Rob Lyon expects little to separate his King's Lynn Stars side and Peterborough Panthers today as the East Anglian rivals lock horns in a mouth-watering Elite League derby double-header.

Speedway fans are expected to travel across the A47 in their thousands to watch this afternoon's clash at the East of England Showground before making their way back to the return at the Norfolk Arena.

The Lynn team boss - who missed his side's two meetings with Eastbourne Eagles - says the Good Friday programme should provide supporters with plenty of close heats and an entertaining day's racing.

Lyon said: 'The fans will certainly be looking forward to it. Whether it's Ipswich or Peterborough they love a local derby.

'There's rivalry between the clubs and I'm sure the keyboard warriors will be out in force getting involved in the banter. Easter speedway draws good crowds and I hope the fans are entertained.

'I predict very close tense affairs and we'll be looking to get points from both legs. But I'm sure they will be thinking the same too.

'The meetings are usually tight but they might be closer than normal because we have riders who know Peterborough's track, and they have some that know Lynn's very well too.'

Stars' trio Niels-Kristian Iversen, Mads Korneliussen and David Howe have all worn the Panthers' colours while Bjerre brothers, Kenneth and Lasse, and Olly Allen rode for Lynn last season.

Lyon's side finished ahead of their Alwalton rivals last season and have enjoyed an encouraging start to the new campaign - beating Eastbourne 59-31 at home before nearly claiming a point in a 49-41 defeat in the return. Panthers kick off their league campaign tonight.

The Stars boss said: 'The first meeting was terrific and we were unlucky not to get at least a point at Eastbourne. It's been encouraging so far.

'There are areas to work on but a good start has helped generate a good atmosphere and it's refreshing to see that one or two of the guys are looking out for each other on the track already.

'David Howe is an experienced campaigner but he seems to have been reinvigorated after making a change to his pit crew at the end of last year which has enabled him to focus on his racing. We're seeing the benefit of that already (Howe has top-scored for Lynn in their two meetings).

'He's good enough to be in the Elite League and is experienced on every track. I had a good feeling David would come up trumps but it's early days. We need to keep our feet on the ground but he's started off in the right direction.'

Fixture one: East of England Showground, Peterborough (2pm)

Peterborough: 1 Kenneth Bjerre, 2 Rene Bach, 3 Olly Allen, 4 Jesper B Monberg, 5 Linus Sundstrom, 6 Richard Lawson, 7 Michael Jepsen Jensen

King's Lynn: 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen, 2 Daniel Nermark, 3 Mads Korneliussen, 4 Kevin Wolbert, 5 Maciej Janowski, 6 David Howe, 7 Filip Sitera

Fixture two: Norfolk Arena, King's Lynn (7pm)

King's Lynn: 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen, 2 Daniel Nermark, 3 Maciej Janowski, 4 Kevin Wolbert, 5 Mads Korneliussen, 6 David Howe, 7 Filip Sitera

Peterborough: 1 Kenneth Bjerre, 2 Lasse Bjerre, 3 Olly Allen, 4 Jesper B Monberg, 5 Linus Sundstrom, 6 Richard Lawson, 7 Michael Jepsen Jensen