| 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 | Tomas Topinka | |
| League | Elite League | |
| Website | Official site | |
| Club facts | ||
| Colours | Blue, yellow | |
| Track size | 342 metres | |
| Current Team | ||
| Rider | CMA | |
| Kenneth Bjerre | 9.47 | |
| Niels Kristian Iversen | 7.76 | |
| Mads Korneliussen | 6.26 | |
| Olly Allen | 4.78 | |
| Tomas Topinka | 4.58 | |
| Lasse Bjerre | 3.67 | |
| Unconfirmed | - | |
| Total | 36.52 | |
| 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 |
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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.[1]
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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.[2]
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.
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.
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