King’s Lynn Stars v Ipswich Witches

Report

KING’S Lynn established a six-point advantage over local rivals Ipswich to leave their Premiership KO Cup semi-final well poised ahead of Thursday’s Foxhall return.

The Stars won 48-42 at the Adrian Flux Arena with Czech racer Jan Kvech starring at reserve with 16+1, whilst Chris Harris dropped just two points as he scored 13 from five rides.

Kvech and Harris teamed up for a vital 5-1 in Heat 14 to build the lead again for the home side after the Witches had worked hard to get back level from six down as they went into the closing stages.

Richard Lawson with nine was the Stars’ other main scorer, whilst Emil Sayfutdinov collected11+1 for the visitors and both Tom Brennan and Danny King notched ten.

Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “I’m happy with the win, and it’s morale boosting to get a win against Ipswich at any given time even though they were a little bit weaker.

“We’ve had our own problems this year already, so we’ll take the win. Six points isn’t ideally where we wanted to be, but we’ve proved already this year that we can go to Ipswich and do some damage, so I think it’s all to play for.

“The win was the main thing, and at least we’ve got a lead to go with and something to fight for. We’ve definitely got the riders to do it, and it’s up to them to produce it on the night and take us through to the Final.”

Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “I’m disappointed not to win, a couple of the boys had tough nights. I feel we should be good enough to win there still even missing Jason (Doyle) and Dan (Thompson), so to come away with a defeat is disappointing.

“Six points is not disastrous, and it leaves the tie finely poised and exciting going into Thursday.

“I can’t complain about the effort from the team, it was superb as always and it will need to be the same on Thursday and it will be a big task to pull the points back, but we are more than capable of doing it.”

KING’S LYNN 48: Jan Kvech 16+2, Chris Harris 13, Richard Lawson 9, Niels-Kristian Iversen 4+1, Peter Kildemand 3+1, Nicolai Klindt 3+1, Ashton Boughen 0.
IPSWICH 42: Emil Sayfutdinov 11+1, Tom Brennan 10, Danny King 10, Jordan Jenkins 7, Adam Ellis 2+1, Simon Lambert 2+1, Jason Doyle r/r.

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Photo credit: DEREK LEADER

Watch the action from Heat 3 (courtesy of RE-RUN PRODUCTIONS)