KING'S Lynn Young Stars suffered their first defeat of the season as they went down 47-40 at Plymouth on Saturday.
The Blueprint Construction Young Stars lost their 100 per cent record in the National Development Trophy in an eventful meeting at the Coliseum, although they should still be well placed for the aggregate point.
An away victory looked possible when Jody Scott and Luke Harrison secured a 4-2 over the Centurions spearhead of Joe Thompson and Ben Trigger in Heat 13, which put the visitors 38-37 ahead.
But the final two races went the home side's way, first when Charlie Southwick and Mickie Simpson took advantage of some terrible luck for race leader Max Perry who suffered mechanical trouble with one lap to go in Heat 14.
That put the hosts three points up, and Thompson and Trigger then got the better of Scott and Harrison in the finale.
There was plenty of action prior to that with Cooper Rushen and Perry cancelling out a Centurions 5-1 with their own maximum in Heat 3, only for Harrison to retire from Heat 4 as Plymouth went back ahead.
Young Stars collected a 3-0 in an extraordinary Heat 5 when Scott was the only finisher, before Harrison did well to split Thompson and Kai Ward in Heat 6.
Plymouth led by three points and that margin was maintained through a series of shared races with guest Arran Butcher and Harrison taking race wins for Lynn.
They edged back to within one point when Rushen and Harrison Rogers took a 4-2 in Heat 12 after Ryan Ingram crashed on turn four, but despite taking the lead in the next race it turned out to be all too brief as the Centurions turned things back around.
Young Stars manager Jason Pipe said: "We can't win them all, at some point we had to come up against a defeat.
"It's a bit disappointing because they had rider replacement, but there was also some luck going both ways tonight so we just have to take the defeat on the chin and just move on.
"We've lost that firepower at reserve now which did show tonight. Calum (Mitchell) and Harrison (Rogers) were seeing this track for the very first time, although the pair of them did ride it well, it was just the speed and when they come back next year they'll gain for the experience.
"Yet again the Plymouth track is a bit of a jinx for me, I never won here with Redcar or Buxton, or even in a guest appearance with Edinburgh, so it's a bit of a bogey track!
"We are all positive. There's no doom and gloom in the camp. We'll move on to Wednesday and hopefully pick up some points at home to Kent."
PLYMOUTH 47: Joe Thompson 14, Ben Trigger 11+1, Ryan Ingram 7+1, Charlie Southwick 6+2, Kai Ward 6, Mickie Simpson 3+2, Morgan Williams r/r. KING'S LYNN 40: Jody Scott 10+1, Cooper Rushen 9+1, Arran Butcher 6+1, Luke Harrison 6, Max Perry 5+2, Calum Mitchell 3, Harrison Rogers 1.
