Wolverhampton Wolves v King’s Lynn Stars

WOLVERHAMPTON held off a strong King’s Lynn challenge to come through with a 49-41 victory at Monmore Green.

It was a significant result in the play-off race as Wolves are now 12 points clear of the Stars, who do have two matches in hand but left frustrated that they had not secured at least one league point.

A 5-1 from Wolves duo Drew Kemp and Ryan Douglas in Heat 14 suddenly extended the lead to eight points on the night, confirming match victory, before Sam Masters won the final race.

Said Masters: “It was important that we did that. Not only us getting the win, but them leaving with nothing is pretty big when you look at the table now.

“We always knew it was going to be tough without Nick (Morris – illness) but we worked hard as a team and I’m proud of the boys tonight.”

Masters (13+1) and Luke Becker led the way for the hosts, whilst guest Kyle Howarth impressed for the Stars on his old home track with 9+2.

Stars boss Alex Brady said: “At Heat 10 when we went for the final track grade we felt we were in a position to go and win it, so to come away without a single point is a bitter pill to swallow.

“Wolverhampton are masters of this circuit, but I feel that we didn’t perhaps learn as quickly as we should have done from a few of those rides.

“We were overshooting bend two too often and allowing their riders to come up the inside of us, which is disappointing because we spoke about the importance of that.”

WOLVERHAMPTON 49: Sam Masters 13+1, Luke Becker 12, Ryan Douglas 8+3, Steve Worrall 6+1, Leon Flint 6+1, Drew Kemp 4, Nick Morris r/r.
KING’S LYNN 41: Kyle Howarth 9+2, Richard Lawson 8+1, Richie Worrall 7+1, Josh Pickering 5+1, Thomas Jorgensen 5+1, Lewis Kerr 5, Jason Edwards 2+1.

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Photo credit: STEVE FEENEY