King’s Lynn fail to overcome early blast at Belle Vue

The Poultec Stars did well to fight back after a wretched start at the National Speedway Stadium, Manchester, going down 54-36.

Belle Vue rattled off four successive 5-1s in the opening four races to leave the Stars reeling.

Two battling maximum heat wins from Robert Lambert and Michael Palm Toft helped add some respectability to the scoreline, but Schroeck said: "That was a really tough night at the office for the boys. Belle Vue got off to such a brilliant start and we were always going to struggle after that.

"In fact I was quite proud of the way that kept battling to get back into the match. We did get it back to just 10 points after heat 12 but then they finished strongly.

"Robert and Michael managed to get themselves dialled in later on but Belle Vue were really on it tonight right from the off.

"We just have to put this one behind us and move on as quick as possible.

"The boys worked really hard but it just didn't happen in the end."

The Stars were really struggling in the early stages and found themselves 18 points down after eight heats.

Finally the fightback began when Schroeck played the tactical substitution, Lambert in heat nine with track specialist Palm Toft. They roared cleared for a 5-1 over Dan Bewley and Steve Worrall to finally give the visitors something to cheer about.

That same pair repeated the feat in heat 11 over Kenneth Bjerre and when Ty Proctor popped out to win heat 12, suddenly the Stars were back on song. But an engine failure for Lambert in heat 13 ended any hopes of taking anything home.

Belle Vue finished with a 5-1 and two 4-2s to again open up the 18-point margin, despite a battling second half from the Stars.

Belle Vue: Max Fricke 15, Kenneth Bjerre 10, Jaimon Lindsey 8, Dan Bewley 7, Ricky Wells 5, Dimitri Berge 5, Steve Worrall 4.

King's Lynn: Michael Palm Toft 12, Robert Lambert 10, Ty Proctor 5, Erik Riss 4, Thomas Jorgensen 2, Kasper Andersen 2, Lewis Kerr 1.