King’s Lynn Stars v Belle Vue Aces

ROBERT Lambert made a sensational return to King’s Lynn as the Stars defeated league leaders Belle Vue in a dramatic Heat 15 at the Adrian Flux Arena.

Lambert overtook both Brady Kurtz and Dan Bewley in the decider to clinch a 46-44 victory to move the home side off the bottom of the Sports Insure Premiership table.

He picked up 14 points from five rides on his first AFA appearance for four years, whilst reserves Simon Lambert and Anders Rowe both racked up 13+1 from seven starts apiece, outscoring the Aces 26-1 in that department.

Emil Breum was withdrawn with an elbow injury, whilst Kurtz (12+1) and Bewley (11) led the way for the Aces.

King’s Lynn boss David Hoggart said: “Robert coming in has given us fresh impetus, and there’s a different atmosphere in the pits.

“The win has been a long time coming, and frankly it should have come before because the capabilities were there, but there were lots of reasons why it didn’t happen.

“The beauty of having Robert in the team is that he’s very grounded, his family are around him, and he’s got lots of support from everybody around him. He’s got an infectious personality and that’s already spread through the team in just a couple of meetings.”

Kurtz said: “Some of the lads were struggling for one reason or another, but when all is said and done, we win and lose as a team and unfortunately tonight didn’t go to plan for us.

“It’s not a disaster in terms of the play-offs because we are already guaranteed our place but it would be great if we could finish our season at the top, to send out a statement if nothing else.

“We’ve still got the aggregate point, and we’ve got the Bank Holiday against Leicester to look forward to so we’ll regroup over the weekend and, hopefully, bounce back at home come Monday.”