KING’S Lynn went down to a 48-42 defeat against Belle Vue in their home opener as a lack of consistency proved costly in the final analysis.
With three races to go the PSH Environmental Stars held a four-point advantage, but the meeting turned against them in Heats 13 and 14 as the Aces staged a dramatic turnaround.
Five of the seven Stars riders won at least one race – with Benjamin Basso and Rising Star Anders Rowe both taking the flag twice – but none of them were able to reach double figures.
That was in contrast with the Aces where the in-form Brady Kurtz dropped just one point from five rides, and he was backed up by Dan Bewley with paid-12 and impressive displays in the middle order from Ben Cook and Jaimon Lidsey.
It was the Stars who took the early advantage thanks to a 4-2 in Heat 2 with Rowe neatly rounding Connor Mountain in the early stages whilst Patryk Wojdylo supplied third place.
Basso held off Cook to win Heat 3 but Kurtz and Bewley were already looking impressive, each winning their first two rides, and after Bewley got around Vadim Tarasenko to take Heat 4, he then took Heat 6 by a distance with team-mate Mountain holding second place until Stars skipper Tobiasz Musielak snatched it on the line.
But the Aces did take the lead with a 5-1 in Heat 7 from Lidsey and Cook, who outgated Tarasenko and Wojdylo, before the Stars fought back in Heat 9 with Basso and Michael Palm Toft holding a 5-1 position until they were split by Bewley on the last lap.
The home side looked set to level the scores as Musielak lead Heat 10 only for Cook to get the better of Niels-Kristian Iversen for third place, but the scores were levelled with a 4-2 in the next as Tarasenko ended Kurtz’s unbeaten run, the Australian making it past Wojdylo for second place on lap three.
And the Stars enjoyed a terrific stroke of fortune in Heat 12 when Lidsey took the lead for the Aces only to suffer mechanical trouble enabling Rowe and Palm Toft to shoot through for a 5-1.
Lynn now led 38-34 but the advantage was short-lived as Kurtz and Bewley out-trapped Tarasenko and Musielak in Heat 13 to level the scores – and the massive blow came in the next race when Cook and Mountain raced to a shock 5-1 over Basso and Wojdylo.
That meant nothing less than a Stars 5-1 would do in Heat 15 to level the scores and set up a Super Heat, but it was over within a lap as Musielak came down when chasing Kurtz and Bewley and was disqualified.
Tarasenko did split the visitors in the re-run, getting himself ahead of Bewley, but the Aces’ away victory was already safe.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “I think the lack of bike time showed tonight. They were just that little bit sharper, and we didn’t adapt to the conditions. Fair play to Belle Vue, they rode it well and took their chances.
“Ben had a solid meeting and under normal circumstances he’d have been in Heat 15, but I just felt he’d had a bad one in 14 and I felt I wanted the big guns out with the experience to try and get something out of it, but it wasn’t to be.
“There are a few issues to sort out after a couple of meetings, but it’s early days yet. It’s a fine line between getting it right and getting it wrong, but it will work itself out over a period of time.
“I do feel we could have done with a couple of meetings before we met Belle Vue. If we’d had Birmingham and Leicester early doors I think we would have been sitting quite nicely, but that’s the way it goes and you can’t help the weather.”
The Stars now prepare to hit the road next week with the return fixture at Belle Vue on Monday (April 15) followed by a trip to champions Sheffield next Thursday (April 18) – and the Tigers are the next visitors to the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday April 22.
KING’S LYNN 42: Vadim Tarasenko 9, Benjamin Basso 9, Anders Rowe 7+1, Michael Palm Toft 4+2, Niels-Kristian Iversen 4+1, Patryk Wojdylo 2. BELLE VUE 48: Brady Kurtz 14, Dan Bewley 11+1, Ben Cook 8+2, Jaimon Lidsey 6+1, Connor Mountain 5+1, Connor Bailey 3, Norick Blodorn 1+1.
