KING'S Lynn kicked off a busy week with the welcome boost of a 47-43 win at bottom club Birmingham in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.
Richard Lawson won a last-heat decider for the PSH Environmental Stars at Perry Barr to see them to victory in a meeting in which they had held the lead for the most part before being forced into a nervous finale.
The scores were all level with two races remaining but a crucial 5-1 from guest Lawson and guest Lewis Kerr over Paco Castagna and Sam Hagon in Heat 14 put Lynn four points to the good.
And Lawson then trapped superbly in Heat 15 to leave Keynan Rew and Matej Zagar unable to find a way through, which secured the meeting for the Stars.
The visitors had looked set for a straightforward victory as they produced two 5-1s in the first three races with Kerr proving to be an astute choice of guest at reserve.
The former Lynn skipper came into Heat 1 as a replacement for Niels-Kristian Iversen who was timed out on his way to the tapes, and Kerr promptly joined Jan Kvech for maximum points over Jonas Jeppesen and another ex-Stars captain, Tobiasz Musielak.
Kerr added a win in Heat 2 before Chris Harris pulled off a great ride on the last lap of Heat 3 to set up another 5-1 along with Lawson and put Lynn 13-5 up.
Captain Nicolai Klindt won Heat 4 as reserve Luke Harrison came to grief, but the Brummies' first win of the night proved to be a significant one in Heat 5 with Rew and Castagna joining forces for a 5-1 to halve the Stars' advantage.
Two shared heats followed as Musielak overhauled the fast-starting Kerr in Heat 6, whilst Harris and Lawson had to fight their way past Ben Barker in the next, Lawson just taking the verdict for third place on the line.
Iversen defeated fellow Dane Jeppesen in Heat 8 with Harrison taking an excellent third place over Hagon which left the Stars 27-21 up and back in control.
But Klindt suffered a heavy fall in Heat 9 which turned a 3-3 into a Brummies 4-2, and that was the start of a comeback from the home side with Musielak and Jeppesen taking another 4-2 in Heat 10 as Harris was squeezed out.
And when Zagar headed Iversen in Heat 11, disaster struck for Kvech at the end of lap three as he clipped the fence and lost his third place to Barker, meaning the home side were suddenly square at 33-33.
Harris and Kerr were then frustrated by a fine ride by Rew to win Heat 12 for the Brummies, and Kvech had pressure on him in Heat 13 with Klindt not taking his ride as a precaution.
Kvech made a superb start from gate two to defeat Zagar and Musielak and prevent the home side from taking the lead, and it set things up for the closing stages.
Kerr and Lawson then did just what was required with a 5-1 in Heat 14 to put Lynn back ahead, and Lawson sealed the deal with his win in the finale.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: "We managed to get the right gates this time as opposed to last time there, and we started off well.
"We maintained the lead until they pegged us back a bit in mid-meeting, but we finished well and got the job done.
"We had a good guest in Lewi Kerr, who probably was the match winner in lots of ways, but it was a good team performance overall.
"It was good to get a bit of a morale boosting win to be honest, and it sets us up for several home matches which we'll be looking to win."
The sides meet again at the Adrian Flux Arena on Thursday where Ben Cook will be making his comeback from injury and suspension.
BIRMINGHAM 43: Keynan Rew 12, Matej Zagar 11+1, Tobiasz Musielak 7+1, Paco Castagna 4+1, Jonas Jeppesen 4, Ben Barker 3, Sam Hagon 2+2. KING'S LYNN 47: Lewis Kerr 14+1, Richard Lawson 10+3, Chris Harris 7, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6, Jan Kvech 5+1, Nicolai Klindt 4+1, Luke Harrison 1.
