KING’S Lynn make the trip north to Manchester for a rapid return against Belle Vue in the Sports Insure Premiership on Monday (8pm).

The Aces were 49-41 winners at the Adrian Flux Arena on Thursday as the MacInnes Stars gave an improved performance but were unable to hold the league leaders in the second half of the meeting.

Start-time for the return fixture has been pushed back by half an hour to 8pm in order to mitigate potential traffic issues caused by Manchester City’s victory parade after their Treble-clinching Champions League success on Saturday.

The defending champions have proved to be strong on their home circuit this season following an early blip against Sheffield, and last week’s 55-35 win over a powerful Ipswich side showed they are fully tuned in to the National Speedway Stadium track.

An unchanged one-to-seven is named by the Stars, who are continuing to assess their options going forward, with Artem Laguta racing his first away match for the club on a circuit which he is expected to find to his liking.

Co-promoter Alex Brady has provided a fitness update on club captain Josh Pickering, with the hope being that he will be able to resume racing in the very near future.

Brady said: “Josh underwent a week of intensive physio in Poland, and what was actually causing the problem in the end wasn’t a trapped nerve.

“He actually banged two shoulder bones together, so a bruised bone is actually what’s keeping him out now.

“But he’s been undergoing some laser treatment and lots of other stuff as well, so he’s hoping to be back at some point this week.”

The Stars are back at the Adrian Flux Arena this Thursday when they face Wolverhampton in the first of two home matches in five nights.

BELLE VUE: Dan Bewley, Tom Brennan, Jaimon Lidsey, Charles Wright, Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jake Mulford.
KING’S LYNN: Artem Laguta, Thomas Jorgensen, Frederik Jakobsen, Nicolai Klindt, Michael Palm Toft, Kye Thomson, Jason Edwards.