KING’S LYNN narrowly missed out on the semi-finals in Round Two of the Premiership Pairs at Ipswich on Thursday.
A fourth placed finish saw the Minors and Brady Stars add four points to their tally - they’re now tied on 16 points with Sheffield at the top of the standings.
Round One winners Josh Pickering and Richard Lawson again represented the club and they looked relatively comfortable throughout the qualifying heats at Foxhall.
They took full advantage of a controversial disqualification for Peterborough’s Hans Andersen in their opener, fending off Chris Harris to start with a 7-2.
While they weren’t able to provide the race winner in their heats against Wolverhampton and then Belle Vue, the Stars rode sensibly to secure second and third and gain an advantage over their opponents.
That left them leading with eight races gone - but Pickering and club No.8 Jake Mulford then conceded a 7-2 to Sheffield in Heat 11, pulling the South Yorkshire side clear.
With Sheffield already through directly to the Grand Final, the last qualification race would see Lynn go head-to-head with Ipswich in a straight shootout with the sides both tied on 19 points.
It was looking good for the Stars for the first half of Heat 15, but home No.1 Jason Doyle worked overtime to find a way past Richard Lawson and set-up a Semi-Final with Belle Vue.
The hosts overcame that challenge before getting the better of top scorers Sheffield to claim event two on home shale.
Team boss Alex Brady said: “It’s disappointing but we’re still in a pretty strong position.
“[In Heat 15] Josh couldn’t believe he’d out-trapped Jason Doyle with how he’d been gating all night.
“Rich was leading him for third for three laps there and he was excellent but it just wasn’t quite our night unfortunately.”
King’s Lynn are back in action next Thursday (June 23, 7.30) with Sheffield visiting the Adrian Flux Arena for the first time this year.
PREMIERSHIP PAIRS Round 2, Ipswich QUALIFYING SCORES: SHEFFIELD 29: Tobiasz Musielak 17, Adam Ellis 10, Connor Mountain (RS) 2. BELLE VUE 24: Brady Kurtz 16, Matej Zagar 8, Tom Brennan (RS) 0. IPSWICH 24: Jason Doyle 17, Troy Batchelor 7, Danyon Hume (RS) 0. KING’S LYNN 23: Josh Pickering 15, Richard Lawson 8, Jake Mulford (RS) 0. PETERBOROUGH 21: Chris Harris 13, Hans Andersen 8, Jordan Jenkins (RS) 0. WOLVERHAMPTON 14: Sam Masters 14, Ryan Douglas 0, Leon Flint (RS) 0.
