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| |  | BIRMINGHAM have an injury concern over their Rising Star reserve Jason Edwards who crashed out of their 49-40 defeat at King’s Lynn on Monday.
Edwards, who had enjoyed his best display for the Curtis Sport Brummies in the win over Belle Vue last week, looked set to continue that form when he took the lead in his first ride at the Adrian Flux Arena.
But home rider Jan Kvech momentarily lost control with Edwards on his outside and made contact with the Brummies man, sending him heavily down onto the track.
Kvech was correctly disqualified by the referee but the damage to the Brummies was far greater as Edwards was withdrawn with a dislocated shoulder, and that reduced them to a five-rider outfit.
Skipper Tobiasz Musielak and Matej Zagar led the resistance, backed up by a lively display from the visitors’ remaining reserve Jonas Jeppesen, as Brummies remained in contention for much of the meeting, and the result at least offers the opportunity for the aggregate point when the sides meet at Perry Barr later this month.
Musielak raced to an impressive 17-point haul on his old home track, and it would have been more but for a couple of strong passing moves by home riders.
Zagar, meanwhile, won his opening two rides and in fact the Stars only took the flag twice in the first six races – the problem being that both resulted in 5-1s for the home team.
Nicolai Klindt hit the front coming off turn two in Heat 3 with Chris Harris switching inside Musielak at the end of the first lap to join him, and the same combination did it from the gate against Paco Castagna and a struggling Keynan Rew in Heat 5.
Zagar’s second win in Heat 6 with Jeppesen taking a good third over Norick Blodorn briefly cut the gap to five points, before Kvech came up with a fine ride to pass Musielak on the outside in Heat 7 as the Stars responded with 4-2 of their own.
Musielak then took centre stage with a tactical substitute win in Heat 9 immediately backed up by another success in the next race as he held off a hard-charging Richard Lawson, and both finished as Brummies 4-2s as they cut the gap to just three points.
Unfortunately, Zagar missed out to Niels-Kristian Iversen and Kvech in Heat 11 as both home riders made fast starts, and that left Brummies seven down again.
They kept battling on as Musielak and Jeppesen took a 4-2 in Heat 12, and Zagar was an excellent winner of Heat 13 ahead of Iversen and Lawson.
But Heat 14 always looked to favour the Stars and so it proved with Harris hitting the front despite a determined effort by Jeppesen who led in the early stages and held on for second ahead of Kvech.
Harris wasn’t to be denied in the finale as he chased Musielak for the entire race before an outside move on the last bend saw him snatch the win on the line, meaning the Stars ended with a somewhat flattering nine-point margin.
Brummies now have a week off before returning to Perry Barr to face Sheffield next Monday (June 16).
KING’S LYNN 49: Chris Harris 11+1, Nicolai Klindt 10+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 8, Jan Kvech 7+2, Richard Lawson 6+2, Norick Blodorn 5, Luke Harrison 2.
BIRMINGHAM 40: Tobiasz Musielak 17, Matej Zagar 11, Jonas Jeppesen 8+1, Paco Castagna 3, Keynan Rew 1, Jason Edwards 0, Michael Jepsen Jensen r/r.
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