KING’S Lynn could take plenty of encouragement from their performance albeit in a losing cause as they were beaten 48-42 at Premiership leaders Belle Vue on Monday.
Many visiting teams have been blown away at the National Speedway Stadium this season almost before getting started, with the Aces regularly hitting scores of 60+, but the PSH Environmental Stars made a much better fist of things and were always in contention.
Ben Cook was superb with three race wins whilst Max Fricke also hit double figures, and several of the lower scores in the team didn’t actually reflect the effort that was put in.
Fricke made a strong move to get inside home skipper Brady Kurtz in the early stages of Heat 1, although he couldn’t quite catch Norick Blodorn, whilst Jordan Jenkins was a clear winner of Heat 2 with Jody Scott supplying third place.
The Stars shared Heat 3 with Cook just missing out in his attempts to get on terms with brother Zach, and Jan Kvech recovered from a poor start in Heat 4 to surge past Will Cairns on the opening lap.
It was all level again after Heat 5 when Cooper Rushen gated well from the inside before Fricke quickly hit the front, and whilst Zach Cook made it inside Rushen on lap three it was still a 4-2 to make it 15-15.
Belle Vue edged back ahead with a 4-2 in Heat 6 as Kurtz made it to turn one ahead of Kvech, and Heat 7 was shared with Ben Cook chasing hard against Jason Doyle on the opening couple of laps with Chris Harris in third spot.
The home side collected the first 5-1 of the night in Heat 8 with Blodorn and Cairns making it from the start to leave the Stars chasing, but with the gap at six points it did mean the Stars could use Fricke as a tactical substitute in Heat 9.
And that was a move that worked to perfection with Fricke and Kvech sandwiching Zach Cook into the first bend and then racing away for a maximum advantage to cut the Aces’ lead back to two points.
Ben Cook made a great start to dominate Heat 10 for the Stars in a shared race as Harris was edged out by Kurtz on the second lap, and the close contest contend with another 3-3 in Heat 11 as Fricke was frustrated by Doyle but Rushen got the better of Jason Edwards for third place.
Harris passed Cairns in the early stages of Heat 12 to follow Jenkins home behind Zach Cook for another shared race, but it was Heat 13 where Belle Vue struck what was effectively the decisive blow.
Fricke off the inside gate was just beaten to the first turn by Kurtz, and that allowed space for Doyle to sweep around the outside for a 5-1 which left the Aces six points up with two races to go.
Ben Cook then put in two more great rides, first in winning Heat 14 ahead of his brother although a 3-3 saw the Aces secure the match, and then Cook took Heat 15 under colossal pressure from Kurtz in a race which also saw Doyle beaten for the first time.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “I was proud of the boys tonight, they rode really well as a team and to only lose by six here, given what Belle Vue have been doing, is a credible result.
“We were in it for quite a number of heats, and there were just a couple of results that went the way we wouldn’t have expected, but that’s speedway.
“The boys gave 100 per cent, I can’t ask any more that. Losing at home to Belle Vue was always going to make it an uphill struggle away, but that’s been and gone we’ve got to move on from that.
“I think we came tonight with no real pressure because nobody was expecting us to get a result, so we can take something from the fact that we scored 42 points. There’s still a lot to play for this season.”
Stars head north again next Monday (August 17) when they return to the scene of a spectacular recent away win at Sheffield.
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2 BELLE VUE 48: Jason Doyle 13+1, Zach Cook 11, Brady Kurtz 9+2, Norick Blodorn 9, Will Cairns 4+2, Jason Edwards 2, Peter Kildemand r/r. KING’S LYNN 42: Ben Cook 13, Max Fricke 11, Jan Kvech 6+1, Jordan Jenkins 5, Chris Harris 3+3, Cooper Rushen 3+1, Jody Scott 1. Belle Vue win the aggregate point
