King’s Lynn have made a decision over their Rising Star berth ahead of a quick reunion with Cup Final rivals Leicester at the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday (7.30pm).
The PSH Environmental Stars have confirmed 18-year-old Luke Harrison will take the No.7 position for the remainder of the season.
Harrison and fellow Young Stars rider Jody Scott have both stepped in over the last two months after original choice Ashton Boughen left the club, with Lynn able to re-declare the side match by match where needed to give opportunities to both riders.
However, once they have completed 75 per cent of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership schedule – which comes up next Monday when they visit Birmingham – they are unable to make any further changes, which means they need to hand the place to one rider on a full-time basis.
Lynn’s excellent Premiership KO Cup run came to an end at the last hurdle as Leicester secured the silverware on a bruising night in the East Midlands on Thursday.
The PSH Environmental Stars were beaten 60-30 in the second leg of the Final at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park, meaning they went down by 30 points on aggregate.
The bare numbers, however, do not tell the story of a meeting which saw no fewer than five Stars riders suffer crashes on the night, and some key decisions going against them.
Ultimately, those incidents were not the deciding factors in the tie, as Leicester were worthy winners over two legs, but it did sum up a season where Lynn have again been low on fortune.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a tough night, with two decisions which weren’t debatable, they were clear-cut.
“I don’t think it would have made a huge difference to the scoreline to be honest, but it does take the wind out of your sails when you’re thinking you can keep it tight and move on to the next heat.
“So we were disappointed with those decisions, but overall Leicester were the better team over the two legs, and we take nothing away from them, they rode well and deserved it.
“I’ve said to the guys they need to be proud of what they’ve achieved in terms of getting here. I know we haven’t performed that well tonight for various reasons, but to get to a Cup Final is an achievement in itself.
“Sometimes it’s worse when you lose like that in a Final but we couldn’t do anything about it, Leicester were the far better team on the night.”
Leicester 60: Ryan Douglas 14, Sam Masters 12+2, Max Fricke 10+1, Tom Brennan 9+2, Drew Kemp 8+1, Kyle Howarth 5+2, Joe Thompson 2+1.
King’s Lynn 30: Nicolai Klindt 11, Chris Harris 7, Richard Lawson 6+1, Jan Kvech 2, Luke Harrison 2, Niels-Kristian Iversen 1, Scott Nicholls 1.
Leicester win 105-75 on aggregate.
