Speedway

Memorable evening that had the perfect finale

King's Lynn team boss Rob Lyon said leading his country to the World Team Cup final on home shale on Monday night ranks among his best Saddlebow nights.

Lyon's men will appear in their first global showpiece since 2007 in Denmark on Saturday after edging out old rivals Australia in front of 7,000 Norfolk Arena fans and a live television audience.

The Stars have dominated at Premier League level in recent years since Lyon's arrival but the astute team boss conceded toppling pre-race favourites Australia in familiar surroundings will live long in the memory.

“I've had a few special nights here but that one is probably up there with the best,” he said.

“It's not winning it yet, of course, but it is a big boost having not been straight through to a final for a number of years.

“We picked a team to win this round and go straight through and I think the team spirit was very, very good. We all worked for it and for each and it was a great meeting - and the fans deserved it as well.

“We had lads who have seen the good and the bad times and been through all the ups and downs but they've been riding particularly well this season and I can't stress how good the spirit was - superb, absolutely superb, and it made such a difference to us.

“The lads all helped each other in the pits and on the track they all got stuck in.”

Lyon insists Team GB will not rest on their laurels ahead of facing the powerful Poles and the two successful countries from tomorrow's race-off in Vojens.

“The nice thing with going straight through is that we have some more time to plan now,” he said.

“We'll talk amongst the boys about going there early for a practice or not but we can go there with an open mind.

“We have now made progress from last year and that is what we wanted and if we show that same commitment and team spirit then we have a chance of getting a medal which would be fantastic for us.

“I suppose going with the more experienced guys has paid off for us but I just felt that was the way we had to go.

“We gave the younger lads a chance last year and they would have got one again this time around if they had been on form, but I feel they have not progressed as much as we would have hoped. The experienced boys were on form, they wanted to do, and it was the natural choice to make.”

Swindon ace Simon Stead was one of the men who justified Lyon's faith - but the Yorkshireman's heat 23 exclusion looked to have handed Australia a decisive late advantage.

“I thought it was a harsh decision at that stage of the meeting,” said Lyon. “The referee perhaps didn't take that into account but even with that we felt we had some good gates in the last two and we knew we had to stay in front of the Aussies for the final two races and that is what we did.

“Obviously Joonas Davidsson went out and won that race which helped us a little bit but we still had to go and perform and I could not have asked any more of the boys.

“We can go to Vojens now with great confidence that we have nothing to lose and we can hopefully go there and pull off a medal.”

Lyon's World Team Cup commitments mean Young Stars' team boss Dale Allitt and Lynn co-promoter Buster Chapman deputise in the home pits for tonight's Premier League KO Cup, semi-final first leg tie against Edinburgh (7.45pm).

Chris Schramm replaces injured number one Kevin Doolan. Edinburgh's Finnish racer Kalle Katajisto is ruled out after damaging his ankle in the weekend Premier Trophy defeat at Glasgow.

Stars: 1 Chris Schramm, 2 Kozza Smith, 3 Tomas Topinka, 4 Casper Wortmann, 5 Joe Haines, 6 Darren Mallett, 7 Chris Mills.

Monarchs: 1 Ryan Fisher, 2 Tobias Busch, 3 Kevin Wolbert, 4 Matthew Wethers, 5 Andrew Tully, 6 Cal McDade, 7 tbc.

Admission prices: Adults £13, concessions £10, juniors (aged 12 to 15) £5 and free entry for children aged 11 and under.