KING’S Lynn will have three riders returning from 2024 and three more incoming for the new ROWE Motor Oil Premiership season next spring.

The PSH Environmental Stars are delighted to be able to confirm their full septet for the ’25 campaign, having put together an exciting line-up which brings several fans’ favourites to the Adrian Flux Arena.

From this year’s team, the Stars will welcome back skipper Nicolai Klindt who was unfortunate to miss much of the season due to injury. The Dane is now back to fitness and looking forward to leading the side again.

He will be joined by fellow countryman Niels-Kristian Iversen, who rolled back the years on so many occasions during 2024 having been a stalwart of the club in the old Elite League days of the 2010s.

And more great news for supporters is the return of Czech Republic charger Jan Kvech, who made a huge impression when he joined the Stars in June and is now back for a full season in the club’s colours.

With youngster Ashton Boughen having already been announced in the Rising Star berth, the Stars can now confirm a return to the club for stalwart British rider Richard Lawson.

The 38-year-old has spent the last two seasons with Leicester but rode for Lynn in 2021-22 and was a regular choice of guest for the Stars this year, where he continued to perform at the highest level.

Further experience comes from the signing of treble British Champion Chris ‘Bomber’ Harris who remains one of the most exciting riders in the sport at the age of 41, and is another who made several stand-in appearances for Lynn in 2024.

Harris joins the club after spending this year with Oxford, but he had previously ridden for the promotion at Peterborough and was part of their title-winning team of 2021.

And another exciting addition to the Stars ranks is fast-improving Australian racer Ben Cook, who joins from champions Belle Vue and is another rider well known to club bosses after a year at Peterborough in ’23.

The top six comes in at fractionally under the 40-point limit, and a unique feature of the side is that the starting averages of each of those six riders are between 6.00 and 7.00. It means Cook will start the season at No.1 on 6.99, whilst Harris will be at reserve on 6.06.

The management team of Keith Chapman, Dale Allitt and Rob Lyon have carefully considered all options and permutations, and believe they have settled on the best available to make a concerted play-off challenge.

They said: “As everyone would expect, we did speak to Robert Lambert, and unfortunately his commitments don’t allow for a full British season at the moment.

“We fully understand that. He was World No.2 this year, he wants to be World Champion, and we completely support him in that.

“Once we knew the situation there, we looked at what we could do, and we knew the riders we wanted to bring in.

“It’s fair to say that what happened this year was part of our thought process, because we assembled a team that we thought was very competitive, and the general opinion amongst the other promoters was that as well.

“Unfortunately through no fault of the club we lost two riders very quickly, including an out-and-out No.1, and we could do nothing about that.

“For next season we’ve taken the conscious decision to go with riders we’ve worked with before, and/or who are a little closer to home.

“We decided to go down the route that we’ve taken on the basis that when you look at the team we’ve assembled, virtually all of those riders have ridden at No.1 or No.5 this year, either for us or others, and we believe it’s more than solid – that term is actually an injustice to the ability of these riders.

“The thought of having Chris Harris at reserve and potentially taking seven rides will frighten the life out of most teams, and we’ll have him there in March/April and it could be somebody else there in May.

“We’ve got a very well-balanced team, and a team that knows how to win things as well. It’s been hard work, but we knew we needed a major overhaul and also a team that will be entertaining.

“King’s Lynn fans have been starved of success, we have to go back six or seven years since we had a decent year, and we need to do that again and put pride into the club.

“Hopefully with the team we’ve assembled we can tick those boxes and also provide good racing for home fans and neutrals.”

The club would also like to thank all of the riders who raced for the club in 2024 and who are not involved next year – in particular, Anders Rowe who had an outstanding season as Rising Star, along with Patryk Wojdylo who had several strong displays at home, and Lewis Kerr who stepped in to good effect in the closing weeks of the season, whilst it was an injury-hit campaign for Benjamin Basso and Michael Palm Toft.

KING’S LYNN 2025: Ben Cook 6.99, Richard Lawson 6.91, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6.83, Nicolai Klindt 6.59, Jan Kvech 6.58, Chris Harris 6.06, Ashton Boughen (RS).