King's Lynn Stars

Last updated

King's Lynn Stars
Klstars logo.png
Club information
Track address Adrian Flux Arena
Saddlebow Road
King's Lynn
Norfolk
CountryEngland
Founded1965
PromoterKeith Chapman, Dale Allitt
& Rob Lyon
Team manager Rob Lyon
League SGB Premiership
Website www.kingslynn-speedway.com
Club facts
ColoursBlue, White, Gold
Track size342 metres (374 yd)
Track record time57.60 secs
Track record date11 September 2002
Track record holder Robert Lambert
Current team
RiderCMA
Flag of England.svg Lewis Kerr
Flag of Denmark.svg Niels Kristian Iversen
Flag of Denmark.svg Benjamin Basso
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Jan Kvěch
Flag of Denmark.svg Nicolai Klindt
Flag of Poland.svg Patryk Wojdyło
Flag of England.svg Anders Rowe
Major team honours
Knockout Cup Winners1977, 2000
Premier League Champions 2006, 2009
Div 2 KO Cup Winners2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Premier Trophy Winners 2006, 2007, 2009
Young Shield Winners2005
Spring Gold Cup1973
Gauntlet Gold Cup1980
Inter League Knockout Cup1978, 1980
SGB Premiership Pairs 2017
Midland Development League Champions2015

King's Lynn Stars are a motorcycle speedway team who compete in the SGB Premiership. The nickname "Stars" was adopted from the defunct Norwich Stars team. The team was founded in 1965 and has been running continually since then, except for 1996 when King's Lynn failed to have a team competing in the British league system. [1]

Contents

History

1960s

Terry Betts Terry Betts.jpg
Terry Betts

Plans for speedway in King's Lynn surfaced in 1965, when Maurice Littlechild promoted on an open licence at King's Lynn Stadium. Littlechild had plans to create a team called the South Lynn Stars named after the Norwich Stars, who had closed in 1964. [2] The first meeting was on 23 May 1965 and the South Lynn Stars name was dropped in favour of the King's Lynn Stars.

The team's inaugural league season was the 1966 British League season, where they finished 16th fom 19 teams. The team was led by new signing Terry Betts, who recorded a season average of 9.41. [3] After finishing last in 1967 they signed Malcolm Simmons from West Ham Hammers but experienced another poor season before improving to a ninth place finish in the league during 1969. [4]

1970s

The team celebrate terry bett's birthday in 1976 Birthday cake for Terry Betts.jpg
The team celebrate terry bett's birthday in 1976

After a tough start to the 1970s, King's Lynn managed two consecutive third place finishes during the 1972 and 1973 seasons, with their strongest riders being Terry Betts and Malcolm Simmons and well supported by Howard Cole and Phil Crump. [5]

Ian Turner and Michael Lee were added to the team but it was not until 1977 that the first silverware was won by the team. The Knockout Cup win included a narrow two point win over Reading Racers on aggregate in the final, thanks largely to Lee and Betts. [6] The following season in 1978, they won the Inter League Knock-out Cup.

1980s

The team secured a second Inter League Knock-out Cup win 1980 and Michael Lee was crowned world champion. [7] [8] Dave Jessup emerged as a rider to match Michael Lee for the Stars and Richard Hellsen was a popular rider with the fans.

The team were starved of success throughout the 1980s and co-promoter Cyril Crane (a former Norwich and Sheffield rider) came under criticism during the period. [9]

1990s

The team continued to compete in the highest division until the end of the 1995 season but failed to finish any higher than fourth place. [10] Riders included Mark Loram, Richard Knight and Henka Gustaffson.

The team colours were originally green and yellow, taken directly from the Norwich Stars but in 1994 the green was replaced with blue, to match the blue and yellow of the King's Lynn official town crest. During their time as the Knights, silver and black became the prominent colours, but since reviving the Stars nickname they returned to using blue and yellow.

In 1997, the team returned to league action after missing the 1996 season, they joined the Elite League and were known as the King's Lynn Knights from 1997 to 2001. The Czech pair of Bohumil Brhel and Tomáš Topinka became fan's favourites. A junior side were introduced in 1998 and competed under various names in the following seasons, including the Starlets, Braves, Kids and Young Stars.

