STOKE Easy Rider Potters lost their one hundred per cent home record as they were thumped 33-57 by Premier League leaders King’s Lynn at Loomer Road on Saturday night.

 The Stars took the lead in heat one with a 4-2 from Darcy Ward and Linus Eklof over Jason Bunyan and Jesper Kristiansen, Bunyan managing to get passed Eklof to split the Stars pairing. 

King’s Lynn guest Chris Kerr was excluded from heat two after he lost control on the second turn causing Craig Branney to fall leaving referee Paul Carrington with no alternative but to stop the race. In the rerun Stars reserve Graversen took the lead for the second time having been in front of the original race when it was stopped and made no mistake as he completed a tapes to flag win over Tom P Madsen and Craig Branney.

 Ward and Eklof extended King’s Lynn’s lead to six points as they took maximum points over Mark Lemon and Branney to give the Stars a 12-18 lead after six heats.

 Jesper Kristiansen and Tom P Madsen reduced the Potters deficit to four points as they gained a 4-2 heat advantage over Linus Eklof and Jan Graversen but Stoke still trailed
22-26.

The Easy Rider Potters kept themselves in the meeting with two drawn heats as Topinka won heat nine with Lemon and Ksiezak taking the minor placings for a drawn heat and this was followed by Bunyan taking victory in heat ten as Stoke remained four points
adrift as the Stars led 28-32 after ten heats.

 King’s Lynn finished the meeting strongly and the Easy Rider Potters had no answer against the powerful Stars line up as King’s Lynn gained maximum points in the last five races despite both Jason Bunyan and Mark Lemon taking tactical rides which ended up with both riders finishing in third place in heats thirteen and fourteen respectively. 

Teenage sensation Darcy Ward collected a full maximum for the Stars while King’s Lynn skipper Tomas Topinka remained unbeaten by a Stoke riders to collect a paid maximum as King’s Lynn romped to a 33-57 victory over the Potters who provided only four of the fifteen race winners.

 Promoter Dave Tattum said “We were beaten by a better side on the night and they wanted it a lot more than we wanted it. “We made the gate a couple of times and they passed our riders and you can’t say the track was not right because it was right for King’s Lynn and they made it work. “We missed Lee tonight and he would have scored a few more points tonight as he’s been on fire of late but quite simply we were beaten by a better side, tonight’s performance can only be described as diabolical.”

 King's Lynn and Great Britain team manager Rob Lyon said "I feel Stoke would have run us a little closer had Lee Complin been riding being in the form as he has recently around here, but we've been putting in decent performances wherever we've been and although we've not won every meeting we've got something out of most meetings. "Stoke were on the back foot with tactical rides having to use them against Darcy and Tomas who were both exceptional for us tonight. "It's unusual for us to win here at Stoke it's been a bogey track for us in the past and I feel this is a very significant result for us, gaining all four points here tonight puts a bit of daylight between ourselves and Birmingham and both clubs have some very important away meetings coming up."

 Stoke 33: Jason Bunyan 9, Jesper Kristiansen 7+1, Robert Ksiezak 7+1, Mark Lemon 5, Tom P Madsen 4+1, Craig Branney 1+1, Klaus Jakobsen (Rider Replacement)