The Stars under ominous grey skies built a healthy 27-8 lead in Heat 6, when drizzle set in. Luckily this cleared as quickly as it had descended, and the Diamonds never got to grips with the track thereafter.

Stars team manager Rob Lyon said: "I'm relieved the meeting went ahead. It was touch-and-go at one point. Luckily it was the right decision to go ahead and we got a good result.

"We needed it, really. We've had two weeks without a meeting, home or away.

"Our riders were solid through the side.

"It was unbelievable that the forecast was good and that the weather turned so badly.

"We had rain an hour beforehand and then during the meeting, which made the track very heavy and tricky.

"One or two of their riders were a little bit unsure of it, more of the top end.

"Jason King typified the attitude of getting on with it and having a go at it."

King provided the visitors' few high spots of the night with a double-point tactical ride earning Newcastle their sole heat win (a 7-2) in the penultimate outing.

Lyon added: "Both sides need commending for going ahead with it.

"George English, their team manager, is quite a level-headed sort of guy and was quite willing for the meeting to go ahead.

"Mick Bates is quite a strong referee and is of the view that once you start, you try and get through a meeting.

"If the referee is weak, some teams try and dictate and say they aren't willing to ride.

"Our riders showed determination and commitment, and hopefully that'll push us forward and we'll get back in the top few places.

"We're starting to get back to making the Norfolk Arena a fortress, we've done that for the last couple of meetings.

"I said it would take two or three months to get this team firing."

A shared opening heat provided no guide to Lynn's later dominance. Kozza Smith and John Oliver took a 5-1 in the next outing – the first of Lynn's ten maximums on the night.

The most bizarre of these was in an uncontested re-run 5-0 Heat 4 win by Smith and Rusty Harrison when Christian Henry and Sean Stoddart both fell early on.

With neither of the visiting side completing two laps, the referee had no choice but to order a re-run excluding the Diamonds duo.

A 5-1 from Smith and Shaun Tacey at the midway stage gave Lynn an imposing 35-12 advantage as Lynn surged, making it four successive maximums with Tom Topinka/Simon Lambert, Kevin Doolan/Tacey and Harrison/ Oliver completing the set.

A rare shared race followed from Smith's fall and exclusion.

Sandwiching King's show of defiance were two 5-1s to close proceedings from Doolan/Harrison, and Topinka/Tacey over King and Richard Juul.

At numerous stages Newcatle rode the surface gingerly.