The first leg of the Premiership Knockout Cup Final at the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday against the Leicester Lions always promised to be a tough assignment for the PSH Environmental Stars and so it proved with the visitors grabbing a draw to take back to the Midlands on Thursday evening.
The Lions were consistently faster from the tapes than the home side and when they needed to be, they were tough and ruthless, particularly in the first bend.
Unfortunately for Lynn, Chris Harris had a rare off night and local lad Lewi Kerr (guesting for Ben Cook) was unable to match the points scored by Leicester’s guest Tom Brennan, who rode superbly and was a thorn in Lynn’s side all night.
The Stars had started well with a 5-1 in heat two from skipper Nicolai Klindt and Rising Star Luke Harrison, who thrillingly held off the more experienced Drew Kemp and Joe Thompson.
Luke didn’t score thereafter but was always in the mix and, along with Jody Scott, has improved considerably in Stars’ colours this season.
Leicester then took control of the meeting with heat advantages in heats three, four and five to give them a six point lead with some hard first bend moves and while the Stars were able to claw themselves back onto level terms the class of their top five meant that Lynn just couldn’t manufacture a lead and have it all to do in the second leg.
Leicester are a strong side on home soil, having only lost once this season in LE4 and it will take a superhuman effort to bring the cup back to Norfolk.
Home fans might point to heats 13 and 14 where Lynn riders had opportunities to ‘shut the door’ on their opponents but were a little too nice and left plenty of racing room for the Lions to get the upper hand.
Hopefully, if the opportunities arise in the second leg King’s Lynn’s riders will take no prisoners and race harder with the KO Cup on the line.
There are still three months of the season left but thoughts of many fans have already turned to 2026 and how British Speedway will be structured.
The Premiership currently has seven teams competing in it but that is set to drop to six as the Birmingham Brummies will have no stadium to race in next season and along with many other clubs such as Cradley Heath, Wolves, Swindon, Reading, Coventry, Exeter, Newcastle and Arena Essex will go into hibernation until a new home can be found.
The Brummies are tenants at the Perry Barr greyhound track, but this operation is being moved to a new purpose-built dog circuit in Wolverhampton.
This situation also saw Wolves fold when their Monmore Green base became unavailable.
Speedway doesn’t attract the crowds or sponsorship it once did, so in many cases, stadium landlords have decided to use their land for housing or industry instead, and it makes you realise how lucky we are to have a raceway in King’s Lynn owned by a motorsports enthusiast in Buster Chapman.
So with six teams, some fans question the viability of a ‘top league’ without tempting at least one fresh club to move up, the obvious candidates being former Premiership champions Poole and forward-thinking Glasgow, who are arguably the best-run club in the UK.
But both have turned down the move up in recent years due to worries over crowd levels and seem unlikely to take the plunge for 2026.
Some fans would like to see ‘one big league’, which would merge the top two divisions with a league of 12-14 clubs, but that might see some of the big names who currently race here leave due to continental commitments and a possible rider shortage with ‘doubling up’ impossible with just one competition.
It’s an interesting conundrum and one where not everyone is likely to be satisfied.
It feels like a bit of winter decision-making ahead for speedway chiefs across the country.
