King’s Lynn’s injured Danish duo are both making plans for track returns next year.
Thomas Jorgensen and Nicolai Klindt saw their seasons ended by horrific crashes earlier this summer, ironically not whilst racing for the Stars.
Both have faced a long recovery process, but as is generally the way for speedway stars, their focus is on being fully fit when the tapes go up again next spring.
Jorgensen broke vertebrae in his neck and back in an accident at Edinburgh when racing for his Championship club Berwick at the end of July.
But he’s still based in the UK and joined the Stars in the pits for meetings towards the end of the season, including away at Sheffield and the home match against Ipswich.
Jorgensen said: “It’s getting much better. Obviously I’m up and walking about and I’m making progress, which is good, but there’s still a long journey ahead.
“There’s no point in rushing this. I did it on July 28 and it’s the end of the season now anyway, and I can’t ride at the moment with how my back and neck is.
“I’ve just got to focus on getting back and fit and ready for next year, that’s what the plan is.”
Klindt, meanwhile, suffered a broken neck in an awful crash at Polish venue Ostrow last month, when his opponent Oliver Berntzon hit the fence and bounced straight back into his path.
He will remain in a neck brace at the end of September and has been having regular treatment at a private, specialist clinic in Poland, including time in the oxygen chamber.
Klindt also suffered a heavy concussion in the accident leaving him tired, but he is expected to make a full recovery and already has targets in place for next year, having been in blistering form when his campaign came to a sudden end.
He said: “It’s six weeks with my collar and then I should be all right. What they want to do with me is try to make the fracture heal quicker than normal.
“I feel very good and I’m looking ahead, that’s all I can do. If you sit back doing nothing, expecting a certain way, it’s never going to be like that. If you work towards your dreams and goals in the present, you have a much better chance of it being how you want it to be.
“I couldn’t have finished off much better before the crash. I have got to focus on what I can improve for next year. I have got a really good team around me, which will stay the same.”
With the Stars’ season coming to an end in last night’s (Thursday) match at Peterborough, club bosses can now turn their full attentions towards the planning process for 2024.
Although decisions across the sport are not rubber-stamped until the sport’s AGM in November, regular league meetings are already taking place and Lynn will be eager to know what they have to work with, and which riders they need to target for a far more successful year.
