Hard man Carl Wilkinson will put his body on the line to help King's Lynn's season get off to a flier.

The experienced reserve crashed and hurt his collarbone while riding for his Premier League club Scunthorpe against Ipswich on Sunday.

But he remains defiant that the problem will not force him to miss the Stars' Elite League opener at home to Lakeside Hammers as he prepares to ride through the pain barrier.

Wilkinson said: 'I have a small break and went to the fracture clinic on Tuesday morning.

'It's going to be a painful week getting myself ready for Thursday. But I will be there getting stuck in.'

The 34-year-old's intention of taking to the tapes will come as a boost to Rob Lyon after he watched Wilkinson bag an impressive seven points during the 50-46 International Pre-Season Cup win over Polish club Wroclaw.

While that meeting may have been nothing but a glorified friendly, Lyon is hopefuls his riders can take that momentum with them into tonight's clash at the Adrian Flux Arena.

Lynn's team boss said: 'It's always good to have a race meeting of some description before the real stuff starts and it was a tough one against a Polish team.

'It was a good workout for all of them so I am very happy with that and we can build on it against Lakeside. Traditionally Lakeside haven't been good travellers here but we will take nothing for granted.

'It's a fresh season and they will want to come with the attitude to get something out of the meeting. Hopefully if the weather is kind to us we will have a more typical Lynn track on Thursday (than we did against Wroclaw). I would be disappointed if we don't come away with a win.'

Former Star Lewis Kerr returns to Saddlebow Road for the first time with Lakeside.

Lynn: 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen, 2 Kai Huckenbeck, 3 Rory Schlein, 4 Mads Korneliussen, 5 Robert Lambert, 6 Carl Wilkinson, 7 Lewis Rose

Lakeside: 1 Andreas Jonsson, 2 Piotr Swiderski, 3 Kim Nilsson, 4 Richard Lawson, 5 Lewis Bridger, 6 Robert Mear, 7 Lewis Kerr

* See today's EDP to read the return of Korneliussen's fantastic column.