KING’S Lynn head to Wolverhampton on Monday aiming to secure consecutive victories over the Monmore side - and boost their play-off hopes in the process.
The Minors & Brady Stars raced to an impressive 55-35 win when the sides met at the Arian Flux Arena on July 14, which moved them off the foot of the Premiership table.
They go into Monday’s meeting nine points behind the hosts, but with two matches in hand, so an away win would very much re-open the race for the top four.
Stars were beaten 53-37 in the West Midlands at the start of their league campaign, but they were hit by illness that night with skipper Josh Pickering having to pull out.
Pickering admits the season became much trickier after the Stars lost the services of Niels-Kristian Iversen in mid-June – but all indications are that the Dane’s place should shortly be filled on a permanent basis.
In the meantime, Sheffield’s Kyle Howarth – who spent four seasons as a Wolverhampton rider - has been booked to guest on Monday.
Pickering said: “The consistency side of things is where we are lacking, but at the same time we’re missing that out-and-out No.1. If we had that in the league, that would have our season completely turned around.
“We’ve used rider replacement in the last three matches and it’s been tough for us, and we suffered heavily at Belle Vue.
“But against Wolverhampton at home they didn’t have their No.1 also, so it was a level playing field then, and it just goes to show how strong our six are when we aren’t relying on that extra person.
“Wolves are a strong outfit, and we did them by 20 points at home, so it shows that if we did have that No.1 to take that pressure off and get even eight to eleven points, that’s near to a 20-point swing in the whole match.
“We’re all up for it on Monday. We’ve just beaten them so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.
“There’s still plenty of racing to do, and a replacement for Niels looks to be happening in the near future, which will definitely strengthen us up a lot.”
Elsewhere in the team, the Stars have re-declared in the Rising Star positions with Jack Thomas back in the squad as he has now returned to racing following his broken wrists.
Thomas took three rides at Birmingham last Wednesday in his first meeting back for Oxford, and is now declared alongside Jason Edwards, who remains in the team on Monday as it is felt Thomas is not ready yet for a tight circuit such as Monmore.
The club will re-assess that situation ahead of the home clash with Ipswich on August 4, but they can confirm Jake Mulford has been released from the squad and has joined Peterborough.
Meanwhile Wolverhampton operate rider replacement on Monday as Nick Morris is ruled out due to illness.
WOLVERHAMPTON: Sam Masters, Steve Worrall, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Nick Morris R/R, Drew Kemp, Leon Flint. KING’S LYNN: Kyle Howarth, Richie Worrall, Richard Lawson, Lewis Kerr, Josh Pickering, Thomas Jorgensen, Jason Edwards.
