Weakened Stars post second win in a week

King’s Lynn completed a good week’s work with a second victory as they raced to a 48-42 win over Oxford on Thursday night.In an entertaining meeting at the Adrian Flux Arena, the final scoreline didn’t tell the full story of the PSH Environmental Stars’ performance as they dominated for long spells.Indeed, it looked for some time as though they could even challenge for the aggregate point despite an 18-point defeat at Cowley last week.A late rally from the Spires saw them protect that point and take some reward from the contest, where two weakened sides put on a good show.Lynn’s start to the meeting could hardly have been better as they stormed to two 5-1s and two 4-2s in the opening four races.Jan Kvech was a clear winner of the opening race with guest Richard Lawson supplying third place, and a 5-1 followed in Heat 2 as captain for the night Lewis Kerr and Anders Rowe got the better of Ashton Boughen on the opening bend.A competitive Heat 3 was next up, with Patryk Wojdylo recovering from a fall in the initial staging to hit the front whilst the sparks flew behind as Simon Lambert threatened to go from fourth to second – but after a close battle with Charles Wright, he settled for getting the better of Chris Harris for third.Stars then added a surprise 5-1 in Heat 4 with Lawson and Rowe collecting a 5-1 over Polish star Maciej Janowski and that put them 18-6 up and with one eye already on that aggregate point.Oxford then responded with maximum points of their own from Janowski and Erik Riss in Heat 5, and Janowski then produced a classy effort to pass Kvech off the final bend of Heat 6 with youngster Ben Trigger in a useful third place. Lawson dominated a shared Heat 7 before the Stars rebuilt their advantage in the next as Kvech and Rowe got the better of Riss from the gate to make it 29-19. And it looked like things would get even better in Heat 9 when Wojdylo and Lambert hit the front ahead of Janowski, who then rode superbly to pick off the Stars riders one by one around the outside on laps three and four.Heat 10 was stopped prematurely when Harris took a heavy fall on turn three, but fortunately the Spires captain was able to walk away after brief treatment. Stars had held a 5-1 at the time but they could have been frustrated by a fast gate by Wright in the re-run, only for Kvech to sweep around the outside at the end of lap one.And Janowski’s winning run was ended in the next with a super 5-1 from Lawson and Kerr, which took the Stars to within two points of their opponents on aggregate.The Spires hit back in Heat 12 as Harris and Boughen gated on a 5-1 before Kerr came through on turn three to split the pairing, and a cracking Heat 13 saw Riss make the start ahead of Lawson, who had to fight hard throughout the race as he attempted to pass the German and also fend off Janowski, with the Stars guest superbly flying around Riss on the run to the line.At that stage, the aggregate gap was four points but credit to the Spires for their finale as Boughen popped out of the start in Heat 14 and was well team-ridden home by Wright despite the challenge of Kerr, before Harris and Janowski recorded another 5-1 in Heat 15 as the excellent Lawson was forced out on the first lap. Manager Rob Lyon said: “I think we were comfortable all the way through and at one point we were chasing the aggregate.“It got very close at one point but fair play to Oxford, they kept pulling it back. “But we always felt in control of the meeting, which was the main thing to get another win on the board, so we’re happy with that.“Richard is a superb rider, he’s so reliable and he loves this place as you saw tonight. It was a great score from him but a good team performance overall.” The busy home run for the Stars continues next week with back-to-back visits of Belle Vue on Wednesday and Sheffield on Thursday.KING’S LYNN 48: Richard Lawson 13, Jan Kvech 12, Lewis Kerr 8+1, Patryk Wojdylo 7, Anders Rowe 6+3, Simon Lambert 2+1, Benjamin Basso r/r.OXFORD 42: Maciej Janowski 14+2, Charles Wright 8+1, Erik Riss 7+1, Chris Harris 7+1, Ashton Boughen 5, Ben Trigger 1, Rohan Tungate r/r.Oxford win the aggregate point.