King's Lynn Stars

King's Lynn Stars
Club information
Track address	Norfolk Arena Saddlebow Road King's Lynn Norfolk
Country	England
Founded	1965
Team manager	Rob Lyon
Team captain	Niels Kristian Iversen
League	Elite League
Website	Official site
Club facts
Colours	Blue, yellow
Track size	342 metres
Current Team
Rider	CMA
Niels Kristian Iversen	8.00
Mads Korneliussen	7.44
Daniel Nermark	6.17
Maciej Janowski	6.06
Kevin Wolbert	5.17
David Howe Kozza Smith	4.99 3.73
Filip Sitera Michael Palm Toft	3,09 3.00
Total	TBA
Major team honours
Elite League KO Cup Winners Premier League Champions Premier League KO Cup Winners Premier Trophy Winners Young Shield Winners British League KO Cup Winners	2000 2006, 2009 2006, 2007, 2009 2006, 2007, 2009 2005 1977

King's Lynn Stars are a motorcycle speedway team who compete in the British Elite League. The nickname "Stars" comes from the defunct Norwich Stars 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.

Brief history

The team has operated with a few different nicknames, including: the Knights; Silver Machine (as an additional nickname to the Knights) and the Stars. The team colours were originally green and yellow, taken directly from the Norwich Stars but in 1994 the green was replaced with blue, to match the blue and yellow of the King's Lynn 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.

The promotion is run by Buster Chapman, a former junior rider at Kings Lynn, who also owns the stadium (renamed the Norfolk Arena) at Saddlebow Road on the outskirts of King's Lynn. The team manager is Rob Lyon who in 2009 was selected to be Team Manager for the Great Britain team.

King's Lynn finished top of the Premier League 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 and the 2006 Premier League Knockout Cup completing the treble for the year.

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. Rye House were ultimately crowned Premier League champions.

In 2008 the Stars were eliminated from the Premier Trophy and the Premier League Knockout Cup, but eventually finished third in the league. They then participated in the play-off promotion battle, where they lost on aggregate to Edinburgh 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.

2011 Team

• Kenneth Bjerre
• Niels Kristian Iversen
• Mads Korneliussen
• Olly Allen
• Morten Risager
• Sam Masters
• Lasse Bjerre
• Filip Sitera
• Kozza Smith (joined to replace Tomas)
• Adam Roynon
• Tomáš Topinka (Released)

2010 Team

• Tomáš Topinka
• Kozza Smith
• Joe Haines
• Linus Eklof Quit the team in June 2010
• Kevin Doolan
• Casper Wortmann
• Darren Mallet
• Chris Mills
• Olly Allen
• Adam Roynon
• Lasse Bjerre

2009 Team

• Tomáš Topinka
• Kozza Smith
• Chris Schramm
• Linus Eklof
• Christian Henry
• Emiliano Sanchez
• Jan Graversen
• Darcy Ward

2008 Team

• Tomáš Topinka
• Rusty Harrison
• Kevin Doolan
• Kozza Smith
• Shaun Tacey
• John Oliver
• Simon Lambert

2007 team

• Tomáš Topinka
• Daniel Nermark
• Trevor Harding
• John Oliver
• Paul Lee
• Chris Mills
• Adam Allott
• Benji Compton

2006 team

• Tomáš Topinka
• Daniel Nermark
• Trevor Harding
• John Oliver
• Simon Lambert
• Chris Mills
• Troy Batchelor
• Kevin Doolan

Notable riders

A number of the riders listed below have appeared for many British clubs and therefore could be claimed as notable riders by most teams. The riders that are strongly linked to Kings Lynn are Michael Lee, Terry Betts, Tomáš Topinka and Malcolm Simmons, although Rickard Hellsen and Ian 'Tiddler' Turner were long time servants of the club. Most others only appeared for the Stars for one or two seasons only.

• Terry Betts 1966–1978
• Tomáš Topinka 1993–1998, 2003–2011
• Michael Lee 1975–82, 1985–86, 1991
• Howard Cole 1967-1972
• Rickard Hellsen 1973, 1976–1985
• Ian Turner 1970–1980
• Bohumil Brehl 1990–1999
• Malcolm Simmons 1968–1974, 1986, 1993
• Mark Loram 1988–1994
• Dave Jessup 1979–81, 1984–85
• Jason Crump 2000–01
• Leigh Adams 1999–2000
• Nicki Pedersen 2001–02
• Tony Rickardsson 1999

Other team honours

• Inter League Knock-out Cup Winners – 1978, 1980

Individual honours

• Howard Cole became the first King's Lynn rider to reach a World Final in 1969.
• Ian Turner won the British Junior Championship in 1971.
• Terry Betts representing England along with Ray Wilson (Leicester Lions), won the 1972 World Pairs Final.
• Terry Betts was a member of the Great Britain team that won the World Team Cup in 1972 and 1973.
• Michael Lee rode for King's Lynn when he won the 1980 Speedway World Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden.
• Michael Lee won the 1981 World Longtrack Championship Final in Radgona, Yugoslavia.
• Michael Lee was a member of the England team that won the World Team Cup in 1977 & 1980.
• Malcolm Simmons was a member of the Great Britain team that won the World Team Cup in 1972 and 1974.
• Dave Jessup representing England along with Peter Collins (Belle Vue Aces), won the 1980 World Pairs Final.
• Dave Jessup was a member of the England team that won the World Team Cup in 1980.
• Tony Rickardsson rode for King's Lynn when he won the 1999 Grand Prix Series.
• Darcy Ward won the World Under 21 Championship in 2009.

External links

• Norfolk Arena