Wolverhampton Wolves left seeing Stars

The Parrys International Wolves lost 47-43 in a last-heat decider as the Stars registered an 11th win out of their last 12 fixtures.

Things started brightly for the Monmore men despite plenty of drama in the very first race.

Twice Kyle Howarth and Erik Riss went elbow-to-elbow into the first bend and twice it was the King’s Lynn man who found himself on the deck. And despite the two incidents being identical, referee Chris Durno opted to throw Riss out of the race second time around.

Lone star Robert Lambert got the better of the start, but home man Sam Masters charged up the inside off bend two as the hosts opened with a 4-2.

Wolves extended that lead in the third when home guest Nick Morris and Jonas B Andersen held off Thomas Jorgensen while former Wolf Ty Proctor pulled up at the back, feeling the effects of a crash at Sheffield and withdrew from the rest of the meeting.

Jacob Thorssell was able to hold off ex-Wolves man Niels-Kristian Iversen in the fourth before home guest reserve Max Clegg steamed under Simon Lambert into bend three in the closing stages.

And Wolves opened up that 10-point advantage through Masters and Howarth.

But the comeback for the visitors started in the seventh race when they nominated captain Robert Lambert as a tactical substitute. He made the gate and was very briefly joined by team-mate Jorgensen before Thorssell salvaged second place for the hosts.

But that would be the first of four straight heat advantages for the Stars as they drew level with 10 gone.

And despite their best efforts, Wolves couldn’t handle King’s Lynn’s top duo of Iversen and Lambert who registered two heat advantages in the final three races to secure a narrow victory.

While not entirely mathematical, Wolves would need an unlikely sequence of results to somehow make the top four – including a hefty win at Poole tomorrow.

Wolverhampton 43: Jacob Thorssell 10, Nick Morris 8+1, Jonas B Andersen 7+1, Sam Masters 7, Kyle Howarth 6, Ashley Morris 4, Max Clegg 1.

King’s Lynn 47: Robert Lambert 13+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 13, Michael Palm Toft 7+2, Erik Riss 7+1, Thomas Jorgensen 4+1, Simon Lambert 3, Ty Proctor 0.