King's Lynn co-promoter Jonathan Chapman is backing his Stars to survive a stamina-sapping week in the hunt for silverware - starting with tonight's crucial Premier Trophy trip to the Isle of Wight.

King's Lynn co-promoter Jonathan Chapman is backing his Stars to survive a stamina-sapping week in the hunt for silverware - starting with tonight's crucial Premier Trophy trip to the Isle of Wight.

Lynn will qualify for the semi-finals with victory over the Islanders but Chapman predicts the race for a last four spot could go right down to this weekend's final pool decider at Newport.

Young reserve Shane Waldron replaces experienced heat leader Daniel Nermark this evening with the Swedish racer on league duty in his native homeland.

Troy Batchelor misses Sunday's trip to south Wales as he bids to take a step closer to World U21 glory. Lynn's Premier League campaign begins tomorrow against new boys Redcar before travelling north to defend an 18-point lead in their Yorkshire Cup return at Sheffield on Thursday.

"It's a busy, busy month but the riders are well prepared," said Chapman. "In a sense it's no different to what the GP boys have to do. If we want to be getting through to semi finals and competing for trophies then you have to expect a heavy workload."

Chapman insists Lynn must focus on the job in hand at Smallbrook after demolishing the Premier Trophy whipping boys 67-26 at the Norfolk Arena last month.

The rock bottom Islanders ended their miserable winless streak in this year's competition at home to Mildenhall last time out.

"We know exactly what's required," said Chapman. "With Daniel missing it will be a struggle to win. We must get the bonus and keep the deficit to as small a margin as possible. It's a big, fast track and all our boys like it. Troy will race at number two - which should mean we have a possible heat winner in every race. That's no disrespect to some of the other guys but it will be important for the likes of Troy, Kevin (Doolan) and Tomas (Topinka) to help the rest along."

Nermark returns for tomorrow's intriguing league opener against a Redcar side led by former World Champion Gary Havelock and bolstered by emerging talents Chris Kerr and Tomas Suchanek.

"It's great to see someone like Gary riding in the Premier League," said co-promoter Buster Chapman. "It shows how strong the product is and he will provide great entertainment and competition home or away. I think even our top boys will have trouble catching him."

Islanders (from): 1 Chris Holder, 2 Jason Doyle, 3 Krister Marsh, 4 Krzysztof Stojanowski, 5 Jason Bunyan, 6 Simon Walker/Chris Johnson 7 Nick Simmons.

Stars: 1 Shane Waldron, 2 Troy Batchelor, 3 Kevin Doolan, 4 Trevor Harding, 5 Tomas Topinka, 6 Chris Mills, 7 John Oliver.