King’s Lynn ‘Roger Warnes Transport’ Stars boss Rob Lyon was pleased with his new-look side after racing to a 50-46 victory over Wroclaw on Friday night.
Lynn, racing in their first competitive meeting as a team, gained an early advantage with returnee Mads Korneliussen and guest for the night, Scott Nicholls racing to a 4-2 advantage in the second race.
Track conditions caught the Lynn riders out in the early stages and their lead disappeared within one race. Polish wonder-kid Maksym Drabik announced himself to the Adrian Flux Arena with a big win in heat 3, he was followed home by GP star Maciej Janowski which put the Stars behind.
Racing was close between the two teams, but the Stars couldn’t find a way to reduce Wroclaw’s lead in the first half of the meeting. Heat 8 was the turning point for Lyon’s side though. Captain Rory Schlein got his first win of the night and that started a run of race win for the home side.
Robert Lambert won heat 9 and Iversen won 10, which was awarded after Drabik brought down the Dane in the final stages of the race. Iversen was able to walk away from the crash, but did suffer a lower leg injury.
Two big race wins for the Stars came after the interval and it put them four points clear. Korneliussen beat World Champion Tai Woffinden in 11, which was followed by a 5-1 from reserve Carl Wilkinson and new signing Kai Huckenbeck in 12.
Heats 14 & 15 went the way of the visitors, who levelled up the meeting with one race to go. Heat 14 was race of the night between GP stars Iversen and Woffinden. Iversen made the gate and led, but a brave move from Woffinden saw him pass the Dane on the outside if turn two, much to the amazement of the Adrian Flux Arena crowd.
The battle of number one’s was an even one with Lynn’s Iversen and Sparta’s Woffinden both scoring 10 points each.
Lynn ended the meeting with a big 5-1 from the Nicholls, Korneliussen partnership and the victory will be a boost for the side before they open their season against Lakeside next Thursday at the Adrian Flux Arena.
Boss Lyon said after the meeting: “It’s always good to have a race meeting of some description before the real stuff starts and it was a tough one against a Polish team.
“I though it was an entertaining meeting and the boys came out on top. If Robert hadn’t have had an engine failure then we would have won by even more. Scotty and Mads puled out a cracking race in heat 16 so it was a great result. It was a good workout for all of them so I am very happy with that and we can build on it for next week against Lakeside.”
King’s Lynn ‘Roger Warnes Transport’ Stars Niels-Kristian Iversen 10, Scott Nicholls 10, Mads Korneliussen 8+1, Carl Wilkinson 7, Rory Schlein 5+1, Robert Lambert 5, Kai Huckenbeck 3+1, Lewis Rose 2+1
WTS Sparta Wroclaw Tai Woffinden 10, Maksym Drabik 9, Maciej Janowski 7+1, Szymon Wozniak 6+1, Nick Morris 5+2, Damian Drozoz 5, Tomasz Jedrzejak 4
