King’s Lynn have the chance to give their season a major kick-start when they host Wolverhampton at the Adrian Flux Arena on Thursday (7.30pm).
It’s the opening home fixture for the MacInnes Stars, who endured a tough week on the road including defeat at Monmore in the reverse Premiership match last Monday.
Club bosses were quick to express their frustration after a subsequent KO Cup loss at Sheffield, but have also stressed it’s time for all involved with the Stars to come together.
Home form will be crucial to their possible success this year and their recent record against Thursday’s opponents on their own track is good.
Team boss Alex Brady said: “Everything feels a bit better at home, and we’re all confident that this is the night our season begins.
“A win here will make everything feel better and allow some of our early-season confidence to come back, and set us up for a tough second half of the month.
“We’ve had a rough start and we’re looking to put that right on Thursday. I’m confident we can, and confident in the ability of what we’ve got.
“The spirit hasn’t been dampened by what’s gone on so far, they’re all still together and they all want to perform. Thursday hopefully will prove that, and we need people behind us to give us the lift we need.”
The Stars’ result at Wolverhampton was put into some context when Belle Vue suffered a 26-point defeat at Monmore in the KO Cup on Monday, even though the meeting was abandoned with four races remaining.
For tonight, Brady has shuffled the riding order with Michael Palm Toft moving to No.5 whilst Krzysztof Kasprzak will now partner skipper Josh Pickering in the middle-order.
A further change to the order will follow later this month as Frederik Jakobsen will race his final match at reserve before moving up into the main body of the side.
There is also an aggregate bonus point up for grabs on Thursday, and although Wolves start with a healthy 56-34 advantage, last season’s equivalent fixtures resulted in Stars wins by margins of 20 and 36 points.
Wolves are unchanged from last Monday’s initial clash between the sides, with Scott Nicholls again stepping in as a guest for the injured Luke Becker.
King’s Lynn Stars: Nicolai Klindt, Thomas Jorgensen, Josh Pickering, Krzysztof Kasprzak, Michael Palm Toft, Frederik Jakobsen, Jason Edwards.
Wolverhampton Wolves: Sam Masters, Steve Worrall, Rory Schlein, Ryan Douglas, Scott Nicholls, Zach Cook, Leon Flint.
