KING’S Lynn paid the price for a nightmare start as they went down 54-36 at Oxford in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership on Thursday.
The PSH Environmental Stars were blown away inside a disastrous first five races at Cowley in which they conceded four 5-1s and a 4-2 with guest Norick Blodorn the only visiting rider to defeat a member of the home team.
But they did regroup, especially after a lengthy delay caused by rain, and captain Niels-Kristian Iversen again rolled back the years with a high-quality performance.
Iversen retired from the lead in Heat 1 but after being on the receiving end of a 5-1 in Heat 4, he then scored 13 points from his next five rides in a terrific individual display.
Blodorn battled hard all night whilst reserve duo Lewis Kerr and Anders Rowe were much stronger after the break. Jan Kvech found his first trip to Cowley a tough one, although he did combine with Iversen for a 5-1 over Chris Harris after an excellent battle in Heat 11, whilst Patryk Wojdylo’s troubles on the road continued as he failed to score.
Rohan Tungate re-passed Kvech in the opening race to join Erik Riss for a fortunate 5-1 after Iversen hit trouble, but the home side’s second maximum in Heat 2 was a major shock as Ashton Boughen and Luke Killeen defeated Kerr and Rowe.
Blodorn and Wojdylo gated in Heat 3 but Charles Wright worked his way past both, whilst Janowski passed Wojdylo for third place, and two more Spires 5-1s followed to make the score 24-6 as the Stars were looking at a heavy defeat.
Iversen gave them some respite with a win over Tungate in Heat 6 with Kerr third after Riss had crashed out, and Heat 7 looked like being shared until Boughen rounded Wojdylo off the final bend.
Rain then caused a stoppage and after track work the Stars did reset in a far better way, as Rowe and Iversen took wins in the next two races, whilst the 5-1 in Heat 11 came after Boughen had crashed on turn two, with Harris splitting Iversen and Kvech in the re-run before the Czech racer came back through.
The closing stages saw the sides trade 4-2s with Harris getting the better of Kvech for third place in Heat 13, before Kerr collected a race win in Heat 14 with Rowe third.
The meeting ended with a good battle between Tungate and Iversen in Heat 15, taken by the Spires No.1, whilst Riss edged out Blodorn for third.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a terrible start, an awful start. The track was patchy, and obviously the rain was pretty persistent.
“Luckily it stopped, and the track staff got on the track and made it a lot better for the second half of the meeting, which we actually drew if you want to look at it like that.
“That was better because it was getting a little embarrassing at the start. We pulled it back a little bit, and with the depleted team we had it was probably a result we expected.
“Niels has been riding well for the last few weeks. He had a blip at home last week, but apart from that he’s been in double figures home and away, which is great – in the twilight of his career he’s hanging on in there and still doing it, and fair play to him.”
The result officially ends any mathematical chances the Stars had of reaching the play-offs, and they will be back in action on Monday when they visit Birmingham.
OXFORD 54: Rohan Tungate 11+1, Charles Wright 9+1, Erik Riss 8+1, Maciej Janowski 8+1, Chris Harris 8, Luke Killeen 6+2, Ashton Boughen 4. KING’S LYNN 36: Niels-Kristian Iversen 14, Norick Blodorn 8+1, Anders Rowe 6, Lewis Kerr 5, Jan Kvech 3+1, Patryk Wojdylo 0, Benjamin Basso r/r.
