King’s Lynn back in home action against Sheffield at the Adrian Flux Arena after defeat against Leicester on their travels
King's Lynn suffered more frustration on their travels with a 52-38 defeat at Leicester meaning they left the East Midlands having lost both match and aggregate points.
The PSH Environmental Stars were left to rue a spell of three consecutive races from Heats 4 to 6 where they conceded a hat-trick of 5-1s, although they stayed right in the meeting until the closing stages.
Czech Republic star Jan Kvech took seven rides to score paid-13 in an all-action display and Richard Lawson was also great value for paid-10, but it was a night where none of the six Stars could find full consistency.
Lynn boss Rob Lyon said: “We didn’t have quite enough race winners, so we just fell short, and a couple of refereeing decisions went against us, which can be crucial in a match like this.
“Leicester were just a little bit too good for us tonight, and decisions such as Heat 13 are the sort of things that can make a difference in a match, but that’s speedway I guess.
“Rider replacement is tough, it’s a bit of a juggle, and it’s the fifth averaged rider in the team, but it’s the only option for us at the moment because with all these teams racing, which is an issue in the Premiership itself, and you have very little option to fill that position.”
They did take an early lead with Nicolai Klindt becoming their first winner in Heat 2 before Kvech and Lawson combined to great effect for a 5-1 in Heat 3, Lawson finding a way inside Ryan Douglas for second place.
But the match began to turn immediately after as Niels-Kristian Iversen crashed on the top bend in Heat 4 whilst battling with Sam Masters, and the re-run saw Klindt on the wrong end of a 5-1 against Masters and Joe Thompson.
Stars felt Leicester got the benefit of an unsatisfactory start in Heat 5 with Douglas not penalised for movement as he and Kyle Howarth took a 5-1 over Chris Harris and Klindt, and then the Lynn duo of Iversen and Ashton Boughen were blocked out by Max Fricke in the early stages of Heat 6 as Luke Becker came through for another maximum.
That gave the Stars a ten-point gap to chase, but they pegged things for three races with Kvech winning Heat 7 although Lawson was just kept at the back by Drew Kemp.
Kvech took a tactical substitute ride in Heat 9 but his combination with Iversen was thwarted by Ryan Douglas, which looked to put Leicester in full control – only for Kvech and Lawson to record another superb 5-1 in Heat 10 with home captain Fricke unusually relegated to third place on his own track,
But Stars could make no further headway, although Klindt worked hard to split Kemp and Masters in Heat 11, leaving the margin at eight points, and they could consider themselves unfortunate in Heat 13.
Masters came down on the first bend with any contact appearing to come from his team-mate Fricke – but all four riders were invited back, and the home duo duly took their second chance to notch a match-clinching 5-1.
Lawson won Heat 14 ahead of Kyle Howarth with Ashton Boughen, whose last two rides were encouraging, in third place, but the Lions put a final gloss on the result with another 5-1 in Heat 15, this time from Douglas and Masters after a decent scrap with Lawson.
The Stars are back in action at the Adrian Flux Arena tonight with what promises to be a cracker against Sheffield, who ended the 100 per cent record of Ipswich on Thursday with a 46-44 win at Owlerton.
Leicester 52: Ryan Douglas 12+1, Sam Masters 10+2, Max Fricke 10, Luke Becker 6+1, Drew Kemp 6+1, Kyle Howarth 5, Joe Thompson 3+2.
King's Lynn 38: Jan Kvech 11+2, Richard Lawson 9+1, Nicolai Klindt 8+2, Niels-Kristian Iversen 4, Chris Harris 3, Ashton Boughen 3, Ben Cook r/r.
Leicester win the aggregate point
