remaining.

 Stoke finished emphatically though as they hit the Diamonds for two successive 4-2 heat advantages firstly from Klaus Jakobsen and Burrows over Sneddon and then Bunyan and Morris over Lyons with Diamonds guest Lyons managing to squeeze past Morris to split the Potters pairing and maintain the Diamonds challenge for at least a point as they trail 41-36.

 The Potters finished the job in style as they took the shine off the Diamonds to finish with two maximum heat advantages as Complin and Kristiansen and then Bunyan and Complin finish the Diamonds off and hand the Potters all three points.

 Jesper Kristiansen said “I’m delighted that we have gained all three points in what had become a very difficult meeting early on as Newcastle pushed us hard. “We finished strongly though and managed to pull away and get across the finish line. “I’m pleased with my own performance as I’m still suffering a little after the fall at Birmingham the other week but I’m battling through and I’m really enjoying things here at Stoke.”

 Promoter Dave Tattum said “It was a solid performance from the lads and showed the strength in depth we have in the team. “It was disappointing to lose Tom in the first heat and we will check to see how is, but the lads showed a lot of character to come through in the end.”

 Stoke 51: Jesper Kristiansen 12+2, Jason Bunyan 12, Lee Complin 11, Mark Burrows 6+3, Klaus Jakobsen 6, Phil Morris 4, Tom P Madsen 0

 Newcastle 38: Jason Lyons 10+2, Derek Sneddon 10, Jason King 8, Trent Leverington 6+1, Craig Branney 3, Casper Wortman 1, Kenni Larsen Rider Replacement