King’s Lynn completed a season of total domination over Oxford with a bumper 55-35 win at Cowley on Bank Holiday Monday.
The PSH Environmental Stars again showed exactly what they can produce with a full line-up, and it was their third victory at the venue this season and a sixth overall over the Spires.
Richard Lawson led the way with paid 13 and there were also double-figure scores for captain Nicolai Klindt and reserve Ben Cook, with Niels-Kristian Iversen enjoying another strong meeting at Oxford too.
The main Spires resistance came from Maciej Janowski and, in the latter stages, Charles Wright, but this was a meeting where Lynn were stronger in almost every department.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “I don’t want to keep harping on about it, but the Ben Cook injury was pretty damaging for us, and he was out for a long time.
“He’s back now and you can see that team is sold with him in it, and we’re producing some good results.
“It was a great performance tonight, and this is a happy hunting ground for us, so fair play for the boys for that.”
Lynn gained the perfect start when Jan Kvech and Iversen struck a 5-1 over Wright in Heat 1, and Cook was an impressive winner of the reserves’ race, before there was controversy in the next.
Rohan Tungate was timed out for exceeding the two minutes, as he had not quite been ready to race due to adjusting his starting position seemingly on the orders of the start marshal.
The referee’s decision stood and the Stars took full advantage as Chris Harris and Lawson took the 5-1 to put their side 13-5 up.
The lead moved up to ten points as Klindt won Heat 4 with a reserve switch, seeing Cook come in and have a great scrap with Janowski, who eventually cam through for second place.
Lynn suffered a rare setback in the next when Janowski, in as a tactical substitute, and Tungate caught out Iversen in the early stages as Oxford grabbed a 5-1, but the visitors quickly regained control as Klindt hit the front in Heat 6 whilst Cook took a battling second ahead of Wright to make it 23-13.
After a shared Heat 7, Lynn then added a run of 4-2s starting in Heat 8 as Iversen won with Luke Harrison getting the better of his opposite number Luke Killeen, whilst Cook overhauled Victor Palovaara for third place in Heat 9 to back up another win for Klindt.
Lawson was an easy winner of Heat 10 ahead of a frantic scrap for second place with Harris just unable to find a way past Wright, and yet another 4-2 in Heat 11 from Iversen and Kvech made the result all but mathematically safe at 42-24.
There was an awkward incident on the first bend of Heat 12 as Harris and Killeen tangled after an earlier touch from Tungate, so all four back was the correct decision and a super-brave effort from Harris in the re-run saw him make it around Tungate to join Cook for another Lynn 5-1.
Wright and Janowski netted a consolation maximum for Oxford in Heat 13 before Lawson took Heat 14 and Harrison grabbed another third place, this time ahead of Palovaara, despite a spectacular lift off turn four.
Home No.1 Wright then won a shared finale to keep the margin at 20 points, with Lynn having put on an impressive display of supremacy.
Stars now round off their league campaign with two big home matches, starting against Belle Vue at the Adrian Flux Arena on Thursday.
Oxford 35: Maciej Janowski 10+1, Charles Wright 10, Peter Kildemand 5+1, Rohan Tungate 5+1, Luke Killeen 3, Mitch McDiarmid 2, Victor Palovaara 0.
King’s Lynn55: Richard Lawson 12+1, Nicolai Klindt 10, Ben Cook 10+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 9+2, Chris Harris 7+2, Jan Kvech 5, Luke Harrison 2.
King’s Lynn win the aggregate point.
