Lynn picked up what could be a crucial aggregate point from a 43-35 defeat at Sheffield on Monday in a meeting curtailed two races early due to heavy rain.
The PSH Environmental Stars were two points ahead on aggregate when the heavens opened at Owlerton with all parties in agreement that racing could not continue.
It was certainly some justice for the Stars, as they could count themselves most unfortunate with a highly controversial refereeing decision going against them in Heat 11, which could have cost them the point.
Stars boss Rob Lyon. Picture: Ian Burt
As it was, they can now move on to a huge home contest with Ipswich next Monday with their play-off hopes enhanced from events in South Yorkshire.
Lynn manager Rob Lyon said: “I thought we rode well tonight, and we were well in it up until the ridiculous decision in Heat 11, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
“A point is better than nothing. We came here to get at least that, and obviously that decision was the turning point. It was an incredible decision.
“It didn’t make any difference to the result in the end as we’d have lost by four instead of eight, but I really wonder what these referees look at. It’s staggering.
“I did fear that Jordan would be struggling once the adrenaline went away, but Jody had a great meeting tonight. Six points compared to his first visit here was a massive improvement, and it was a big step towards us getting that aggregate point.
“The rain started to come down after Heat 12 and it was getting slippier in Heat 13, the boys were saying it was getting worse every lap. We said we’d give it five minutes to see if it stopped but there was no chance of that, so it was a sensible decision to call a halt.”
Max Fricke won two races with Ben Cook chipping in well until he was the victim of the Heat 11 decision, whilst Jody Scott put in a great show in the Rising Star berth which was important as the unlucky Jordan Jenkins suffered another knock.
Stars made an excellent start with Fricke pulling off a good move to make it around Anders Rowe in Heat 1, with Cook third as Tigers guest Jason Doyle was kept at the back.
Jenkins was unceremoniously bundled into the fence by Jye Etheridge in Heat 2, the Sheffield rider already having made contact with the Lynn man on the opening lap, but Jenkins bravely picked himself up to win the re-run which also resulted in a Stars 4-2 as the challenge of Luke Killeen was thwarted.
The home side levelled with a 5-1 from Chris Holder and Leon Flint, who sandwiched Chris Harris out in the early stages of Heat 3, but Lynn quickly rebuilt an advantage.
Scott pulled off a superb ride in Heat 4, making it around Killeen off turn two before holding on under massive pressure from Tigers skipper Josh Pickering to take one of the biggest scalps of his career so far, whilst Jan Kvech passed Killeen for third place.
That gave Lynn good momentum and they maintained it with Cook gating sharply in Heat 5 whilst Fricke rode a strong first two turns to get the better of Holder for a 5-1 which put them six points up.
The Tigers struck back with maximum points from Doyle and Rowe in Heat 6, narrowing the gap to two points as Jenkins pulled up at the back in pain, and a tense contest began to develop.
Pickering won Heat 7 as Cooper Rushen and Harris saw off Etheridge for a 3-3, whilst Cook found himself chasing Killeen in Heat 8 before getting the job done in fine style with a textbook inside pass at the start of the third lap.
Sheffield drew level with a 4-2 in Heat 9 as Flint made it around Kvech off the second bend with Holder third, and they edged ahead in the next with a 4-2 in what clearly appeared to be an unsatisfactory start with Doyle taking the win as Rushen charged inside Rowe for second place.
But if that had been unsatisfactory, it was nothing compared to what happened in Heat 11 when home rider Etheridge initially made a great move to round Fricke, only for the Stars No.1 to make a clean move back through on the inside.
Etheridge then locked up straight into the path of Cook, who was holding a normal line on the fourth bend and had no way of avoiding a heavy crash, and Stars were utterly incredulous when Cook was disqualified.
The re-run saw Pickering, who had been at the back at the time of the initial stoppage, produce a blockbuster ride to reel in Fricke on the last lap and blast past him on the run to the line.
Sheffield’s run of 4-2s continued in Heat 12 with Scott doing a good job to split Holder and Killeen as the gap increased to six points with rain beginning to come down.
This intensified during Heat 13 where Doyle made a flying start from gate two to get above Fricke, who worked hard to hold Pickering at bay on this occasion, but conditions were obviously becoming trickier.
A delay was called to see if conditions would improve, but in fact they got worse and a resumption was never likely from that stage, so the result stood with the Tigers winning the meeting and the Stars – who would have used a tactical substitute in Heat 14 – holding on for the aggregate point.
Sheffield 43: Jason Doyle 9, Josh Pickering 9, Chris Holder 8, Anders Rowe 6+2, Leon Flint 5+1, Luke Killeen 5, Jye Etheridge 1.
Lynn Stars 35: Max Fricke 10, Ben Cook 6+1, Jody Scott 6, Cooper Rushen 4, Jan Kvech 4, Jordan Jenkins 3, Chris Harris 2+1.
Abandoned after Heat 13 – rain – result stands
King’s Lynn win the aggregate point.
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