The theme of this season has always seemed to centre around what a rollercoaster of a ride it has been supporting the King’s Lynn Stars.
Since I last penned some notes, it has been another meteoric turnaround, ending with what we have been waiting for all season as the entire team clicked on the same evening.
The Knockout Cup Final defeat, and the subsequent league defeat to Leicester left a dark cloud hanging over the Adrian Flux Arena, but it appears the darkness has now lifted.
Smiles have returned amongst supporters as we have won our last three meetings in the Premiership, whilst the Young Stars completed their trophy programme with another win and the lifting of the trophy.
Travelling to Birmingham last Monday, the scene of probably our most humbling defeat this season, there was still a belief that we could pick up maximum points.
In truth, we took a stranglehold of the tie very early, and never relinquished the lead, despite some adverse weather and a Brummies fightback.
Credit to Lewis Kerr, who stepped in as a guest and top-scored, which was a step towards the win.
Fast forward to Thursday evening, and we completed the job with another win at a bonus point against Birmingham.
The 53-37 scoreline didn’t really reflect our dominance in this fixture, as both Ben Cook and Chris Harris suffered mechanical gremlins when in scoring positions.
Richard Lawson then broke down on the start line in Heat 15, and given his form on the evening, would almost certainly have completed a fine five-ride maximum.
I don’t believe it would have been a great surprise had we topped the 60-point mark.
It was Monday evening that it all seemed to click together as we hit the 60-point mark against Oxford Spires in an emphatic victory. It was an evening when everything came today, and to a man, everybody contributed to the victory.
It’s this consistency that has probably cost us a Play-Off position, but we must also respect the fact that we had come up against a beleaguered Oxford side.
Chris Harris made a fine return to form as he secured a full five-ride maximum, whilst Richard Lawson continued his fine form, only being beaten once in the final heat 15.
In truth, you could pick any of the riders for special praise on an evening where we picked up 14 heat victories and only three last places.
With only four meetings left for the Stars in 2025, we can start to build for 2026, and it is performances like this that will stay fresh in the mind for the promotion as they look to build for another push towards the play-offs.
Thursday evening will see us travel to our nearest and dearest across at Ipswich, and given the form we currently hold, plus how we have ridden against them this season, who is to say that we can’t pick up another victory. Up the Stars!
Wednesday evening saw the party in full swing as the Young Stars returned to the Adrian Flux Arena for a night of celebration as they lifted the National Development Trophy, a fine return to the third tier of the sport for the first time since 2016.
It was a tight finish for the Young Stars as Plymouth Centurions really took the meeting to them, and it was only a second place from Luke Harrison in heat 15 which secured the victory on the night and ensured the team went through the season winning seven and only losing one match.
Special mention will continue to head towards Jody Scott, Cooper Rushen and Luke Harrison, who have led the team from the front all season, but it was great to see Ashton Vale back amongst the side, and was unlucky not to pick up more points than he did.
As the meeting concluded, it was time to celebrate, and for Jason Pipe and his team of merry men, it was richly deserved.
The trophy was lifted and the champagne was sprayed, and you couldn’t help but be pleased as punch for everybody concerned with King’s Lynn Speedway that we had finally lifted some silverware again.
As a Podcast, we were delighted to present our Rider of the Season award to Cooper Rushen.
The award was based on our Rider of the Week polls, nominated by us and voted for by our loyal supporters, and for Cooper it has been a season to remember.
I think we all knew we had something special, but nobody could have predicted the effect he would have on the league at such a young age.
Cooper finished the King’s Lynn season with an average of 10.46, only topped by the Captain and local hero, Jody Scott.
Whatever the future holds for Cooper, and it is already looking very bright, as a King’s Lynn supporter I am hoping that both he, Jody Scott and Luke Harrison have long futures with the club, they are all emerging into real talents and a lot of credit for this must go to Neil Vatcher and the British Youth set-up.
Despite all of the doom and gloom in the sport, the future of British Speedway is in very good hands.
As we approach the end of the season, I just want to thank everybody who has supported us as a Podcast throughout the season so far.
