King’s Lynn Stars v Northampton Foxes

KING’S Lynn overcame Northampton 48-42 at the Adrian Flux Arena after being taken to a last-heat decider by the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership newcomers.

The Foxes actually led by two points with three races remaining, but home duo Max Fricke and Jan Kvech combined for two crucial 5-1s in the closing stages to get the Stars over the line.

They had been reduced to five riders with Jody Scott pulling out due to a back strain, leaving them fielding only one rider in two races as they were already without Paco Castagna.

Kvech (12+2), Fricke (12) and Ben Cook (11+1) all reached double figures for Lynn whilst reserve Kye Thomson (9+1) and skipper Nicolai Klindt (9) led the scoring for the visitors.

Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a little too close for comfort, because I’d probably been looking at around a ten-point win, with respect to Northampton because I always felt they would be reasonable opposition for us.

“But to come out with a win, given what happened with Jody, was the most important thing, and it was nice to get it over the line.

“We’ll take the six points and we had a good win at Northampton the last time we were there, so hopefully we can repeat that performance.”

Foxes boss Chris Adams said: “It was a good performance, it’s a little hard to take that we lost, but it was good to have a meeting where we had a full team, and we just need all of us firing at the same time.

“Away from home I’ll take that result, but it’s just a pity that we couldn’t quite cross the line with a win.

“King’s Lynn were just a little too strong in Heats 13 and 15 although Nicolai nearly made it off gate 4 in Heat 13, but Max blocked his run, and it was same again in Heat 15 when we just didn’t get out of the start.”

KING’S LYNN 48: Jan Kvech 12+2, Max Fricke 12, Ben Cook 11+1, Cooper Rushen 9, Chris Harris 3+2, Jody Scott 1, Paco Castagna r/r.
NORTHAMPTON 42: Kye Thomson 9+1, Nicolai Klindt 9, Jonas Jeppesen 8+2, Niels-Kristian Iversen 7, Jaimon Lidsey 5, Troy Batchelor 4+2, Luke Harrison 0.

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Photo credit: DEREK LEADER