Speedball

Enjoyed my visit to Oxford, the result of course helped. Magic, Gusts & Wright were lively but other than that, thought Oxford were disappointing. Stars looked solid again. Six riders with a win or paid win. Bomber, Jan & Richard all good value but the pick was Niels for me. Looked like the rider of old. Best I’ve seen him ride for years. BTW are Bomber & Ashton guesting for Oxford next week? Plenty of fans on 3rd/4th bends kept shouting “see you next Tuesday”. Strange, can’t see a fixture listed 😂

Hoping for a win to get the league campaign off to a good start. Stronger middle order and reserves should see us through. Kurtz & Bewley will of course be a threat, but they’ll need more than that to win. Stars 51-39 Aces is my prediction.

Making the trip down this evening. Looking forward to seeing the setup at Oxford. Will be my first visit since 2001. Hoping for a good evening's racing.

Not sure I'm as confident as some above but we should be capable of defending a 16 point lead, especially with Bomber at reserve. But Wright & Riss will more than likely fare better than they did at the AFA. I fancy us to go through on aggregate but could see Oxford winning on the night. But that's my ol' Norfolk pessimism shining through 😆

Really looking forward to this one, especially seeing how the Stars class of 2025 fare. Weather is looking fine as well and not a drop of rain predicted which is good. Got to be looking for at least a 10 point lead to take into the next leg if possible. With so few meetings to go on, think it's hard to predict the result. I went for 51-39 on the podcast so will stick with that prediction here. Just hoping for a good night's racing, no injuries and of course a Stars win.

Slight change to the lineups. Michael Jepsen-Jensen is now unavailable. Jonas Jeppesen comes in to replace him but he will now lineup for Wolves. Nicolai Klindt swaps from Wolves to Peterborough to replace MJJ. Team managers also announced. Rob Lyon (King's Lynn), Laurence Rogers (Newport), Peter Adams (Wolves) and Trevor Swales (Peterborough).

The closest place to the stadium is probably Freebridge Farm which is a Brewers Fayre pub. Not been there for years though so can't vouch for the quality. I'm guessing by your profile picture that you'll be coming up from Suffolk direction so The Farmhouse at Fincham might not be to far off your path. I've not been myself yet but from those that have been, they say it's very good. As @StarBoyhas mentioned, Marriott's Warehouse or Bank House are good options in town (on the quayside) and plenty of parking options nearby. I think the Lattice House has closed it's doors again (or at least that is what I was told). If you don't mind venturing further out from the stadium, The Crown (one in Gayton and one in East Rudham), Three Horseshoes (Roydon), Ffolkes Arms (Hillington) and The Dabbling Duck (Great Massingham) are all very good.

Max Fricke, Freddie Lindgren, Kye Thomson, Nicolai Klindt, Josh Pickering, Jaimon Lidsey, Rohan Tungate, Lewi Kerr & Kyle Howarth also in the lineup.

Meeting will be a 4TT. Below taken from his Facebook. Announcement. We are running a 4 team tournament format on Puks testimonial at Kings Lynn. It will be a match between King’s Lynn Stars, Newport Wasps, Peterborough Panthers and Wolverhampton Wolves. These 3 away teams is all clubs I have represented in the past and all clubs where I have great memories. Team lineups is coming soon.

There is a podcast dedicated to the Young Stars coming out soon (hopefully tomorrow). It features Jason Pipe, Jody Scott, Cooper Rushen and Calum Mitchell. Race nights were mentioned and likely to be a Wednesday on weeks when the Stars don’t have a home meeting. All fixtures subject to final confirmation but Young Stars likely to start away at Birmingham mid-April.

And this week’s winner is Mr R. Lyon 😀

A decent 3rd place for Jan Kvech at Gillman today. Meeting won by Jack Holder, with his brother Chris 2nd. Decent field with the likes of Fricke, Lidsay, Brennan & Masters also riding in the meeting.

The cancelled SGP has nothing to do with the BSPL. That’s a Warner/Discovery/FIM competition.

