CHILLED-out boss Alex Brady watched King’s Lynn ease to a 51-39 victory over Peterborough then insisted he “never felt it was in doubt”.
The lead established by the Minors & Brady Stars hit double figures by the end of heat five and the Panthers never got any closer, twice chipping away at 16-point deficits at the back end of the meeting.
Lewis Kerr was the star turn, recovering from being unceremoniously and unfairly dumped to the ground by Ulrich Ostergaard in heat three before dusting himself down to back up Richard Lawson for a 5-1. He followed that with three chequered flags.
The Kerr-Lawson double act was King’s Lynn’s foundation for success, bagging maximums in each of their three races together, while captain Josh Pickering, promoted to number one through the latest set of averages, bagged three race victories.
“When we did the track walk together, and when we went for the team Nando’s before that, we talked about the importance of this one,” said Brady.
“It was not only about getting three points, it was about making sure they went home with none and we wanted to put on a performance for everyone that came to watch.
“I think we managed to achieve all three of those goals so I am very happy with a job well done.
“A couple of the boys tried something different in the latter part of the meeting, things they would not normally do with their set-ups. Having the opportunity to do that, to test what works and what doesn’t, was nice.
“I never felt it was in doubt at all, even from when I woke up this morning. These boys have been wonderful and got the job done again.”
HOW IT PANNED OUT
The Stars took the first big advantage of the night in Heat 3 when Ostergaard was disqualified for bringing down Kerr who picked himself up to secure maximum points with Lawson in the re-run.
That began a run of three successive advantages for the home side, with the Kerr-Lawson combination producing the goods again over Michael Palm Toft and Scott Nicholls in Heat 5.
The home side’s advantage was maintained at a comfortable 10 points despite Hans Andersen providing a rare race win for the Panthers, but when Kerr and Lawson held off the combined challenge of Chris Harris and Benjamin Basso in Heat 9 the Stars were away and clear.
Pickering quickly overhauled Andersen in a shared 10th with tactical substitute Palm Toft unable to make a meaningful impression, although the ex-Star led a mini Panthers revival by the first win in back-to-back 4-2s.
Iversen swept around Palm Toft to hold off the Peterborough challenge in Heat 13, and the penultimate race saw another maximum for the Stars as Kerr and Worrall raced clear of Basso and a scoreless Ostergaard.
There was a mild consolation for the Panthers with a Heat 15 5-1 from Andersen and Palm Toft after Pickering was penalised for touching the tapes but it was far from enough to spoil another great Lynn display.
KING’S LYNN 51: Lewis Kerr 11+1, Richard Lawson 10+2, Niels-Kristian Iversen 10, Josh Pickering 9, Richie Worrall 5+2, Thomas Jorgensen 4, Jack Thomas 2. PETERBOROUGH 39: Hans Andersen 12, Michael Palm Toft 11+2, Benjamin Basso 8+1, Chris Harris 6+1, Scott Nicholls 1, Jordan Jenkins 1, Ulrich Ostergaard 0.
