TEAM boss Peter Schroeck declared himself content as King’s Lynn's late flurry denied derby rivals Ipswich all four points in a 47-43 defeat.

The Minors & Brady Stars had found themselves 16 points down after nine heats with big hitters Craig Cook and Erik Riss labouring in wet conditions following a downpour an hour before tapes up at the Adrian Flux Arena.

That led to the start of the meeting being delayed until after 8pm and the hosts must have thought Lady Luck had abandoned them.

Ty Proctor went through the tapes in heat one with replacement Lewis Bridger judged to have crossed the white line and excluded from the re-run.

Thomas Jorgensen led the fightback with some stellar blasts around the outside but three Ipswich 5-1s put King’s Lynn well and truly on the back foot with Witches reserve Anders Rowe in scintillating form.

A Stars 5-1 was then wiped out when Lewis Kerr suffered a problem and Jorgensen’s engine failed in the run up to the line, allowing Danny King to sweep in for the chequered flag in heat nine.

Cook and Riss then came to the party and did not drop another point to an opponent in their final three heats and the gap was closed sufficiently by three Stars 5-1s to send Ipswich home with three rather than four points.

“I feel like they went away with nothing in the end, even though they got the win,” said Schroeck.

“That extra point was important to me and it could make all the difference in the end.

“They came to the party a little bit earlier than we did, particularly from a gating point of view and from there it was a lottery out there because the track was difficult at first.

“The boys started to find the right set-ups and we got there in the end so I am quite pleased overall.

“We were unlucky with Lewis being in front and getting a puncture, I think we had every problem you could get.

“That was why I put Cookie and Erik back into heat 15. We need three heat leaders who are going to be the business for me and the confidence was quite high with those three by the end.”


THE FULL STORY...

The bad start began with Proctor breaking the tapes and his replacement Bridger was excluded for crossing the white line in a 5-1 led by King.

Rowe passed the swift-gating Bridger before roaring away with a shared reserve race but Jorgensen took the home side's first chequered flag in style by blasting around the boards to surge from third to first in another shared heat.

Rowe gated to make it back-to-back wins with success over Riss but Jorgensen led the fightback with Kerr putting the squeeze on Jason Crump who then fell in a much-needed Stars 5-1.

That joy was short lived, though, as King and Drew Kemp retaliated from the tapes in heat six, the first of three Ipswich maximums in a row.

The Stars seemed set to respond in the ninth but Kerr locked up from the front and then retired and Jorgensen also suffered mechanical trouble on the last bend, King dashing through to claim an unlikely Witches 4-2.

Cook looked more like himself in the 10th, pouncing when guest Ulrich Ostergaard moved inside to lead a heat advantage and Riss also benefited from a drying track to claim heat 11 but it was shared after Rowe got by Bridger at the back.

The game was up when Rowe sailed to success in the 12th despite the best efforts of Jorgensen but the Stars refused to give in and Cook and Riss then Kerr and Bridger slammed in 5-1s to put Ipswich’s bonus point in doubt.

Cook jetted away in the 15th and Riss, who had got out of shape and passed by both Witches on turn three, recovered to dart around the outside and claim the maximum that stifled Ipswich celebrations.

KING’S LYNN 43: Craig Cook 11, Erik Riss 10+2, Thomas Jorgensen 10, Lewis Kerr 5+1, Lewis Bridger 4+1, Ty Proctor 2, Ryan Kinsley 1+1.

IPSWICH 47: Anders Rowe 12+2, Danny King 12, Jason Crump 7+1, Cameron Heeps 6+1, Ulrich Ostergaard 6+1, Drew Kemp 4+1, Nicolai Klindt r/r.