King's Lynn Stars boss believes British speedway development is in good shape
King’s Lynn team boss Peter Schroeck believes British speedway development is in good shape despite the pummelling the shale sport has taken from coronavirus.
This year’s British Youth Championship managed multiple rounds in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak.
And Lynn helped homegrown talent by being one of the few UK tracks to host a 2020 event with crowds, with a few hundred fans attending during the August bank holiday weekend.
The youngsters overall provided a welcome respite from the pandemic considering all domestic leagues were postponed this season.
Minors & Brady Stars manager Schroeck said: “I’m a big, big fan of the British youth, as everybody knows because of my training schools.
“Ten to twelve of them have all come through my school, like little Jody Scott.
“There are lots of kids who have come through and it’s quite nice to see. I’m a great believer in getting kids involved at the top level.”
Schroeck is in the correct company since the King’s Lynn Young Stars filtered current favourites Robert Lambert and Lewis Kerr through their system back in the National League days.
In recent years Sutton Bridge-based Lewis Rose and other teenagers or young men from over the Lincolnshire border such as Darren Mallett, Simon Lambert and Adam Allott have also featured at Saddlebow Road.
This tradition of backing young domestic riding talent – preferably local – runs all the way to their latest East Anglian recruit, Elliot Kelly, the under-19 2020 British finalist who turns 17 in January.
German-born Schroeck added that there are numerous benefits to growing your own: “It’s good for their parents, too, to see that it is not just a ‘Mickey Mouse’ sport, where you can get to the level of Lewis Kerr and make money from it.”
Reflecting back on Lynn’s experience of running a British Youth Championship round at the Adrian Flux Arena, he remarked: “There were a couple of 250cc kids I know, Max James and Luke Harrison: that was a great final they were involved in.
“They were bouncing off each other! I think the meeting went extremely well.
“I saw the 250cc World Final in Denmark last year: when you see what they do over there! You also look at Poland and how they look after their youngsters as they’re the future, at the end of the day.
“You have to keep the growth going: that’s the most important thing, to keep your foundation in the right order.”