King’s Lynn will need to win at Leicester on Thursday if they are to lift the Premiership KO Cup after being held to a 45-45 draw in their home leg of the Final.
The PSH Environmental Stars and the Lions fought a competitive Monday night clash at the Adrian Flux Arena, where Lynn had to pull back deficits of six and then four points in the first leg.
There were brief opportunities for the Stars to edge ahead on the night, but credit also goes to the Lions, who defended every point, and the outcome is a one-off decider in the East Midlands.
As expected, Lynn were well served by in-form skipper Nicolai Klindt, who won four races on his way to a paid-16 haul at reserve, and there were also double-figure contributions from Jan Kvech and Richard Lawson.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “We knew it would be tough, Leicester are a good side and they picked well with their guest in Tom, and he rode really well.
“Whether Luke (Becker) would have scored quite as many as that, we don’t know. Luke is a great rider, but they certainly picked well with Tom and he had a good night, and he was probably the difference if I’m honest.
“We had a couple of boys off-form, but our team is built that way and we’re going to get that from time to time.
“I think both teams rode well, and it was always going to be a tight Final. All of the boys are experienced enough at Leicester, they know what to expect there and it’s down to us to get our heads into it.”
A tough opening race saw Lions skipper Max Fricke relegated to the back by Lawson and Niels-Kristian Iversen, but up at the front Tom Brennan was starting an impressive guest performance for the visitors with a win.
Stars made the first move of the Final with a 5-1 in Heat 2 as youngster Luke Harrison rode an excellent race to get the better of Drew Kemp and Joe Thompson as he followed Klindt home for maximum points.
But Leicester responded immediately through Ryan Douglas and Kyle Howarth with a 5-1 in Heat 3, before Sam Masters headed Kvech in Heat 4 for a 4-2, which put the visitors ahead.
And the home side had a major problem to deal with when Fricke came from the back in Heat 5 at the expense of Chris Harris and Lewis Kerr to complete a 5-1 with Brennan, which put Leicester 18-12 up.
The Stars’ reply came in the next two races as Lawson switched inside Masters to win Heat 6 with Iversen third, and Klindt and Kvech then superbly headed Douglas on the opening lap for a match-levelling 5-1 in Heat 7.
Brennan made it three wins out of three in Heat 8 as Leicester edged back ahead, prior to a couple of shared races with Masters winning Heat 9 for the visitors and Lawson taking the tenth for Lynn as Howarth shut out Iversen.
Kvech held the lead in Heat 11 only for Fricke to squeeze inside him at the start of the last lap for a Leicester 4-2, but Stars pulled that back in Heat 12 as Klindt defeated Douglas with Harris in third place.
A shared Heat 13 saw Kvech and Klindt pack in behind Fricke, keeping Masters at the back, before a cracker of a Heat 14 resulted in a 4-2 and so nearly a Stars maximum in a neck-and-neck scrap between Howarth and Kerr for second place which the Lions rider just took on the line, with Klindt out in front.
That made it 42-42 and the last race was shared with more competitive action as Kvech made it inside Brennan on the back straight whilst at a similar time Fricke took third for the Lions at the expense of Lawson, leaving the tie all-square at the halfway stage.
King’s Lynn 45: Nicolai Klindt 14+2, Jan Kvech 11+1, Richard Lawson 10, Chris Harris 4, Niels-Kristian Iversen 2+1, Luke Harrison 2+1, Lewi Kerr 2.
Leicester 45: Tom Brennan 12, Max Fricke 9+2, Sam Masters 8, Ryan Douglas 8, Kyle Howarth 5+2, Joe Thompson 3, Drew Kemp 0.