Not seen it advertised by the club yet, but seen on Niels Instagram that his testimonial will be the season opener at Lynn on 16/03 (3pm start). Well deserved for a Stars legend. Hopefully the weather is kind and I imagine he’ll assemble a good field considering his standing in the sport. Sure they will be plenty of GP boys looking for track time at the start of the season.

Well chuffed with that. Especially delighted to see Cooper Rushen, Jody Scott & Luke Harrison lineup for the Stars.

Think Oxford got stitched when Musielak got tempted by Birmingham. Been on the back foot team building wise since then.

One thing I was always critical about was that season tickets didn't offer value for money. You often only had to miss one meeting for any saving to disappear. But for the past couple of years things have been much better in that regard and think the 2025 one offers some decent value. As someone who attends every home meeting and always buys a programme, a saving of £6.50 makes the risk worthwhile. Add in that it's a team I'm looking forward to watching plus being able to walk straight in without hardly queuing, makes getting one a no brainer for me.

It was Matias Nielsen that Lynn was close to signing, not Hansen.

As ever two sides to a story. I won't reveal the identity of the person but they are well connected in the sport and certainly not been shy of criticising Lynn in the past and I quote from a private message to me "Very poor from Musielak this year and was nothing to do with the club tbf despite what people say" At the end of the day, the relationship broke down but if you think it's all down to the club you are way off.

If the fixture is late June he’ll probably be gone by then. Bad eyelash or something keeping from the UK 😂

A new face to UK speedway heading to Brum I believe. I'm not 100% sure on who has/hasn't signed yet but I've heard some of the names in the mix and I don't think I'd have Brum down for the wooden spoon if the signings come off. But obviously things can all change until you get ink on contracts.

Cook guested for us at Oxford last season and got a pretty solid 9 points from 6 rides riding at No 5. But that is the risk with 6-7 point riders. By the very nature of their average, they can be inconsistent, especially away. I don’t think there is a Stars fan I know who is getting overly excited and sensing silverware, but we now have a solid side, full of riders that either have good connections to the club or are popular with fans in their own right (like Harris). The club has a rebuilding job to do and it won’t happen overnight, but from personally speaking to Rob he’s keen to get the club more competitive than we have been. Last season, despite all the troubles, we won more matches than both the 2022 & 2023 seasons combined. Though that is sadly probably more a reflection of how poor those sides were. But they’ve looked at the issues from last season and done the best to mitigate those for 2025. Ok, it’s not a side built on big names but it’s one I’m certainly looking forward to watching. Judging by the reaction on social media etc, I think the vast majority of Stars fans think the same. Roll on March.

With regards to whether Ben Cook will start at No. 1 or not, the press release for the team announcement said…. ”The top six comes in at fractionally under the 40-point limit, and a unique feature of the side is that the starting averages of each of those six riders are between 6.00 and 7.00. It means Cook will start the season at No.1 on 6.99, whilst Harris will be at reserve on 6.06.” http://www.kingslynn-speedway.com/_mobile/news.php?extend.31593

13 & 15 away might be tough but I’m not convinced we’ll be conceding 5-1’s at home every week in those heats. Last time Cook guested for us (versus Sheffield) he beat Jack & Chris Holder, including winning heat 15. Kvech also claimed some good scalps at home. In terms of line-up, I think I’d be looking at pairings of Cook & Lawson, Klindt & Iversen with Kvech at 5 but with option to move riders about, especially away.

Very happy with the side put together when looking at realistic targets and lack of options for an out and out number 1. Nice blend of youth and experience, and more importantly no prima-donnas who will mess us around. Hopefully a good environment for Boughen to develop in as well. Riders like Iversen and Klindt should be excellent role models with their ultra professional approach. We should be solid at home. Yes away might be a struggle at times, especially in 13 & 15 but that’s where we are. Hopefully we can grow our own number one so to speak in Kvech or even Cook if we can keep him for a few seasons.