King’s Lynn Stars v Ipswich Witches

Report

DEPLETED King’s Lynn fought back from eight points down to snatch a stunning 46-44 victory over ROWE Motor Oil Premiership leaders Ipswich.

Czech charger Jan Kvech (18+1) and captain Nicolai Klindt (15+1) inspired a remarkable Stars performance without two of their top five riders as they took the win despite the Witches having led 31-23 after Heat 9.

Klindt and Chris Harris levelled the scores with maximum points in Heat 12 when Emil Sayfutdinov suffered mechanical trouble, and Kvech defeated Jason Doyle in both Heats 13 and 15 to clinch the result.

Reserve Dan Thompson top-scored for the Witches with 10+1, who are now turning their thoughts towards Thursday’s KO Cup clash between the clubs.

Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “It’s incredible and I’m still struggling to get my head around it really, because of the team we had to put out being patched up and Ipswich coming at full-strength relatively speaking.

“But what a fantastic performance, and it will go down in the annals of history for King’s Lynn as one of the most backs-to-the-wall performance we’ve ever had.

“As a team, I was really proud of the boys tonight. There’s always a local rivalry with Ipswich, and it’s always been like that, so to get three victories over them at home is a nice feeling for the fans and the club.”

Witches manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a disappointing away defeat after getting ourselves in a good position. The night started off tough with Danny (King) and Dan (Thompson) both having punctures and shredding tubes.

“We managed to overcome that and get into a good position, but after King’s Lynn used the tactical sub we dropped away at the end of the meeting. We are usually very strong in the final heats but tonight we weren’t.

“We didn’t make starts in the later heats, but the boys fought hard. The big turning point was in heat 12 when Emil had a bike problem on the start line and that doesn’t help when one of your main riders is out.”

KING’S LYNN 46: Jan Kvech 18+1, Nicolai Klindt 15+1, Richard Lawson 9, Chris Harris 3+1, Simon Lambert 1, Jody Scott 0, Niels-Kristian Iversen r/r.
IPSWICH 44: Dan Thompson 10+1, Tom Brennan 9+2, Jason Doyle 9, Danny King 5+2, Emil Sayfutdinov 5, Adam Ellis 4+1, Jason Edwards 2+2.

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Photo credit: DEREK LEADER