King’s Lynn raced to their biggest win of the season with a thumping 63-27 victory over a demoralised Oxford at the Adrian Flux Arena.
Chris Harris took the individual honours for the PSH Environmental Stars as he carded a brilliant 15-point maximum, but there was strong scoring right down the order on a night where the home side dominated.
It was a display which in many ways, underlined what might have been this season, whilst balancing that observation with the problems afflicting the visitors.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “I think it was a combination of us being very good and they were battered, bruised and depleted.
“But I’ve been saying all along that we picked this team for a reason, and whilst I’m sure with all due respect we will come across some stiffer opposition in our remaining matches, I think we’ve proved that in the times when we have had a full team, we can do some damage.
“It’s a solid team, and that makes a massive difference. But you can’t legislate for injury, all teams suffer from it from time to time, that’s the way it goes.
“It was a really good team performance, and special mention to the track staff because the track was really good today.
“Not having four riders in every race is not really something I can comment on. I wasn’t involved in any of those conversations with Oxford, but it is unfortunate.
“We all know what Rohan Tungate is capable of as a speedway rider, so why he wasn’t there I have no idea, but that’s for them to sort out and nothing we can really get involved in.”
The Spires arrived at the AFA without No.1 Charles Wright, who was reportedly withdrawn from his Championship match on Saturday after the final race, and to compound their woes former Australian Champion Rohan Tungate took only two rides before withdrawing with apparent mechanical issues.
That meant Oxford could only track one rider in Heat 12, which was hardly a good look, and their sole success of the night came from captain Maciej Janowski in Heat 6.
Stars set their stall out with a 5-1 in the opening race from Jan Kvech and Niels-Kristian Iversen as Janowski was relegated to the back, and after Ben Cook dominated Heat 2 there was another Lynn maximum in the next from Harris and Richard Lawson as Tungate dropped out.
Skipper Nicolai Klindt pulled off a great move in Heat 4 as he found drive on the inside to surge inside a surprised Janowski on the back straight, and Harris and Lawson combined for their second maximum in the next to extend the lead to 12 points.
The Spires’ only real success came in Heat 6 as Janowski defeated Iversen with Peter Kildemand supplying third place over Kvech, but Lynn quickly reasserted control with two 4-2s.
Klindt was a clear winner of Heat 7 with Victor Palovaara taking a decent second for the visitors over Cook, whilst Iversen won Heat 8 as Luke Harrison got the better of his Rising Star battle with Luke Killeen for a second time.
Harris and Lawson completed their hat-trick in Heat 9 with a textbook move off turn two as they went either side of Janowski, and it got worse for the Spires in Heat 10 with Iversen out-front whilst Kvech working his way through the traffic for second place, and that turned out to be Tungate’s final involvement.
Cook got the better of Kildemand after a good scrap in Heat 11 with Klindt running a last, whilst the three-rider Heat 12 with Tungate a non-starter and no replacement permitted ended in a 4-2 as Harris won from Kildemand, who just held off Harrison.
Kvech and Klindt marched on for the Stars with a 5-1 in Heat 13, whilst Cook made an excellent move off turn two in the next to team up with Lawson and take Lynn to the brink of 60 points.
Harris completed a fully deserved maximum in the next with a typical burst on the outside to clear Janowski and Kildemand, but although Lawson passed the Dane he was denied his own full score as Janowski held second place at the end of a thoroughly dominant Stars display.
Elsewhere, home wins for Belle Vue and Leicester confirmed their places in the play-offs which means the Stars can now climb no higher than fifth.
But there is still plenty of action over the coming weeks, starting with the small matter of a local derby trip to league leaders Ipswich on Thursday.
King’s Lynn Stars 63: Chris Harris 15, Richard Lawson 10+3, Ben Cook 9+1, Jan Kvech 9, Niels-Kristian Iversen 9, Nicolai Klindt 8+1, Luke Harrison 3.
Oxford 27: Peter Kildemand 8, Maciej Janowski 8, Mitch McDiarmid 5+1, Victor Palovaara 3, Luke Killeen 2+1, Rohan Tungate 1, Charles Wright r/r.
