Lyon: Stars’ team-building strategy has been validated

Manager Rob Lyon says King’s Lynn’s team building strategy has been validated – despite the frustration of a home defeat to Belle Vue on Monday.Stars were edged out 46-44 when the visitors’ top two of Dan Bewley and Brady Kurtz clinched a match-winning 4-2 in Heat 15, Bewley beating Chris Harris to the line by two-hundredths of a second.But it was the events of the first six races which were the most telling factor as on no fewer than three occasions, Stars were set for a 5-1 heading into the last lap only for mechanical trouble to turn them into 3-3s.Youngster Ashton Boughen shed a chain in Heat 2 when comfortably following Harris, and the resulting crash led to his withdrawal with bruising to the hip.Then Richard Lawson was set for maximum points with Harris ahead of Bewley in Heat 4, only for his own primary chain to break on the very last bend – whilst Ben Cook suffered with a split fuel pipe which relegated him from second to last in Heat 6.Those incidents accounted for a massive swing in terms of points, and Lyon is convinced without them his side would have taken a comfortable victory.He said: “It was a frustrating night because we deserved to win that match hands down, and I said to (Belle Vue boss) Mark Lemon, ‘well done, but you didn’t deserve it,’ and he said I was right. “I predicted we would win by ten or twelve points, and I know you can’t always say this, that, the other or whatever but without those three failures we would have been ten points up. “But we showed against one of the top teams on paper that we can compete, and quite comfortably compete.“I was proud of the boys with the way they rode – yes, in and out a few times and a few problems, but that’s the beauty of this team.“We move on to next Monday and we’ll have to go and beat them there.” Harris, who has made a sensational start to his Stars career and piled up a 14+3 score on Monday, admitted he couldn’t quite hang on to beat Bewley in the decider, which would have left the result level and set up a Super Heat decider.He said: “It was definitely close and I was talking to Dan after, and he didn’t think he’d won it, so he was tickled when it came out that he’d won. “But that’s racing, we had a good race and when you’ve got someone of that class behind you it’s very hard to stay in front.”Lynn do have the chance to pull off an upset in the return at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday, where Belle Vue were beaten in their home opener by Ipswich last month. And then Lyon’s team head to Sheffield on Thursday (April 10) to face a Tigers side still reeling from the hammer blow of losing GB icon Tai Woffinden, who was involved in a serious crash in Poland last weekend.The extent of Woffinden’s injuries have yet to be officially revealed, with his family joining him in hospital, and the incident has cast a shadow over the start of the season.Lynn have confirmed dates with Ipswich for their Premiership KO Cup semi-final clash.The PSH Environmental Stars will host the first leg of the tie at the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday, June 2.The return fixture will then take place at Foxhall on Thursday, June 5, with the winners facing either Leicester or Sheffield in the Final.