Kings Lynn Stars
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

King's Lynn Stars are a
motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...
team who compete in the SGB Premiership. The nickname "Stars" was adopted from the defunct
Norwich Stars Norwich Stars were a motorcycle speedway team based in Norwich, England, which operated from 1930 until their closure in 1964.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. History Origins and 1930s Speedway came to Norwich ...
team. The team was founded in 1965 and has been running continually since then, except for 1996 when King's Lynn failed to have a team competing in the British league system.


History


1960s

Plans for speedway in King's Lynn surfaced in 1965, when Maurice Littlechild promoted on an open licence at
King's Lynn Stadium King's Lynn Stadium, also known as the Adrian Flux Arena and previously as the Norfolk Arena, is a short oval stadium situated to the south of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. It currently hosts BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Car Racing, Banger racing, ...
. Littlechild had plans to create a team called the South Lynn Stars named after the
Norwich Stars Norwich Stars were a motorcycle speedway team based in Norwich, England, which operated from 1930 until their closure in 1964.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. History Origins and 1930s Speedway came to Norwich ...
, who had closed in 1964. The first meeting was on 23 May 1965 and the South Lynn Stars name was dropped in favour of the King's Lynn Stars. The team's inaugural league season was the
1966 British League season The 1966 British League season was the 32nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the second season known as the British League. Halifax Dukes won the league and then secured the league and cup double. Summary The Lea ...
, where they finished 16th fom 19 teams. The team was led by new signing Terry Betts, who recorded a season average of 9.41. After finishing last in 1967 they signed Malcolm Simmons from
West Ham Hammers The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team that raced at West Ham Stadium in London, England, from 1929 to 1971. The team were twice champions of the United Kingdom. History Origins and 1920s Speedway arrived at West Ham in 1928, the ina ...
but experienced another poor season before improving to a ninth place finish in the league during 1969.


1970s

After a tough start to the 1970s, King's Lynn managed two consecutive third place finishes during the 1972 and 1973 seasons, with their strongest riders being Terry Betts and Malcolm Simmons and well supported by Howard Cole and Phil Crump. Ian Turner and Michael Lee were added to the team but it was not until 1977 that the first silverware was won by the team. The Knockout Cup win included a narrow two point win over Reading Racers on aggregate in the
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
, thanks largely to Lee and Betts. The following season in 1978, they won the Inter League Knock-out Cup. In 1979, Dave Jessup transferred from Reading to King's Lynn and set a new British transfer record of £20,000 at the time.


1980s

The team secured a second Inter League Knock-out Cup win 1980 and Michael Lee was crowned world champion. Dave Jessup emerged as a rider to match Michael Lee for the Stars and Richard Hellsen was a popular rider with the fans. The team were starved of success throughout the 1980s and co-promoter Cyril Crane (a former Norwich and Sheffield rider) came under criticism during the period.


1990s

The team continued to compete in the highest division until the end of the 1995 season but failed to finish any higher than fourth place. Riders included Mark Loram, Richard Knight and Henka Gustaffson. The team colours were originally green and yellow, taken directly from the
Norwich Stars Norwich Stars were a motorcycle speedway team based in Norwich, England, which operated from 1930 until their closure in 1964.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. History Origins and 1930s Speedway came to Norwich ...
but in 1994 the green was replaced with blue, to match the blue and yellow of the
King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...
official town crest. During their time as the Knights, silver and black became the prominent colours, but since reviving the Stars nickname they returned to using blue and yellow. In 1997, the team returned to league action after missing the 1996 season, they joined the Elite League and were known as the King's Lynn Knights from 1997 to 2001. The Czech pair of Bohumil Brhel and
Tomáš Topinka Tomáš Topinka (born 5 June 1974) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from the Czech Republic. He earned 16 international caps for the Czech Republic national speedway team. Career He participated in Speedway World Cups for Czech Republic ...
became fan's favourites. A junior side were introduced in 1998 and competed under various names in the following seasons, including the Starlets, Braves, Kids and Young Stars.


