Stoke Potters v Edinburgh Monarchs

We only took three of our own riders to Stoke for the damage limitation exercise. But then we did have Kyle Legault!

A superb display by the Canadian, and unless we are mistaken it was the first away maximum we have ever had from a guest rider. In his first five heats he did the important work on the first bend, but to cap off a great display he came from last to first in the final heat!

There were quite a few good heats, though we never looked like taking a win at one of our favourite away tracks. We would have needed a full team for that.

We got off to a very poor start with two 1-5 reversals in the first two heats. Guest Robert Ksiezak fell on the last bend of heat 1, and guest Scott Richardson was not a threat in heat 2.

Then came a race win for guest Kyle Legault, made easy by Complin who touched the tapes and went off 15 metres. Happily also a very good point for Kalle who rode for two laps level with Glenn Cunningham before going ahead of the home rider. Complin caught him late in the race.

That was better, and heat 4 was even better! Stoke had Vissing missing and put out their two reserves. In a very tight battle Andrew and Matthew came through after poor starts, and the heat was eventually awarded to us 5-1 after Smith fell.

It was the Kyle Legault show again in heat 5 but up to this point Robert Ksiezak had looked out of things.

Matthew was lying second in heat 6 when his chain came off, and it seems once again we can?t have a trouble-free meeting.

Another easy win for Legault in heat 7, then we saw the best of Ksiezak. He gated and took Barker wide on the second bend, and rode with determination to keep in front of Barker who was unbeaten to this point. This time Andrew was anchored at the back and riding too many inside line bends.

Great effort by Matthew in heat 9, which looked like a home 5-1 till he passed Complin round the outside on the last bend.

Barker had said on the mike he would give Legault a run for it, but the Canadian was the master again in heat 10.

At this point we hadn?t had a shot at a TR but by losing a 1-5 in heat 11 (in spite of a strong challenge by Ksiezak) we set up Legault for a double pointer. He duly delivered and Andrew took a point to make the score 34-41 at heat 12.

The bonus was safe enough and we could even look to close things up a bit more.

We gained another 2 points with a great win for Matthew in heat 13, with Ksiezak third to complete a reasonable night for our Australian former rider.

A heat 14 1-5 ended any thoughts of more than the bonus, but the best heat was saved to last. This time Legault was stranded at the rear and took a while to get through into a scoring position.

He wound it up wound the outside though, despatching Barker and then setting out after Harrison. At the end of lap three he did pass Rusty and he raced clear, waving as he approached the line to complete a glorious 21.