Wolverhampton Wolves crank up the play-off heat
Wolverhampton turned up the pressure on their play-off rivals with a vital 53-36 win over King’s Lynn last night.
The victory saw the Parrys International Wolves move back into the top four ahead of Thursday’s penultimate away fixture at Poole (7.30pm).
Two shared races got the fixture underway against the Norfolk outfit with reserve Ryan Douglas storming underneath King’s Lynn guest Ulrich Ostergaard down the back straight on the opening lap to take Wolves’ first race win in heat two.
The Monmore men took the lead in the third when a smart move from skipper Rory Schlein saw him go from last to second as he and team-mate Nick Morris combined for a first 5-1 maximum of the night.
Wolves dropped a point in heat four as Luke Becker suffered his third straight pointless ride after wiping out Ostergaard on the final lap in a race which ended with a rare 3-2 scoreline after King’s Lynn’s Craig Cook pulled up earlier in the race.
The visitors sat on an early 5-1 in the fifth, but Schlein and Morris took advantage of a mistake by Stars captain Robert Lambert off bend two before the latter dug deep to produce a stunning last lap charge around the outside of Michael Palm Toft to maintain his unbeaten start.
King’s Lynn pulled a couple of points back in the sixth as Cook caught Sam Masters out on the final bend with a smart cut-back up the inside to gain their first advantage of the night.
Becker came a cropper once again in heat eight but lone Wolf Morris made a brilliant start in the re-run to handle the pressure superbly before leading another 5-1 with Schlein to extend his winning run in the ninth, despite being cleaned out down the back straight of the initial staging by Stars rider Palm Toft.
Thorssell made it a hat-trick of race wins in heat 10 before seeing his streak ended by Lambert in the very next race with Wolves holding a nine-point lead into the break.
But a heat 13 5-1 from Thorssell and Masters sealed the deal as Wolves broke the 50-point barrier for a fifth home meeting in succession.
Wolverhampton 53: Jacob Thorssell 14, Nick Morris 13+1, Rory Schlein 11+1, Sam Masters 9+2, Ryan Douglas 4+2, Luke Becker 2+2, Kyle Howarth R/R.
King’s Lynn 36: Erik Riss 9+1, Michael Palm Toft 6+1, Lewis Kerr 6+1, Ulrich Ostergaard 6, Robert Lambert 4, Craig Cook 3, Thomas Jorgensen 2.
