KING’S Lynn have the chance to move up the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership table if they can secure a home win over Birmingham on Monday (7.30pm).

It’s the start of an important week for the PSH Environmental Stars as the Adrian Flux Arena clash with the Brummies is followed up on Thursday by a trip to Oxford, who are the side immediately above Lynn in the league standings.

The Spires are not in action on Monday meaning victory for the Stars against the Brummies will take them above Oxford and into fifth place – and the visitors also have the same incentive.

Birmingham suffered a series of setbacks in the early weeks of the campaign, losing each of their first seven matches, and a further blow came when Michael Jepsen Jensen, their best rider over that period, elected to call time on his spell in UK racing.

But remarkably the Brummies then pulled off an away win at Leicester to open their league account, and they followed that up with victory in a last-heat decider over champions Belle Vue at Perry Barr last week.

So they will arrive in Norfolk in good shape and led by former Stars captain Tobiasz Musielak, whose spell with Lynn was cut short last season, whilst Slovenian veteran Matej Zagar is in good form and recently qualified for the Grand Prix Challenge.

Ex-Ipswich rider Keynan Rew is part of the Brummies’ middle order, and another former Lynn rider, Jason Edwards, takes the Rising Star berth.

Lynn bring in Norick Blodorn at No.2 to guest for the injured Ben Cook, with the rest of the top five identical to last week’s KO Cup victory over Ipswich.

Meanwhile with Ashton Boughen on the sidelines with a shoulder injury, Young Stars racer Luke Harrison gets the call-up at reserve and has been included in the club’s official one-to-seven declaration in order to comply with the regulations for replacement of Rising Star riders.

It’s the busiest period of the season for the Stars as after the away match at Oxford on Thursday they also race twice next week, at home to Ipswich and away at Sheffield, and they also visit Belle Vue, Birmingham and Leicester in the near future.

Skipper Nicolai Klindt said: “We have three home matches on the bounce now, and a couple away, and it’s definitely a lot of meetings in the next period.

“We have five within three weeks and there are some tough ones, but we definitely need to get at least six points out of them.

“It’s going to be tough at Sheffield and it’s going to be tough at Belle Vue, but everyone is beatable which we have seen lately, for example Birmingham beating Leicester, and Leicester beating Ipswich away.”

KING’S LYNN: Richard Lawson, Norick Blodorn, Nicolai Klindt, Chris Harris, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Jan Kvech, Luke Harrison.
BIRMINGHAM: Michael Jepsen Jensen r/r, Paco Castagna, Tobiasz Musielak, Keynan Rew, Matej Zagar, Jonas Jeppesen, Jason Edwards.