King's Lynn picked up three vital Elite League points tonight with a hard-fought victory over an ever-improving Belle Vue side.

The Stars were never behind in the meeting but struggled to shake off an Aces outfit who fought hard to stay in the meeting until the final heats. But Lynn, helped by a 5-1 in heat 13, finally secured a much-needed maximum home win to send their fans home happy.

Rob Lyon said his Stars needed to bring their improved away form to the Norfolk Arena as Lynn looked to pick up their third win out of five home meetings this campaign.

However, Belle Vue have enjoyed an upturn in form themselves - since the Stars beat them 50-42 in Manchester to secure their only away win so far this season - and enjoyed a fine start to the meeting when Rory Schlein beat regular heat one-winner Niels-Kristian Iversen to clinch a race win.

However, the heat was shared and the Stars quickly took control thanks to a 4-2 in the second and a maximum 5-1 in the third. Aces guest Richie Worrall helped by touching the tapes in heat two, therefore starting 15 metres behind the pack, but both Stars heat winners Kevin Wolbert and Maciej Janowski had looked impressive leading from the front.

David Howe followed Janowski home to secure two points in his first ride for Lyon's charges in two months and the good news continued until the fifth when red-hot Schlein almost broke Nikki Pedersen's track record with a flying victory.

The Aussie - who guested for Lynn days ago at Coventry - steamed round the track in 57.73 seconds, just 0.13 behind Pedersen's near 10-year Elite League track record.

The visitors maximum was quickly cancelled out as the Stars fired back with two of their own to open up a 10-point lead. And captain Mads Korneliussen - who squeezed past Artur Mroczka bravely down the back straight to help pick up one of those 5-1s - helped keep his side in control in heat eight.

Chasing Worrall, who was on a tactical, he breezed past him to prevent an 8-1 reverse. But the Aces promising middle part of the night continued after that 5-2, when they won 5-1 before the interval to reduce Lynn's lead to just three.

Iversen surprisingly finished last in heat 10, but Schlein did the same in heat 11 as the scores remained close. Thankfully for Lynn, Mateusz Szczepaniak slipped under Mark Lemon in heat 12 and Janowski squeezed past the same man to turn the Stars' 1-5 into a 3-3.

With just three heats left, Lynn needed a big win and they got it thanks to Daniel Nermark and Iversen, who secured a maximum. Lynn's number one had to elbow his way past Schlein to get in position and Lynn continued to over-power a brave Belle Vue side who put up a fight till the end but eventually slipped to an 11-point defeat.

King's Lynn: Niels-Kristian Iversen 10 (1), Mads Korneliussen 8 (2), Maciej Janowski 5 (1), David Howe 3 (1), Daniel Nermark 9 (1), Kevin Wolbert 9, Mateusz Szczepaniak 7

Belle Vue: Rory Schlein 8, Mark Lemon 2 (1), Craig Cook 3, Artur Mrockza 10 (2), Ales Dryml 9 (1), Richie Worrall 8 (1)