STOKE produced their best performance of the season as they defeated the Mildenhall Fen Tigers 51-38 in the National League at a sunny Loomer Road on Saturday night.
The A.R. Richards Potters opened up an early 17-7 lead with maximum heats wins from Shelby Rutherford and Corban Pavitt and then Connor Coles and a revitalised Rutherford again in heat four.
The Fen Tigers then clawed their way back into the meeting with a couple of 4-2 heat advantages from Clegg and Marson who had been brought in as a tactical substitute in heat six with Clegg just holding off a late run from home skipper Tom Perry and then Jason Edwards and Henry Atkins over Connor Coles. A further 3-2 deficit in heat eight after Joe Alcock had made the start but fell on the second turn and then Elliott Kelly falling on the following lap with the referee awarding the heat as the Tigers came to within 5 points of the Potters with Stoke leading 26-21.
Joe Lawlor and Luke Priest gained a 4-2 in heat nine to put Stoke’s lead back up to seven points, but the lead was again clawed back as Clegg took his fourth win of the night with Elliott Kelly taking third as Coles split the Tigers pairing reducing the Potters lead to five points.
The Potters then sealed their first win of the season as they gained back to back maximum heat wins first up was Lawlor and Rutherford over Atkins and then Perry and Coles gated over Clegg with the Tigers skipper for the night unable to find away past the home pairing despite his best efforts much to the delight of the Potters supporters who roared the home pairing to victory.
Potters reserve Shelby Rutherford commented “All the boy rode well tonight and worked well as a team, a couple of boys deserved more for their efforts such as Joe Alcock got stuck in and unfortunately fell while in scoring positions and deserved more. Riding at number two in the team is one of the hardest positions to ride at and he’ll be fine. We’ve suffered a little with the lack of meetings while other clubs have had more meetings than ourselves’ and some of us are coming back off injuries from the start of the season and tonight, we showed we can actually do it. It is always good as we got off to a good start and that helped us tremendously and gives everyone a boost. Mildenhall came back at us and we kept our heads and got a couple of 5-1’s to seal the win. Today has been a real good day for me, my parents have come over from Australia and we’ve worked on my bikes and for me I’ve changed my thinking mentally and that’s really helped me and made me more confident on the bike and I have tonight rode as I know I can. Dropping to reserve has taken a lot of pressure off me it’s not the easiest place in the team to ride and I’m really happy now.”
STOKE 51: Joe Lawlor 12+1, Tom Perry 12, Shelby Rutherford 10+3, Connor Coles 9+1, Luke Priest 5+1, Corban Pavitt 2+1, Joe Alcock 1+1 Mildenhall 38: Max Clegg 16, Jason Edwards 9+1, Matt Marson 7, Henry Atkins 4, Arran Butcher 1 Elliott Kelly 1, Charlie Brooks r/r.
