KING’S Lynn finally recorded their first away win of the Premiership season with a strong display to take Thursday’s A47 derby 52-38 at Peterborough.
The Minors & Brady Stars have experienced frustration with several near misses in recent weeks, but this time they got everything right to the delight of their travelling support.
The result moves them to within nine points of the play-off places, and still with a big job on to reach the top four, but it did gain ground on Sheffield whose home match with Belle Vue was rained off.
That could have been a fate to befall the Stars’ own meeting, which was delayed by 40 minutes due to heavy rain earlier in the day.
Promoter Buster Chapman - the owner of both clubs - worked wonders with his track staff to get the circuit into raceable condition, and remarkably once the action got underway, the track produced times close to track record pace, and both teams got stuck in to produce a well contested derby.
The Stars’ victory was ultimately built on a strong start to the meeting with two 5-1s and two 4-2s in the first five races to go 21-9 up.
The first maximum came courtesy of Richie Worrall and Nicolai Klindt in Heat 3 as they got the better of Hans Andersen on the first lap, and they followed up in the next through Frederik Jakobsen and Richard Lawson when Scott Nicholls suffered mechanical trouble at the start.
Lawson put in one of his best performances of the season, dropping just one point from five rides, and the Stars had control in all areas of the team with the biggest Panthers threat coming from spectacular Dane Benjamin Basso.
He won three races as the home side looked to stage a comeback, one of which saw him joined by reserve Jordan Jenkins for a surprise 5-1 over a previously unbeaten Thomas Jorgensen in Heat 8.
Lawson put the Stars six points to the good with a win over Andersen in Heat 9, although that was cancelled out in Heat 10 in which Basso, Worrall and Chris Harris staged a fine battle up front with Basso coming through for the win.
But the key result came in Heat 12 when the Panthers sent Harris out for a tactical substitute outing, only for a superb ride from Jakobsen and Worrall to see the Stars take a 5-1 with the Stars duo team-riding superbly.
A very impressive Lawson kept the ball rolling by winning Heat 13, edging out Harris on the first lap, which all but ensured a victory for the visitors even though skipper Josh Pickering was relegated to the back.
But there was still important business over the last two races with the Stars requiring maximum league points from the meeting.
And their task in that respect was made more straightforward when Andersen, having made a good start, lifted spectacularly on the back straight and came down, miraculously being avoided by the following riders.
Klindt then held off Nicholls to win the re-run and the Stars’ points were safe, before they added a further 4-2 in the last race with Lawson completing a great night’s work and Worrall taking third place having been passed by Harris.
Manager Alex Brady said: “It was much needed, our first away win in the league this season, and there were a few hairy moments along the way, but we took control early doors which was what we wanted to do.
“They came back at us in the middle part, but we showed some good resolve and came out on top fairly comfortably in the end, so I’m very pleased.
“It’s been a long time in the making. We’ve said all season that if we click together we’ll do the business, and we performed well, and I’m delighted to finally get that away win.
“Although it’s a long shot, mathematically we’re still in with a shout, so we’ll keep fighting for as long as we can.”
The Stars are inactive on Bank Holiday Monday and will ironically hope for a favour from the Panthers, who host Sheffield, whilst the return fixture against Peterborough comes up next Thursday (September 1) at the Adrian Flux Arena.
PREMIERSHIP PETERBOROUGH 38: Benjamin Basso 13, Chris Harris 10, Hans Andersen 6+1, Scott Nicholls 6, Jordan Jenkins 3+1, Simon Lambert 0, Michael Palm Toft r/r KING'S LYNN 52: Richard Lawson 13+1, Frederick Jakobsen 10, Richie Worrall 8+1, Thomas Jorgensen 8, Nicolai Klindt 7+1, Josh Pickering 5, Jason Edwards 1+1 Premiership points: Peterborough 0 King's Lynn 4
