Stars give themselves hope for second leg

The King’s Lynn Stars faced local rivals Ipswich Witches in the semi-final of the Premiership Knockout Cup on Monday and were able to come out of the evening with a slender six-point advantage to take to Suffolk on Thursday evening for the second leg.In front of a big crowd and a lively atmosphere, the meeting toed and froed with the sides exchanging heat advantages throughout before Lynn scored a vital 5-1 in heat 14 to stretch their lead to six points prior to a shared final heat.Jan Kvech top scored with paid eighteen in his first match at reserve, while Chris Harris returned to form with 13 and Richard Lawson carded a solid nine from the number one berth.Unfortunately, Rising Star and local rider Ashton Boughen crashed out of heat four and was forced to withdraw from the contest with a shoulder injury, which is likely to keep him out of the second leg.It’s been a frustrating season so far for the Stars with inconsistency blighting the team’s efforts, and once again, not every rider was able to score what they are capable of on the same night.It’s a bit of a speedway cliché, but one of these weeks an opposing team is going to get a walloping because all of Lynn’s riders will have scored well in the same fixture.Perhaps that will be next Monday when Birmingham travel to the Adrian Flux Arena. The Brummies beat Belle Vue on Monday to draw level with Lynn at the foot of the Premiership table, so it’s the proverbial six-pointer and a chance for the Stars to climb the table and put pressure on those teams in the play-off positions. And you never know, the Stars may be KO Cup finalists by then if things go to plan over the border on Thursday.Saturday evening saw the third round of the SGP series held in Prague and it was a frustrating night for both Lynn rider Jan Kvech and Norfolk native Robert Lambert.Heavy showers in the afternoon had put paid to qualifying and left parts of the track quite heavy, leading to a meeting with little passing and a very dominant inside gate.World Champion Bartosz Zmarzlik won comfortably to regain the series lead as he seeks his sixth world title, a feat which would draw him level with greats Ivan Mauger and Tony Rickardsson. Kvech had his best round so far, reaching the Last Chance Qualifiers on home soil, but was unable to sneak into the Grand Final, leaving him 11th overall.Lambert had a night to forget and his three Championship points mean that he is 26 points behind Zmarzlik and facing an uphill task to get himself in the mix for the title. He will be buoyed by the fact that rounds four and five are both at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester (June 13 and 14), which is a track he has excelled at previously over several seasons and where he won the British Final three weeks agoHe still has six rounds to close the gap on the overall series leader, but it is a very big ask. The previous evening, two former King’s Lynn mascots and current Young Stars were in the spotlight and performed well to enhance their reputations.Cooper Rushen competed on a 250cc machine for the final time in finishing fifth in the SGP3 final (also in Prague) with ten points and just missing out on the podium in a run off, while South Creake’s Jody Scott made his debut for Redcar Bears in the Championship and scored 6+3 to earn himself Rider of the Night and help his new club to a vital win.