King's Lynn co-promoter Jonathan Chapman insists speedway must learn lessons from the disrupted Elite League Riders' championship at the Norfolk Arena.

King's Lynn co-promoter Jonathan Chapman insists speedway must learn lessons from the disrupted Elite League Riders' championship at the Norfolk Arena.

Eastbourne's world champion-elect Nicki Pedersen won the prestigious individual meeting in front of a bumper 4,000 Saddlebow crowd and live television audience. But his triumph was marred by early track problems which forced a 15-minute delay to enable urgent grading after a spate of crashes.

"It was just a shame people will go away and remember what happened in the first five races," said Chapman. "That's the unfortunate thing that will stick in people's minds and we know it will take a long time to win those back. It was a mix of things. We had riders pulling out during the day and you have to question their commitment to the clubs as well. I think Premier League riders show a lot more loyalty. It didn't really take long to sort out the track problems and after that we had some great racing - you only have to listen to someone like Nicki Pedersen and what he was saying at the end of the meeting."

Chapman revealed Sky's presence hampered Lynn's usual meticulous track preparations.

"We wanted to work on the track to grade it, but if you're not allowed to get the tractors out what can you do?" he said. "If the cameras hadn't been there then it would've been fine, but they had schedules to follow. Under normal circumstances we would not have started. It didn't help there was a big cloud over the stadium before the meeting as well which had a bearing on when we could get on to water the track."

The Stars' chief admitted the long running championship may now need a revamp.

"I just don't know what will happen in the future," said Chapman. "It's a very similar format to the grand prix. For me, the Elite League Pairs' meeting we staged here was much better. That is something different, something you don't see every week."

Stars' duo Tomas Topinka and Chris Mills both appeared as track reserves against the Elite's best. Chapman believes that experience can only benefit the club ahead of this weekend's Premier League away double header at Workington and Glasgow as Lynn hunt a record seventh road win of the season.

"Millsy didn't look out of place - he is riding out of his skin at the moment," said Chapman. "I thought Tomas was unlucky to be excluded in one of his races. Workington will be tough but to pick up a win and top what we did away from home last season would be amazing. We just want to keep the boys ticking over now. I want us to finish top of the league not just in the top four."

Stars: 1 Tomas Topinka, 2 Chris Mills, 3 Daniel Nermark, 4 Paul Lee, 5 Trevor Harding, 6 James Brundle, 7 Benji Compton.