King's Lynn Stars

Kings Lynn Stars team photo 1976

The team's inaugural season was the 1966 British League season, where they finished 16th. They managed to finish in third place during the 1972 and 1973 seasons with their strongest riders being Terry Betts and Malcolm Simmons.[2]

The first silverware won by the team was the Knockout Cup in 1977. They won the final by the small margin of two points on aggregate, thanks largely to Michael Lee and Betts.[3] The team continued to compete in the highest division until the end of the 1995 season but failed to finish any higher than 4th place.[4]

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.

In 1997, the team returned to league action following one year out, they joined the Elite League and were known as the King's Lynn Knights. During the 2000 Elite League speedway season the team finished runner-up behind Eastbourne Eagles and won the Knockout Cup for the second time. The Australian pairing of Leigh Adams and Jason Crump topped the league averages.[5] A junior side were introduced in 1998 and competed under various names in the following seasons, including the Starlets, Braves, Kids and Young Stars.

In 2002, the club became the Silver Machine for one season before reverting to their traditional name of the Stars and joining the second division. After two more seasons in the Premier League they entered the 2005 season which was the start of some very successful years.

After winning the Knockout Cup in 2005 the 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.[6] 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. In total from 2005 to 2009 they won four knockout cups and two league titles.

The 2011 season saw King's Lynn move up to the Elite League, marking a return to the top flight of speedway for the Stars.[7] Only Kozza Smith, Olly Allen and Tomas Topinka were kept on the squad, with the rest of the team brought in from other Elite squads. The Stars proved very competitive home and away and finished third in the League and qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the Poole Pirates in the semi-finals. They continued to compete in the Elite League and finished 2nd in 2014.

During the SGB Premiership 2018 the club just failed to win the highest league title, to have won it would have been the first time in the club's history. They topped the regular season table but lost in the play off final to Poole Pirates.[8]

In June 2023, the club signed former world champion Artem Laguta for his first season in British speedway.[9]

Team performances in Speedway's First Division from 2013 to 2019[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

Teams no longer participating in the league are not included on the graph. When a team's figure rises from zero, that indicates having moved up to the Premiership after the previous season