KING’S LYNN’S return from a two-week layoff at Belle Vue tonight (Monday) has again dogged by injury and unavailability issues.
The Stars haven’t raced as a team since the abandoned fixture at Ipswich on Bank Holiday Monday, their next two home meetings being postponed.
During the hiatus they were hit by a two-point penalty imposed by the Speedway Control Bureau after the postponement of the visit of Leicester to the Adrian Flux Arena in May and were looking forward to getting back to racing.
But the rearrangement of this ROWE Motor Oils Premiership fixture – initially rained off in April – left them with further selection problems.
Already without injured skipper Tobiasz Musielak, the Stars are also missing Benjamin Basso, the young Dane competing in a World Championship qualifier at Debrecen in Hungary.
Josh Pickering and Richard Lawson were drafted in as guests only for the Australian to crash heavily at Edinburgh on Friday night and is currently awaiting news on the extent of his shoulder damage.
Attempts to source a suitable alternative replacement proved fruitless leaving the Stars to operate rider replacement for Musielak.
In contrast the Aces are at full strength and they have been typically strong at home so far this season, although Oxford put in a stubborn effort at the NSS last week before fading in the closing stages to a 51-39 result.
The Aces are led by their star duo of Brady Kurtz and Dan Bewley while Ben Cook has proved to be an impressive winter signing and former Lynn rider Connor Mountain is doing a solid job at reserve.
Stars’ operations manager Dale Allitt said: “We’ve been through a number of potential guests but with this meeting falling on the day of the World Championship qualifiers there are several who are ruled out for that reason, and others who can’t do it for various other reasons.
“We do have riders who like Belle Vue and have gone well there in the past, and we felt r/r was the strongest option open to us.
“It’s not going to be easy at all, but the boys will go with a positive attitude and see what we can do.”
Belle Vue: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Ben Cook, Dan Bewley, Connor Mountain, Connor Bailey.
King’s Lynn: Tobiasz Musielak r/r, Richard Lawson, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Michael Palm Toft, Nicolai Klindt, Patryk Wojdylo, Anders Rowe.
Words by George Dodds.
Images by Taylor Lanning.