Heavy defeat for depleted Stars

Injury-hit Lynn suffered a heavy 58-32 defeat at champions Sheffield on Thursday.The PSH Environmental Stars lost both Niels-Kristian Iversen (concussion) and Benjamin Basso (elbow injury) in the build-up to the fixture in South Yorkshire, leaving them depleted on arrival.British racer Tom Brennan proved a good choice of guest replacement though as he scored nine points whilst skipper Tobiasz Musielak led the Stars’ score chart as he notched 12+1 against his former club.Rising Star Anders Rowe also enjoyed another solid night, winning Heat Two on his way to seven points while fellow reserve Patryk Wojdylo found the going a bit tougher.Both Michael Palm Toft and Vadim Tarasenko endured frustrating nights mechanically with the latter failing to finish any of his three outings. Stars co-promoter Rob Lyon said: “It felt like we were really depleted tonight if I’m honest. It was always going to be difficult with two riders injured this week but we had a great guest in Tom Brennan who I thought rode really well.“But it’s always tough running rider replacement and with this team that Sheffield have got it was always going to be an uphill task for us.“Tobi had a good night but you would expect him to come here and get dialled in pretty quick. But we struggled as a team and Vadim had an absolute nightmare. “There’s not a great deal I can say about it and there’s not a great amount of positives to come out of it.“We’ve got to move on and try and regroup as a club. To get seven riders on track would be nice, and now we’ve got Monday to put things right against Sheffield again.”The Stars do battle with the Tigers once more this coming Monday (April 22, 7.30 pm) as the champions visit the Adrian Flux Arena. SHEFFIELD 58: Tai Woffinden 12+1, Chris Holder 12, Jack Holder 10+2, Josh Pickering 8+1, Dan Gilkes 7+2, Kyle Howarth 5, Jason Edwards 4+2.LYNN 32: Tobiasz Musielak 12+1, Tom Brennan 9, Anders Rowe 7, Michael Palm Toft 2+1, Patryk Wojdylo 2, Vadim Tarasenko 0, Niels-Kristian Iversen R/R.