King's Lynn put Peterborough to sword in the Premiership

Dersingham's Lewis Kerr bagged a paid maximum as King’s Lynn Stars beat local rivals Peterborough for the third time this season, 51-39, at the Adrian Flux Arena tonight.

The Minors & Brady Stars have already beaten the Panthers twice in the league cup, and they added this home Premiership triumph.

Lynn's top five all registered race victories and Kerr (11+1 points) was involved in all four 5-1 maximum results.

The visitors were bolstered by ex-Lynn rider Michael Palm Toft returning from injury while at reserve they handed a debut to No.8 Jordan Jenkins who was preferred to Jordan Palin.

New averages meant previous No.1 Niels-Kristian Iversen swapped riding positions with skipper Josh Pickering, the previous No.5.

After an early parade-free start at 7.30pm to beat the rain, Pickering celebrated the switch by winning the opening outing ahead of Palm Toft, Lynn's Thomas Jorgensen and opposing captain Scott Nicholls.

Lynn reserve Jack Thomas went off 15 metres behind the rest due to not making the start tapes. Visitor Benjamin Basso won this race ahead of Richie Worrall in a 2-4 to level matters.

In Heat 3 Ulrich Ostergaard, as Nicholls was in the opener, was warned for making an unsatisfactory start.

Ostergaard was then excluded for causing the overtaking Kerr to crash on bend four of the second lap. Kerr was swiftly up and palms raised, let Dane Ostergaard know what he thought of the move!

Richard Lawson and Kerr won the re-run to register the first maximum 5-1.

Iversen won the next heat ahead of GB veteran Chris Harris and Thomas as Lynn stretched their lead to 15-9.

The Kerr/Lawson combination came up trumps for another maximum over Palm Toft and Nicholls as Lynn led by 10.

First bend bunching saw Basso – on the outside – and his bike both hit the fence in a nasty spill. Despite clutching his thigh in agony, the away reserve was up in a couple of minutes.

All four riders were back, and Jorgensen crashed through the tapes to be excluded by referee Dave Watters and replaced by Worrall. Pickering won the re-run with Harris and Basso behind.

Hans Andersen edged a superb Danish derby ahead of Iversen, and Worrall, in a second successive shared 3-3 result.

Then Jorgensen superbly swooped using the outside dirt to win a thriller over Nicholls, with Thomas third, for Lynn to lead 30-18 at midway.

Kerr/Lawson put the hosts firmly in control with their third 5-1 together versus Harris/Basso.

This prompted ex-Stars boss Rob Lyon to put Palm Toft in as a tactical sub in Heat 10. The Dane could only manage third as Pickering completed his hat-trick by whizzing past Andersen in a 3-3 which made the scores 38-22.

Palm Toft's victory, Worrall's fall plus swift recovery and retirement, and third for Nicholls meant Peterborough bagged their first heat advantage since the second outing in Heat 11.

Following some track grading, and with a result safely secured, Andersen's second success lowered Lawson's colours as the Panthers notched consecutive 4-2s.

Iversen won the race 13 heat leader battle with Pickering's run ended by a last place.

Kerr completed his paid maximum by heading Worrall in a Heat 14 5-1, Lynn's fourth.

Lawson and Pickering lined up against Palm Toft and Andersen in Heat 15. The busy Pickering fell in an unsatisfactory start, then burst the tapes to go off 15 metres. Andersen and Palm Toft grabbed a consolation 1-5 ahead of third-spot Lawson.

King’s Lynn Stars: Josh Pickering (capt) 9, Thomas Jorgensen 4, Richard Lawson 10+2, Lewis Kerr 11+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 10, Richie Worrall 5+2, Jack Thomas 2.

Peterborough Panthers: Michael Palm Toft 11+2, Scott Nicholls (capt) 1, Hans Andersen 12, Ulrich Ostergaard 0, Chris Harris 6+1, Benjamin Basso 8+1, Jordan Jenkins 1.

Fastest time: Heat 1, Pickering, 60.35 seconds.