2000s

Troy Batchelor helped King's Lynn win the treble in 2006 Troy Batchelor 2009.jpg
Troy Batchelor helped King's Lynn win the treble in 2006

During the 2000 Elite League speedway season the team finished runner-up behind Eastbourne Eagles and won the Knockout Cup for the second time. The Stars pairing of Australian's Leigh Adams and Jason Crump topped the league averages. [11] Adams left for Oxford in 2001 and the Stars brought in Nicki Pedersen and in 2002, the club became the King's Lynn Silver Machine for one season before reverting to their traditional name of the Stars. For the first time in their 36-year history, the team dropped to the second division (Premier League) from 2003.

After winning the Knockout Cup (tier 2) in 2005, they finished top of the Premier League table in 2006 but were the first such team not automatically crowned champions because it was the first season that the Premier League used the play-off system to decide the championship. However, the Stars beat the Sheffield Tigers in the play off final to be crowned champions. King's Lynn Stars also won the 2006 Premier Trophy and the 2006 Premier League Knockout Cup completing the treble for the year. [12] Much of the success was down to Tomáš Topinka, Kevin Doolan and Troy Batchelor.

In 2007, the Stars once again won the Premier Trophy and Premier League Knock-out Cup. They also finished top of the Premier League table but that year the Stars were beaten by the Sheffield Tigers in the play-off semi-final. In 2008, the Stars eventually finished third in the league. They then participated in the play-off promotion battle, where they lost on aggregate to Edinburgh Monarchs in the final. In 2009, for the second time in three years, the Stars won the treble: the first club ever to achieve this feat twice. The Stars were crowned league champions on 16 September 2009 but then lost on aggregate to the Edinburgh Monarchs in the promotion play-off final. The Stars also won the Premier Trophy on 30 September beating the Edinburgh Monarchs 99–92 on aggregate over two legs and in October the Stars won the Knock-Out Cup, beating the same Edinburgh Monarchs again on aggregate over two legs. In total from 2005 to 2009 they won four knockout cups and two league titles.

2010s

Niels Kristian Iversen in action Niels Kristian Iversen02.JPG
Niels Kristian Iversen in action

The 2011 season saw King's Lynn Stars return to the Elite League, marking a return to the top flight of speedway. [13] Only Tomáš Topinka and Olly Allen were kept on the squad, with the rest of the team brought in from other Elite squads. The Stars proved very competitive home and away and finished third in the League and qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the Poole Pirates in the semi-finals. They continued to compete in the Elite League and finished 2nd in 2014, when headed by Niels Kristian Iversen.

During the SGB Premiership 2018 the club just failed to win the highest league title, to have won it would have been the first time in the club's history. They topped the regular season table but lost in the play off final to Poole Pirates. [14] Robert Lambert topped scored for the Stars and was well supported by Iversen.

2020s

Following a season lost to the COVID-19 pandemic the team had a poor 2021 but reached the League Cup final in 2022. In June 2023, the club signed former world champion Artem Laguta for his first season in British speedway [15] but the season disintegrated with Laguta unable to perform on the track and the team finished last. A complete revamp ensued for 2024, which included Niels Kristian Iversen's return and the mid-season signing of Czech rider Jan Kvěch.

Season summary (1st team)

