SGB Premiership
King's Lynn Stars 44, Somerset Rebels 46

SOMERSET’S wizards from Oz, Jason Doyle and Jack Holder, left King’s Lynn Star-struck on Wednesday night with a dramatic heat 15-winning ride to propel the Rebels back into a play-off position in the Premiership table, writes Stephen Allen.

Claiming maximum points over flying Brit Robert Lambert – who had smartly won his opening three rides at the Adrian Flux Arena – and his fellow double-figure scorer Lewis Kerr, the Rebels put behind them the disappointing defeat at Swindon 48 hours earlier.

While Holder and Doyle were the true stars on the night, it was Jake Allen who ended Lambert's run, heading off every move that the GB international threw at him during heat 10 after he had got past Doyle.

The resulting 4-2 advantage to the visitors was immediately negated when Kerr and partner Ty Proctor produced a similar score for the home side.

But two heats later, Holder stepped up with a penultimate race victory, with Kiwi Bradley Wilson-Dean just unable to hold off the interests of Proctor, so a brace separated the sides going into the finale.

Perfect starts for the Rebels in the last-heat decider put them in the driving seat, and Holder held his nerve to keep out the rampant Lambert and deny the Stars any glory on the night.

Team boss Garry May said afterwards: “We battled well all night and were making better starts, which ultimately was the key factor.

“We kept our nerve at the end and we will be enjoying the long journey home much more than we enjoyed the shorter one from Wiltshire on Monday!"

King's Lynn (44): R.Lambert 15, L.Kerr 12, M.Palm-Toft 6+1, T.Proctor 5+1, S.Masters (G) 5, K.Andersen 1, R.Replacement.
Somerset (46): J.Holder 13+1, J.Doyle 12, R.Lawson 7+1, C.Wright 6+2, J.Allen 5, B.Wilson-Dean 3, R.Kinsley 0.