King’s Lynn Young Stars manager Jason Pipe has paid tribute to his title-winning side after they secured the National Development Trophy last weekend.
Lynn took the decision to enter a team back into the third tier over the winter when the new NDT competition was organised, and they have proved to be the dominant outfit with a youthful line-up built exactly in the spirit of the league.
Fifteen-year-old Cooper Rushen has enjoyed a sensational start to his career at 500cc level, and his presence at reserve in the first half of the season was undoubtedly a boost to the Young Stars’ strength.
But even when he moved up into the main body of the team, and could not take multiple extra rides, Lynn have still had enough to handle most opponents, and they have been led from the front superbly by teenagers Jody Scott and Luke Harrison.
The level of progression has been clear by the fact that both Scott and Harrison have made several appearances for the senior Stars team, with Harrison now holding the Rising Star berth for the remainder of the season.
Pipe said: “I’m just so proud of the whole team, and it was a great moment for Jody as captain to be able to lift the trophy and bring some success to his local club.
“Personally, it’s also my first title at official league level, I’ve done it before in competitions like the Northern Junior league, but this is the first time in a full national competition.
“When you start with someone like Cooper at reserve you know you’re going to have a half-decent team, so that was a good start and we went from there really!
“Obviously, we didn’t know what Calum (Mitchell) was going to do at the beginning of the season, coming in from motocross, but he’s ridden well, especially at home.
“It was just a matter of putting the rest of the team together, knowing that Cooper was going to come good.
“So we knew then that if we had four heat leaders really in the top five to start off with, at least then when Cooper moved up we would still be alright with a good top five.
“We knew we would be a bit weaker at reserve when that happened, but everyone has made progress and they’ve been a superb team together.
“I couldn’t be happier with how the season has gone, and what’s also been pleasing is the way in which the King’s Lynn fans have supported what’s effectively their ‘reserve’ team, so my thanks to them for that.
“Buster (Chapman) sent his congratulations when we won the title, and I really hope we’ll be able to continue to operate a team at this level next season.”
Meanwhile the senior Stars side have a busy week ahead as their Premiership run-in continues, starting with a home clash against Oxford on Monday.
They then make the trip to Ipswich on Thursday as they meet their local rivals for the final time this year, with memories still fresh of their sensational KO Cup success against the Witches at Foxhall last month.