Extended content
Year and leaguePositionNotes
1966 British League season 16th
1967 British League season 19th
1968 British League season 18th
1969 British League season 9th
1970 British League season 12th
1971 British League season 13th
1972 British League season 3rd
1973 British League season 3rd
1974 British League season 5th
1975 British League season 12th
1976 British League season 14th
1977 British League season 6th Knockout Cup winners
1978 British League season 13th
1979 British League season 4th
1980 British League season 7th
1981 British League season 14th
1982 British League season 14th
1983 British League season 8th
1984 British League season 6th
1985 British League season 11th
1986 British League season 11th
1987 British League season 12th
1988 British League season 9th
1989 British League season 9th
1990 British League season 9th
1991 British League season 8th
1992 British League season 9th
1993 British League season 9th
1994 British League season 5th
1995 Premier League speedway season 19th
1997 Elite League speedway season 5thKnights
1998 Elite League speedway season 9thKnights
1999 Elite League speedway season 3rdKnights
2000 Elite League speedway season 2ndKnights, Knockout Cup winners
2001 Elite League speedway season 6thKnights
2002 Elite League speedway season 9thSilver Machine
2003 Premier League speedway season 6th
2004 Premier League speedway season 7th
2005 Premier League speedway season 4th Knockout Cup winners
2006 Premier League speedway season 1st Champions & Knockout Cup winner
2007 Premier League speedway season 1stPO semi final & Knockout Cup winner
2008 Premier League speedway season 3rd
2009 Premier League speedway season 1st Champions & Knockout Cup winner
2010 Premier League speedway season 7th
2011 Elite League speedway season 3rd
2012 Elite League speedway season 7th
2013 Elite League speedway season 5th
2014 Elite League speedway season 2ndPO semi final
2015 Elite League speedway season 5th
2016 Elite League speedway season 6th
SGB Premiership 2017 7th
SGB Premiership 2018 1stlost PO final
SGB Premiership 2019 6th
SGB Premiership 2021 6th
SGB Premiership 2022 5th
SGB Premiership 2023 7th
SGB Premiership 2024 6th

Season summary (Junior team)

Extended content
Year and leaguePositionNotes
1969 British League Division Two season 16thStarlets
1997 Speedway Conference League 13thAnglian Angels (with Ipswich)
1998 Speedway Conference League 4thNorfolk Braves
1999 Speedway Conference League 7thBraves
2002 Speedway Conference League 9thKids
2012 National League speedway season 8thYoung Stars
2013 National League speedway season 2ndYoung Stars
2014 National League speedway season 5thYoung Stars
2015 National League speedway season 6thYoung Stars
2016 National League speedway season 7thYoung Stars
2017 National League speedway season N/AYoung Stars withdrew

Riders previous seasons

Extended content

1976 team

2011 team

2012 team
For the 2012 season, the Bjerre brothers returned to their parent club, Peterborough Panthers and the Stars and declined to renew with Olly Allen, who also joined the Panthers. The Stars picked up the highly rated young German, Kevin Woelbert who had shown great form when riding at Lynn with Edinburgh in the Premier League. Also the season sees the return of former Premier League favourite Daniel Nermark. To round out the starting 7 the Stars signed David Howe to double up and Polish flyer Maciej Janowski.

2013 team

2014 team

2015 team

2016 team

2017 team

2018 team

2019 team

2021 team

2022 team [16]

Notable riders

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References

  1. ↑ Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). Homes of British Speedway. ISBN   0-7524-2210-3
  2. ↑ "Exctiting plans for speedway racing at South Lynn" . Lynn Advertiser. 16 March 1965. Retrieved 17 April 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ↑ "Cox is hurt in spill" . Bristol Evening Post. 16 April 1966. Retrieved 17 April 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ↑ "Speedway Shock" . Wolverhampton Express and Star. 24 February 1968. Retrieved 17 April 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ↑ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
  6. ↑ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  7. ↑ "World Championship". Metal Speedway. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  8. ↑ "World Championship". Speedway.org. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  9. ↑ "Speedway sportsmail special" . Lynn Advertiser. 22 June 1982. Retrieved 17 April 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "British League Tables - British League Era (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  11. ↑ "Eastbourne". wwosbackup. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  12. ↑ Bamford, Robert (1 March 2007). Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2007. NPI Media Group. ISBN   978-0-7524-4250-1.
  13. ↑ "STARS SET TO BUILD FAST - British Speedway Official Website". www.speedwaygb.co.uk. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "FORD CONFIRMS CLUB FOR SALE". Poole Speedway. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  15. ↑ "LAGUTA SET FOR STARS". British Speedway. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  16. ↑ "2022 KIng's LYNN STARS - King's Lynn Speedway - the Home of the Stars".
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