KING’S Lynn secured their first victory of the 2026 season with a hard-fought 50-40 KO Cup success over newcomers Northampton at the Adrian Flux Arena.
Skipper Chris Harris supplied the thrills with several overtaking moves in an entertaining encounter, with the PSH Environmental Stars coming out on top due to greater all-round consistency, although their opponents certainly had their moments.
The Foxes actually provided the majority of race wins, with nine to Lynn’s six, but the Stars repeatedly backed up those wins with second places for 5-1 advantages, with the pairing of Harris and Ben Cook proving especially fruitful.
The visitors started the meeting in fast-gating mood with Jaimon Lidsey lowering the colours of Max Fricke in Heat 1, and Kye Thomson gave the Foxes a second win in Heat 2.
But when the Stars hit the front it saw them take maximum points in Heat 3 with Cook charging from gate two whilst Harris produced a spectacular bend two move to cut inside Lidsey, who was taking a rider replacement ride.
Former Stars skipper Nicolai Klindt headed up a 3-3 in Heat 4 with Jody Scott riding strongly to hold off Thomson, before an excellent Heat 5 saw Harris at the back before clearing Troy Batchelor on lap two and then winning a ding-dong scrap with Lidsey for second place behind Cook.
Paco Castagna blasted around the field for his first win at the AFA in Heat 6, backed up by Fricke ahead of Klindt, but the Foxes weren’t about to give in as Matej Zagar won Heat 7 with the Stars duo of Jan Kvech and Cooper Rushen both overhauling a slowing Klindt before Kvech came close to catching Zagar.
The visitors did strike a maximum in Heat 8 as Batchelor and Luke Harrison both surged inside Castagna, but Lynn effectively sealed the win with back-to-back 5-1s in the next two races.
Klindt was the early leader of Heat 9 before he was passed by Harris, and whilst Thomson briefly relegated Cook to the back the Stars man came back through; and then Fricke and Castagna banged in another maximum in Heat 10.
Lynn conceded a 5-1 in Heat 11 to Lidsey and Batchelor but Harris quickly raced his way to the front of Heat 12, and the ten-point advantage was maintained across the closing races.
The final three heats were all won by Northampton riders – Lidsey in Heats 13 and 15, and Zagar in Heat 14 but there was plenty of hard chasing from the Stars, and Rushen produced a typically exciting effort in the penultimate race as he reeled in the Slovenian.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a much better performance tonight and it’s something to work on, although we’re still not where we want to be.
“We’ve still got to go to Northampton away in this mini-league, so we’ll see what we can do there, but this was much, much better.”
With their home KO Cup campaign now complete, the Stars now get set for league action in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with a big clash against Sheffield to come at the Adrian Flux Arena next Monday (April 27).
Lyon added: “That’s the first league match and I’m sure the boys will be up for that. We need to send them packing and get a big lead to take to Sheffield.”
PREMIERSHIP KO CUP (SOUTH) KING’S LYNN 50: Chris Harris 12+2, Max Fricke 10+2, Ben Cook 9+2, Cooper Rushen 6+1, Paco Castagna 5+1, Jan Kvech 5+1, Jody Scott 3+2. NORTHAMPTON 40: Jaimon Lidsey 15+1, Matej Zagar 8, Troy Batchelor 7+1, Nicolai Klindt 4, Kye Thomson 4, Luke Harrison 2+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen r/r.
