The mood in the Stars’ camp is much brighter

Spring is upon us, and at times in the past few weeks, it has felt like summer, and the mood in the King’s Lynn Stars camp has been much brighter.As we enter a new month in May, a change in the riding order for the Stars has seen Chris Harris jump from reserve straight up to the number 1 position, while captain Nicolai Klindt has dropped down to reserve.I’m sure Nicolai won’t be happy with this position, but it does come with big responsibility, as we know, the make up of this side has meant we will always have a strong reserve, but added pressure on that reserve to constantly perform.In Nicolai, we have somebody who will be 100 per cent committed to fulfilling this role.Having disposed of the Oxford Spires in front of the TNT cameras with ease, we started the month with a trip to Foxhall, to take on the old enemy Ipswich in a Bank Holiday afternoon fixture.The Stars were full of confidence, but we were fully aware just how strong the Witches are at home, having rattled up scores of 67, 65 and 60 already this season. Comparisons have been made to the 1998 Ipswich side, and there have been murmurings that the team could go the full season unbeaten, but King’s Lynn immediately took them to task and after seven heats they found themselves six points ahead. Even the most ardent of Stars fans could never have imagined this scenario, nor could we get carried away as the firepower of the Witches, particularly at home, was still in full view.As it turned out, we started to run out of steam, and the Witches came back strongly in the second half of the meeting to take a 53-37 victory. You could argue that this was expected, not because the Stars are a bad team, but more how powerful the home team can be.What King’s Lynn have done is put the proverbial cat among the pigeons, and proved to the rest of the league that they should hold no fear. Previous away fixtures have seen us struggle and under perform, but we can come away from Ipswich with an element of pride. Ultimately we have lost, but we have battled to the end and provided them with the closest result they have so far seen at home.Our battles will be with Oxford, Birmingham and Leicester and these are the results which will define our season, but we can move on from this with an element of confidence. Our next meeting will see us travel to Leicester Lions on Thursday, May 15, a fixture we certainly need to be aiming to win before we host Sheffield Tigers on Monday, May 19.We have overcome our Sheffield hoodoo in recent times and we must be looking to continue our good home form with victory against the Tigers where we will be locking horns again with our former skippers Josh Pickering and Lewis Kerr. Hopefully, we can be celebrating at least four points from these two fixtures and pushing us into the play-off positions.It was another successful evening for the reformed King’s Lynn Young Stars as they made it two wins out of two with a 52-38 win against the Birmingham Bulls which saw them take the aggregate bonus point.It was a difficult evening for Max Perry and Ashton Vale, who picked up knocks which resulted in their participation in the meeting ending early, but it enabled other riders to step up to the occasion.Jody Scott and Luke Harrison were superb, and Cooper Rushen continued to grow his stock with a fine 17 from reserve, but special mention must go to Calum Mitchell who recorded 6+3 from reserve, a score which isn’t to be underestimated.Calum is new to the sport of speedway, having participated in motocross, and still being involved. Having only a few practice laps under his belt, it is testament to his commitment and ambition that he has come so far in such a short passage of time. We can only hope he continues in the same vein and proves to be a valuable asset to the young side.Saturday evening also saw the first round of the Speedway Grand Prix Series in Landshut, Germany and as King’s Lynn fans, our eyes were firmly fixed on the fortunes of both Jan Kvech and Robert Lambert.Having secured a silver medal in 2024, Rob was looking to start the series in style and continue where he left off.Having finished third in the sprint race earlier in the day, it looked good for Rob moving into the meeting. Rob certainly had plenty of speed, but it appeared his gating was letting him down on a track which needed a good start.He picked up 11 points which is an encouraging start but he may be disappointed it wasn’t more.Our very own Jan Kvech also had an encouraging start to the series. Having only picked up one point from his opening three rides, he went on to record five from his last two, which will surely encourage him as we move on to Warsaw, Poland in a couple of weeks before we round out the month with a trip to his homeland.Our fingers are crossed for both guys to move up the standings before the end of the month.