Stars look dialled in at Adrian Flux Arena

Andrew Howell reflects on another incident-packed week for King’s Lynn Speedway in his weekly Tape’s Up column in Your Local Paper.After another week of off-the-track dramas for the Stars, it felt good to see such a comprehensive home victory over Birmingham last Thursday.The 57-33 scoreline was thoroughly deserved and the team now look dialled in at home.Ben Basso continued to show why he rates King’s Lynn as his favourite UK track by delivering yet another excellent home performance, and Jan Kvech again proved what a great addition he has been to the team.In recent seasons, newcomers to the Stars have often struggled to get to grips with the Lynn track but Kvech has looked at home from his very first meeting.Only a two-minute exclusion in the opening heat and a last-gasp pass by Piotr Pawlicki in the final race of the night stopped the Czech from recording his first maximum in British speedway.Last week’s performance showed that there is still plenty to race for this season. We are in a three-way race with Leicester and Oxford for the final play-off position and have meetings in hand over both. The upcoming home clash with Leicester on July 15 should now be considered a must-win meeting.If we can get solid replacements for Tobiasz Musielak and Nicolai Klindt then we can yet see an exciting end to the season for the Stars.With some of the best riders in the world in the UK for the upcoming Speedway of Nations, hopefully it will provide a window of opportunity for Rob Lyon, (pictured above), to work his magic and persuade one or two riders to join the Stars. However, with Sheffield and Ipswich also both in the market for injury replacements, you can be sure we won’t be the only team on the charm offensive.Talking of the Speedway of Nations, what a week of speedway we have in store. With Great Britain being represented by Robert Lambert and Dan Bewley, we have an excellent chance of achieving at least a medal.For years, the Great Britain Speedway team was in the doldrums, but after gold and silver medals in the Speedway of Nations in 2021 and 2022 and a further silver medal in the Speedway World Cup last year, expectations for the team have certainly been raised. My tip for the gold medal though is reigning champions Australia.In Jack Holder, Max Fricke and Brady Kurtz they probably have the most solid trio of all the countries on show and plenty of experience of the Belle Vue circuit.Poland will of course be a threat, but Bartosz Zmarzlik can’t win it on his own and will need some support from Dominik Kubera and Maciej Janowski if they are to end their Speedway of Nations curse.But how good would it be if Great Britain could win the Speedway of Nations on Saturday and England win the European Championships on Sunday evening? As a passionate follower of both football and speedway, I’m not sure my weekend could any better than that.The term legend is banded around far too easily for my liking these days but at the weekend, King’s Lynn Speedway lost a true legend with the sad passing of Edwin Overland.As track announcer at King’s Lynn from the 1970s up until he gave up the role at the end of the 2022 season, Edwin was quite simply the voice of King’s Lynn Speedway.I know I’m biased but I regarded him as the best in the business and his calm voice was a constant companion for every Stars fan who attended meetings throughout the years. Edwin was also a much-respected football commentator, covering both Cambridge United and Peterborough United for Radio Cambridgeshire. Edwin also gave great coverage for the Stars on Radio Norfolk.I was lucky enough to get to know Edwin through quite bizarre circumstances. Back in 2003, the Stars were asked to put together a team for a new regional sports quiz show called Sporty Facts for ITV Anglia.The Stars were represented by Tom P Madsen, Edwin and myself. We found ourselves heading across to Norwich to record three episodes.The TV show was pretty awful in truth and only one of our episodes was ever broadcast, but thankfully that was the one we won. From that moment on, we remained friends and it was always a pleasure to see him at the stadium.The tributes paid to him from across the worlds of speedway and football show how well-loved and respected Edwin was by everyone who knew or came across him.