2000s

During the 2000 Elite League speedway season the team finished runner-up behind
Eastbourne Eagles The Eastbourne Eagles were a British motorcycle speedway team, based at Arlington Stadium, near Eastbourne, England. They were founded in 1929 and are two times champions of Britain in 1995 and 2000. The team last raced on 31 July 2021. Hist ...
and won the Knockout Cup for the second time. The Stars pairing of Australian's Leigh Adams and Jason Crump topped the league averages. Adams left for Oxford in 2001 and the Stars brought in Nicki Pedersen and in 2002, the club became the King's Lynn Silver Machine for one season before reverting to their traditional name of the Stars. For the first time in their 36-year history, the team dropped to the second division (Premier League) from 2003. After winning the Knockout Cup (tier 2) in 2005, they finished top of the
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
table in 2006 but were the first such team not automatically crowned champions because it was the first season that the Premier League used the play-off system to decide the championship. However, the Stars beat the Sheffield Tigers in the play off final to be crowned champions. King's Lynn Stars also won the 2006
Premier Trophy The Major League Tournament (formerly known as the Premier Trophy) is the main domestic first-class cricket competition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1938 and has existed under a number of different names. Matches before the 1988–89 seas ...
and the 2006 Premier League Knockout Cup completing the treble for the year. Much of the success was down to Tomáš Topinka, Kevin Doolan and Troy Batchelor. In 2007, the Stars once again won the Premier Trophy and Premier League Knock-out Cup. They also finished top of the Premier League table but that year the Stars were beaten by the Sheffield Tigers in the play-off semi-final. In 2008, the Stars eventually finished third in the league. They then participated in the play-off promotion battle, where they lost on aggregate to
Edinburgh Monarchs The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish speedway team based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess and also runs a ...
in the final. In 2009, for the second time in three years, the Stars won the treble: the first club ever to achieve this feat twice. The Stars were crowned league champions on 16 September 2009 but then lost on aggregate to the Edinburgh Monarchs in the promotion play-off final. The Stars also won the Premier Trophy on 30 September beating the Edinburgh Monarchs 99–92 on aggregate over two legs and in October the Stars won the Knock-Out Cup, beating the same Edinburgh Monarchs again on aggregate over two legs. In total from 2005 to 2009 they won four knockout cups and two league titles.


2010s

The 2011 season saw King's Lynn Stars return to the Elite League, marking a return to the top flight of speedway. Only Tomáš Topinka and Olly Allen were kept on the squad, with the rest of the team brought in from other Elite squads. The Stars proved very competitive home and away and finished third in the League and qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the Poole Pirates in the semi-finals. They continued to compete in the Elite League and finished 2nd in 2014, when headed by Niels Kristian Iversen. During the SGB Premiership 2018 the club just failed to win the highest league title, to have won it would have been the first time in the club's history. They topped the regular season table but lost in the play off final to Poole Pirates. Robert Lambert topped scored for the Stars and was well supported by Iversen.


2020s

Following a season lost to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
the team had a poor 2021 but reached the League Cup final in 2022. In June 2023, the club signed former world champion Artem Laguta for his first season in British speedway but the season disintegrated with Laguta unable to perform on the track and the team finished last. A complete revamp ensued for 2024, which included Niels Kristian Iversen's return and the mid-season signing of Czech rider Jan Kvěch.


Season summary (1st team)


Season summary (Junior team)


Riders previous seasons

1976 team * Adi Funk * David Gagen * Jan Henningsen * Michael Lee * Terry Betts * Ray Bales 2011 team * * * * * * * * * 2012 team
For the 2012 season, the Bjerre brothers returned to their parent club, Peterborough Panthers and the Stars and declined to renew with Olly Allen, who also joined the Panthers. The Stars picked up the highly rated young
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
, Kevin Woelbert who had shown great form when riding at Lynn with Edinburgh in the Premier League. Also the season sees the return of former Premier League favourite Daniel Nermark. To round out the starting 7 the Stars signed David Howe to double up and Polish flyer Maciej Janowski. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 2013 team * * * * * * * * * 2014 team * * * * * * * 2015 team * * * * * * * * 2016 team * * * * * * * * * * * 2017 team * * * * * * * * * * 2018 team * * * * * * * * * * * 2019 team * * * * * * * * * * 2021 team * * * * * * * * * * * * 2022 team * * * * * * (C) * * (Rising Star) * (Number 8) *


Notable riders

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


References


External links


Adrian Flux Arena
{{SGB Premiership SGB Premiership teams Sport in Norfolk King's Lynn 1965 establishments in England Sports clubs and teams established in 1965