The Stars rounded off their league campaign with a 47-43 victory over the Sheffield Tigers on Monday evening and claimed the bonus point thrillingly when Ben Cook and Jan Kvech combined for a 5-4 win in the super heat.
For the Stars, it was another sign of what could have been if it weren’t for injuries this season.
Following a 50-40 victory over reigning league champions Belle Vue the week before, the Stars saw off another of this season’s play-off teams on aggregate.
It was another solid team performance that saw the Stars over the line.
Ben Cook has been in fantastic form since his return to the side, leading the way with 12 points from reserve.
He was well supported by Jan Kvech (9+1), Niels-Kristian Iversen (7+1), Chris Harris (7) and Richard Lawson (6+1).
The early signs looked ominous for the Stars, with Sheffield winning three of the first four races and leading 13-11.
But a shock 5-1 by Chris Harris and Richard Lawson over Sheffield’s No. 1 Jack Holder turned the course of the meeting.
The Stars went on to win the next six consecutive races, recording four heat advantages along the way, including a vital 5-1 in Heat 10 from Kvech and Iversen over Nick Morris and Chris Holder.
At the interval, the Stars led by 39-27 and looked set to record a comfortable victory.
However, the Tigers had other ideas and came out looking a different side with consecutive 5-1’s in heats 12 and 13, closing the gap to only four points.
However, Ben Cook and Richard Lawson combined for a match-winning 4-2 in Heat 14 to claim overall victory on the night.
For Lawson, it was fitting that he was involved in the race that won the meeting.
His form in the latter part of the season has been impressive and he was presented with our podcast rider of the season award. He also picked up the Supporters Club award to make it a clean sweep.
It’s been a fine run of form from the Stars to finish this season with six wins from our last seven league meetings. However, inconsistent form earlier in the season, coinciding with key injuries to Cook and Kvech, ultimately left the Stars too much to do to claim a play-off position.
Depending on the rules for next season, it will be interesting to see what direction the Stars go when building a team.
If the team building average stays at 40 points, it would be possible to field the same 1-7 next season, which is unusual in speedway.
However, if possible, I’m sure Rob Lyon would want to address the issue of not having an out-and-out Number 1, which has haunted the side at times this season, especially away from home.
If it were up to me to assemble the side for 2026, Richard Lawson, Jan Kvech and Ben Cook would be the first names on my team sheet.
I’d like to see Robert Lambert back in Stars colours, but that dream looks more unlikely as time goes on.
It was a thrilling night of speedway in front of a big crowd at Wroclaw on Saturday evening, with Brady Kurtz winning his fourth Grand Prix in a row, only the second rider in history to record such a feat.
He now only trails Bartosz Zmarzlik by three points going into the final round at Vojens, Denmark, in two weeks.
It was, however, a tough night for Jan Kvech and Robert Lambert, who finished 12th and 15th, respectively.
There was an element of controversy surrounding Kvech as he claimed a fantastic heat victory in heat 8, only to be excluded
due to a technicality with his silencer after the race.
The likeable Czech racer’s silencer caught on the fence during the race and the outer casing cracked.
The machine examiner reported this to the referee and Kvech was excluded after the race and lost three race points, which would have seen him qualifier for the last chance qualifiers.
For Lambert, it was a frustrating evening.
After performing superbly in qualifying to seal second place in the final sprint race of the season, his form and speed seemed to completely disappear in the main event.
He often found himself in good positions from the start, but looked to be struggling for speed and was soon swallowed up by the chasing pack in most of his races.
Lambert is now in eighth position overall and only the top seven riders are guaranteed a place in next season’s line-up.
Going into Vojens, his target will surely be to overtake Max Fricke, who is three points ahead in seventh.
However, Lambert sealed his one and only Grand Prix victory at Vojens last year, so he knows it is a track he can perform well on.
Also, if he doesn’t qualify automatically, he will be a hot favourite for a wild card pick.
It seems unfathomable to me that we wouldn’t see him in the series next season.
