KING’S Lynn’s depleted side put up a fine effort before going down 51-39 at play-off chasing Ipswich on Thursday.
Skipper Nicolai Klindt was in superb form for the MacInnes Stars with a 15-point haul from seven rides, which would have been more but for a disqualification in Heat 9 when he was adjudged to have caused opposition captain Danny King to crash.
But Klindt still produced the notable feat of taking points off both of the Witches’ top two, Emil Sayfutdinov and Jason Doyle, on their home track – that coming after Sayfutdinov had smashed the Foxhall track record in Heat 1.
Ipswich lost their Rising Star reserve Dan Thompson with a dislocated shoulder after he came down in first-bend bunching in Heat 2, which left the home side short-handed on a couple of occasions although Thompson’s colleague Danyon Hume took seven rides and scored paid-11.
The Stars, who lined up in exactly the order advertised in the build-up to the meeting, battled to remain in touch although Artem Laguta experienced a difficult first visit to the Suffolk venue with a crash and a retirement curtailing his scoring.
Three of the first four races were shared, punctuated by a fall for Hume after the hard-working Simon Lambert challenged him on the first lap of Heat 1, and the Thompson crash in Heat 2 which necessitated a lengthy delay to the meeting.
The Witches edged ahead with a 4-2 in Heat 3 from Erik Riss and King, and the same combination collected the first 5-1 of the night in Heat 5 as Laguta came to grief just after he had moved into second place.
Klindt had superbly defeated Doyle to win Heat 4 but he was unable to stop Sayfutdinov in Heat 6, and a likely 5-1 to the home side in the next was lost when Hume fell on the last lap.
Stars narrowed the gap to four points as Klindt took Heat 8 in a three-man race, but the King/Riss pairing picked up another 5-1 after Klindt’s disqualification, King having fallen heavily on the exit of turn two.
Lambert split Doyle and Hume in Heat 11 after Laguta hit more trouble as the Witches began to pull away, and Hume joined King for a 5-1 over guest Benjamin Basso and Lambert in Heat 12.
Klindt produced another storming effort in Heat 13 to defeat both Sayfutdinov and Doyle, and the Stars gained a deserved advantage in Heat 14 with Lambert beating Hume whilst guest Connor Mountain took third place.
The last race was shared with King retiring for the Witches although this time Sayfutdinov got the better of Klindt.
The Stars are back in action next Thursday at the Adrian Flux Arena in the return fixture against the Witches.
IPSWICH 51: Emil Sayfutdinov 13+1, Danyon Hume 10+1, Jason Doyle 10, Erik Riss 9+2, Danny King 9+1, Dan Thompson 0, Keynan Rew r/r. KING’S LYNN 39: Nicolai Klindt 15, Simon Lambert 10+2, Benjamin Basso 6+1, Sam Hagon 3+2, Connor Mountain 3+1, Artem Laguta 2, Thomas Jorgensen r/r.
