The Wightlink Islanders easily maintained their unbeaten home record for the season last night at the Wave 105 Smallbrook stadium defeating the Stoke Potters by 56 points to 37 and by doing so gained two more league points, points that see them leapfrog over three teams - Redcar Sheffield & Scunthorpe - into seventh place in the current league table.

There were worries that, with rain falling at the venue for most of the morning, the meeting would not go ahead but thankfully the rain stopped and moved eastwards and whilst it was a blustery evening, and a tad on the cool side too, the quality of racing certainly helped to warm up the reasonably-sized attendance.

Although it was fairly close in the early stages with skipper Jason Bunyan and his side leading by a mere six points at 15-9 after the first four races, the Island side quickly adapted to the somewhat different track conditions than of late caused by rain that had fallen earlier in the day.

Maximum 5-1 advantages from firstly Kryzsztof Stojanowski and Paul Fry in heat 5, followed by a similar score from the skipper and partner James Holder in the next, extended the home side's lead to 14 points which quickly became 16 as Glen Phillips headed home Stoke's veteran Buzz Burrows with Andrew Bargh picking up the one point for third place.

In that race, Stoke's Ben Barker was left stranded at the start when his rear chain came adrift and wrapped itself around the clutch but that didn't stop the Potters team manager John Wooldridge nominating his diminutive No.3 to replace Dane Krister Jacobsen and start off a 15 metre handicap.

Most had doubts that Barker would beat the two minute warning the referee Chris Gay sounded for the start of heat 8 with his machine damaged in the previous race and whilst referee Mr. Gay was somewhat generous in his interpretation of what constitutes 120 seconds, time ran out for young Ben which meant he had to start the race a further 10 metres back, making it a 25 metre handicap!

Eventually the race did get underway and, as the tapes rose the same misfortune struck the Stoke rider with the rear chain once again jumping off the sprocket and wrapping itself around his bike's clutch, leaving him stranded!

But there was more drama for the rd lights came on, Barker was excluded for "not being under power at the time of the stoppage" according to the official but that wasn't all for he also deemed that Wightlink Islander James Holder, riding despite a niggly wrist injury, had moved prior to the tapes rising and, having warned him for a similar misdemeanor earlier, Mr Gay decreed that James would now have to stat off a 15 metre handicap! That he did and the race was eventually concluded much to everyone's relief!

With the scoreline at that stage standing at the Wightlink Islanders 32 Stoke 16, the home win was virtually assured but, to their credit, the Potters kept battling away and in the penultimate race the two oldest riders in action, 43 years old Islander Paul Fry and 44 years young Potter Buzz Burrows, were having a tremendous scrap racing shoulder-to-shoulder for the opening lap but they collided and fell heavily as they dived for position entering the first bend of the second lap.

The crowd went silent as it looked a nasty crash indeed but, thankfully, "The Fryer" was swiftly back on his feet and, so too was Burrows after treatment and he took his place in the re-run much to most people's astonishment with referee Gay having adjudged that the Islander was to blame for the crash, a decision that didn't best please the home supporters!

So an eventful match indeed at the Wave 105 Smallbrook stadium that produced talking points galore, some very good racing indeed and those two more precious league points for the Wightlink Islanders!

MATCH DETAILS:

Final Score: Wightlink Islanders 56 Stoke Potters 37
(Premier League)

IOW scorers (in riding order - No. of rides in brackets): Jason Bunyan 11+2 (5), James Holder 4+3 (4), Krzysztof Stojanowski 9+1 (4) Paul Fry 8+1 (4), Glen Phillips 12 (5), Andrew Bargh 5 (4), Richard Sweetman 7 (4) .

Stoke scorers (in riding order - No. of rides in brackets): Mark Lemon 11 (5), Krister Jacobsen 1 (4), Ben Barker 7 (5), Buzz Burrows 5+1 (5), Andrew Moore (rider replacement), Jesper Kristiansen 9 (7), Klaus Jakobsen 4 (4)