Against all odds, the King’s Lynn Stars raced to their third home victory over local rivals Ipswich Witches this season on Monday evening.
Missing the injured Niels Kristian Iversen and Ben Cook, Lynn looked there for the taking but despite a rare off night for Chris ‘Bomber’ Harris and finding themselves eight points down, the Stars dug in and triumphed by two points on a memorable night.
Czech sensation Jan Kvech and skipper Nicolai Klindt took seven rides each and amassed 33 points between them while Richard Lawson carded an important nine, and despite looking under power all evening Harris joined Klindt for a vital 5-1 in heat 12 to level things up.
A 4-2 in heat 13 ultimately won the meeting with Kvech doing the damage and he sealed the deal in the final heat to cap a brilliant display, despite heavy strapping on his recently-dislocated left shoulder.
While injuries have ultimately thwarted Lynn’s top four chances once again this team has never once given up and have shown lots of character, often in the face of adversity.
On Thursday evening, they travel to Suffolk to once again face the Witches, this time in the second leg of the Knockout Cup semi-final attempting to defend a six-point lead and go through to a final shootout with Leicester Lions.
They go into the clash as underdogs once again but will not give up until that final chequered flag falls.
Getting through to the final and lifting the trophy would represent a decent end to another difficult season where injuries to Ben Cook, Jan Kvech and the now-retired Ashton Boughen stunted our progress severely at key moments.
The last major team trophy won by the Stars was in 2009 so another one is overdue.
On Saturday evening the Blueprint Construction Young Stars made the long trip down to the Plymouth Coliseum to face the club’s Centurions team.
They were dealt their first defeat of the National Development Trophy season, going down 40-47 in a last heat decider.
While the main objective of the third tier is the development of young riders, the Young Stars have a sniff of winning silverware in their first season back.
The longer they remain top of the standings, the more the team and supporters will want the trophy to be won.
Plymouth is a very different circuit to the Adrian Flux Arena at just 228 metres (Lynn is 342 metres) and it would have been a shock for track debutants Harrison Rogers and Callum Mitchell at reserve!
A seven-point deficit puts Lynn in a good position for the aggregate bonus point when Plymouth make the return journey to Norfolk next month but before that the Young Stars face Kent Eagles home and away in fixtures which may decide the destination of the title.
The home meeting is on Wednesday so get yourself along if you fancy a night of exciting and potential packed racing featuring the future of King’s Lynn speedway.
