Ward started the season for King's Lynn riding as a reserve.

Darcy Ward settled into his new role as the Stars' number one by top-scoring in their 59-35 league win over Sheffield.

The teenage Australian and Lynn skipper Tomas Topinka were both unbeaten, with 15 and 13 points respectively.

Sheffield's Richie Hawkins was out injured and when Josh Auty and Ricky Ashworth crashed out, the Tigers had only four riders available.

King's Lynn team manager Rob Lyon said: "I had a word with their promoter, they really deserved more than they got."

He added: "For some strange reason we appeared to make hard work of it, then you look at the scoring and we still got 59, I think if they hadn't had their problems it would have been a lot closer.

It just doesn't phase him, he just wants to ride the bike to his best ability, I didn't expect it to be a problem for him Rob Lyon on Darcy Ward

"I'm sure we would have still won the meeting by more than seven but they rode very well, probably the best visiting team we've had here, that's really had a go at us, for many a while."

Speaking about Ward's contribution at the top of the team order, Lyon was not surprised to see the 17-year-old adapt so well to his new role.

"He's that sort of lad, it just doesn't phase him, he just wants to ride the bike to his best ability, I didn't expect it to be a problem for him," he said.

"Whether he scored 11 or 15 or whatever, he's just that sort of boy, it was very good, I think he'll be ok."

The Stars' next meeting is their Premier League clash with league leaders Workington at the Norfolk Arena next Wednesday and Lyon is expecting it to be a cracking encounter.

"Yeah, it should be a good one, we need to up our game a little bit, we struggled a bit at reserve tonight for various reasons, we need to get that right," he said.

"We can't afford to slip up next week against Workington, so for all the good work we've done so far we need to keep that going."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version