STOKE were confined to the history books as they ended the current era of racing with a 59-31 defeat at the hands of the Leicester Lions Cubs in the National League KO Cup semi-final 2nd leg at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena on Saturday night giving the Lions Cubs a 113-67 aggregate victory.

The Lion Cubs have not lost at home this season and had just dispatched Cradley 64-26 to make it to the National League play-off final and booked their place in the KO Cup final by defeating the Potters.

The Cubs open up an early 16-8 lead before Stoke skipper Tom Perry took the Potters first race victory of the night getting the better of Dan and Joe Thompson before the home side struck with a 4-2 in heat 6 from Ellis Perks and Ryan Terry-Daley as Connor Coles managed to split the Cubs pairing and then a 5-1 in heat 8 to lead 31-17 after eight heats.

Coles became the final Stoke race winner in heat nine taking victory over the Thompson twins before Leicester struck in devastating fashion with three 4-2 heat advantages and two 5-1’s before Stoke were fortunate to gain a drawn heat in the last race after home skipper Danyon Hume suffered an engine failure in the final race as Perks took the chequered flag ahead of Coles and Perry.

Potters youngster Joe Alcock fell in his final ride as he fell while third in heat eleven and popped his shoulder out and received medical attention on the track before walking into the ambulance.

Potters team manager Adam Isherwood commented “It is a sad night for us tonight it was the final seven man event for the Potters and they battled hard tonight, but Leicester are such a difficult side to beat around here and are very dominant and they also beat us well around our home circuit which shows how strong they are. The guys all put in a shift and the result is the result and there is nothing we can do about it. Cradley found it tough in the first meeting and we found it just as tough and we managed to beat the Cradley score.

“Poor Joe Alcock in his last race was holding Leicester’s Josh Embleton at bay and unfortunately came off and has put his shoulder out for a third time and was in a lot of pain and he will be fine once his shoulder is put back into place and it was his last meeting as well, I think he made need an operation over the winter to perhaps strengthen his shoulder and then he will be looking for another club with Stoke closing.”

NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 2nd leg
LEICESTER 59: Ellis Perks 13, Joe Thompson 12+1, Danyon Hume 11+1, Dan Thompson 10+3, Ryan Terry-Daley 8+1, Josh Embleton 5, Luke Ruddick r/r.
STOKE 31: Connor Coles 9+1, Tom Perry 9, Joe Lawlor 6, Shelby Rutherford 3, Luke Priest 2+1, Kieran Douglas 1+1, Joe Alcock 1.
Leicester win 113-67 on aggregate.